PErsONaL
DEvELOPMENT
GuEsTs bEhaviNG baDLy
at this past year’s WAI Conference closing banquet, one of WAI’s board members was trying to make some introductory com-
PAtriciA luebke
ments. She never got the room’s full attention as there was a definite
buzz of people talking, or rather a buzz of people refusing to stop talking, as she spoke. I’d
seen this before at events when a host tries to speak, and I wondered what those noisy guests
were thinking. “She may be talking, but I don’t have to listen.”
“Who cares what she’s saying?” She was at a podium, with a
microphone. The situation made me think: What are the obliga-
tions of a guest at a party? It’s easy to say, “I’m a guest so I can
do whatever I want,” but that’s not true. That’s because a suc-
cessful party depends on both the host and the guest perform-
ing their duties.
As a guest,
you’re a component
in the chemistry that
will make an event
successful.
