Training and Consulting

April L. Harris offers training structured so that participants can easily absorb information and put it into immediate practice. All of my programs can be customized to meet your training needs.

I offer both onsite and online consulting for inauguration planning, protocol for the president's office, managing an official residence, and preparing for international travel or welcoming visitors from other countries.

International Polish: Be Culturally Aware

International Business: An Executive Briefing
Success in international business depends on polished interpersonal skills and savvy cultural awareness. Whether you and your team are travelling to another country, or welcoming international visitors to the U.S.A., knowledge of cultural customs and expectations can be critical to your success. Working one-on-one with your company’s executives or with your team, I will brief you on the specifics of the country you are visiting or hosting.

Protocol in Practice: Hosting International Visitors
The global economy challenges us to present our leaders and our businesses according to protocol. Become more culturally aware and learn the basics of international protocol through this one-day seminar. You’ll learn how to orchestrate a proper welcoming ceremony, organize a business meeting, and how to make your guests feel respected. We’ll discuss flags, foods, gestures, colors, greetings, interpreters, time, and much more.

Food, Flowers and Other Faux Pas: Hosting International Visitors
Americans are often unaware of cultural differences between the world’s nations and the serious gaffes that can occur as a result. This seminar raises awareness of cultural differences that must be considered when hosting international visitors.

Professional Polish: Invest in Yourself

Business Etiquette Basics
Success today requires more than technical expertise, to reach the top you need polished social skills. Learn the correct way to shake hands, make introductions, host visitors in your office, chair a meeting, take a business associate to lunch, work a room, travel and entertain on business, and dress for workplace success.

Dining Skills
In our fast-paced society of two-career families and take-out meals, many people missed learning dining skills that were once transferred around the family dinner table. That doesn’t make these skills less important. It does make it imperative that we find other resources for learning them. Business today is the world’s largest social environment and what you don’t know really can hurt you. We’ll dine together as we learn how to read a table setting, the proper use for flatware, how to avoid common and embarrassing mistakes, and how to toast.

Executive Polish
Nowhere is the need for polished manners more apparent than in the highly competitive race to the executive suite as people routinely converse, correspond, dine, and socialize with persons of influence and affluence, often with generational expectations very different from their own. This seminar will polish your interpersonal skills to ensure that you present yourself and your company with sophistication and confidence. We will discuss how to make introductions, work room, entertain clients at a luncheon or dinner, explore communication etiquette consistent with generational styles, and learn tips on dressing for everything from the boardroom to the golf course. This training will give you the confidence of knowing that your behavior is correct in the situations you face every day.

What to Call People
Is it Ms., Mr., Doctor, Colonel, or First Name? Learn how to correctly address people on invitations, in introductions, and on place cards.

On Dressing Well
Confidence, credibility, and success is the message of a well-dressed executive. Classic, traditional business attire remains the standard of professionals and is the hallmark of persons of affluence and influence. Learn how to sharpen your professional image for all aspects of your business life, from recruiting new clients to attending Chamber of Commerce functions, the symphony, or your child’s ballgame. This session will also give you tips on contemporary business etiquette.