School of Business and Communication etiquette event helps students learn about networking, how to navigate a place setting.
by Duane Bonifer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, KY. (04/01/2026) About four dozen Lindsey WIlson University students spent an evening learning valuable lessons to be successful in the business world, but it didn’t involve financial modeling, group projects or strategic planning.
Instead, they spent the evening at Swan’s Landing in Taylor County, Kentucky, practicing proper business dinner etiquette and the art of networking.
“Tonight is about something that often goes unspoken but is always noticed — how you show up,” said Lindsey Wilson School of Business and Communication Dean Benson Sexton ’04. “Talent will get you in the room, but it’s professionalism that keeps you in the room. Your resume will open the door, but your presence will determine what happens next.”
The event was held by the Lindsey Wilson School of Business and Communication and sponsored by Yum! Brands, the Lori Riddle Eberenz ’02 Family and the Kevin A. Thompson Family. The business dinner etiquette event, which was attended mostly by seniors who will graduate in May, was held to help students prepare for moments in the professional world that can often lead to new opportunities and successes.
Using a fork with confidence
The evening opened with business and communication professors teaching students the subtle art of business networking during a happy hour of mocktails and hors d’oeuvres on a patio. Then they moved to an indoor business dinner, where students were instructed how to navigate a place setting as well as a table conversation.
“Tonight, you’re going to learn some things that might seem small,” said Sexton. “But I want to challenge you to think deeper than that.”
As Benson pointed out, the evening “really isn’t about forks.”
“It’s about confidence when you walk into unfamiliar spaces,” he said. “It’s about removing distractions so that your ideas can shine, and it’s about communicating without saying a word that you belong at the table.”
While instructing students which fork to employ during dinner, each plate’s purpose and where to place dinner bread, communication faculty member Kaylie Butler ’21 reminded the students that during a business dinner “confidence and composure matter.”
“They actually make more of a difference than getting every detail perfect,” she said. “The people you talk to tells them something about yourself. Make sure that what you’re showing is confidence, awareness and respect for other people.”
Importance of relationships
In her keynote remarks, Ebernez encouraged students to have “the courage to chase your full potential the confidence to trust your future self the humility to ask for help and the generosity to give it (do things) that bring you joy and (show) gratitude for the people and places that helped shape your story.”
Eberenz, who is the director of global public relations and storytelling for Yum! Brands with more than two decades of experience in corporate public relations, told the students that “I was once sitting where you are.”
“I am incredibly grateful to Lindsey Wilson for giving me an opportunity, just like the one you’re having tonight when I was a student,” she said. “There is something special and unique about what you have experienced at Lindsey Wilson. The relationships you’ve built, the support you’ve been given, the opportunities you’ve had — those things all matter. They shape you and they shape who you are becoming. This place has helped prepare you for what’s next.”
Lindsey Wilson University students Seth Ousley ’26 of Lancaster, Kentucky, and Whitley Gibson ’27 of Edmonton, Kentucky, reach for a mocktail during the Lindsey Wilson School of Business and Communication business dinner etiquette event, held Tuesday, March 31, at Swan’s Landing in Taylor County, Kentucky.
Lindsey Wilson University student Paisley Bolin ’26 of Somerset, Kentucky, practices the art of dinner conversation during the Lindsey Wilson School of Business and Communication business dinner etiquette event, held Tuesday, March 31, at Swan’s Landing in Taylor County, Kentucky.
The Lindsey Wilson University School of Business and Communication held a business dinner etiquette event, held Tuesday, March 31, at Swan’s Landing in Taylor County, Kentucky.
Yum! Brands Director of Global Public Relations and Storytelling Lori Riddle Eberenz ’02 offers business tips to students during the Lindsey Wilson University School of Business and Communication business dinner etiquette event, held Tuesday, March 31, at Swan’s Landing in Taylor County, Kentucky.
Lindsey Wilson University communication faculty member Kaylie Butler ’21 offers students etiquette tips during the LWU School of Business and Communication business dinner etiquette event, held Tuesday, March 31, at Swan’s Landing in Taylor County, Kentucky.
Lindsey Wilson University School of Business and Communication Dean Benson Sexton ’04 welcomes students to the school’s business dinner etiquette event, held Tuesday, March 31, at Swan’s Landing in Taylor County, Kentucky.
Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 30 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university’s 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson University)