Sitting at the table - where and why you need to sit

“Feel at home and tell me everything in order!”
If you sit at the table correctly, you can easily reach a mutual understanding and gain the confidence of your interlocutors. The arrangement of the participants in conversation relative to each other plays a very important role in such circumstances.
We conducted numerous studies to find out which position at the table allows us to best express a certain attitude and achieve certain results. We did this at seminars and with the help of specially designed questionnaires. The first study of the influence of the place at the table was made by the famous psychologist Robert Sommer from the University of California. He analyzed the impact of different locations in public places - in particular, in bars and restaurants. We brought Sommer’s experiences into a business environment, analyzing the behavior of people at seminars and during negotiations. Although national traditions and personal relationships between people have a certain impact on table seating, we still managed to identify some patterns.
In his book “Non-Verbal Communication in Interaction Between People”, Mark Knapp of the University of Vermont notes that, despite the general formula for interpreting table seating, the environment may have some influence on the choice of location. Studies in which representatives of the middle class took part showed that accommodation in ordinary bars is noticeably different from choosing a place in a high-class restaurant. The location of the chairs and the distance between the tables also have a certain influence on the choice of location. For example, lovers prefer if possible to sit next to each other, but in a crowded restaurant, where the tables are very close, this is impossible, and couples have to sit opposite each other, which in normal circumstances is regarded as a defensive position.
Do not forget that now we are talking about those places that people prefer to choose in normal circumstances at work or at home.