While determining if alcohol will be a part of your event, there is one important occasion that is often overlooked: champagne toasts. Even clients who want no other alcohol served during the duration of their event may want a champagne toast to celebrate meeting their sales goals, welcome a new CEO or simply to congratulate their employees on a job well done throughout the year. Champagne toasts are very common, and even expected, if there is any sort of celebratory air to an event. Being easy to organize and affordable to plan, a simple champagne toast may seem like something that requires no additional thought, but meeting planners can sometimes overlook an important aspect of planning a successful toast that all attendees can enjoy.

This often overlooked component is the touchy situation that can arise when there are non-drinkers in the room. For starters, no one should be left out or made to feel uncomfortable during a toast. Therefore, it is imperative that a non-alcoholic alternative, such as sparkling cider, is readily available and is served alongside the champagne – avoiding putting an attendee in a situation where they must ask if there is a non-alcoholic option. Whether they are in recovery, adhere to religious convictions or cultural mores that forbid drinking, or simply choose to not indulge, the passing out of beverages prior to the toast should be a seamless process where no one will even notice which selection each attendee chooses.

“In point of fact, we are all born rude. No infant ever appeared yet with the grace to understand how inconsiderate it is to disturb others in the middle of the night,” according to Judith Martin, also known as Miss Manners.

Most of us were brought up with some semblance of good manners. It seems all too often that manners are a forgotten art. Have you ever given any thought about proper meeting etiquette?

Some things are so simple and so easily forgotten. Greet people at the meeting, introduce yourself and don’t rely on your nametag. Smile as if you mean it; do this often enough and you will.

Be on time. And just as you are prompted to do in the movies, silence your cell phone. Either turn it off or set it on vibrate. Pay attention to the presenters. Multi-tasking not only defeats the purpose of a conference, it is downright rude.

Snacks and beverages are often served during a meeting. Clean up after yourself. If you have to slip out of the meeting for any reason, do so unobtrusively. But avoid it if you can.

Courtesy costs nothing and often defuses a potentially unpleasant situation. The manners your mother instilled in you can be the foundation to a professional, pleasant attitude.