Model Behavior

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal Feb 11, 2009


Doris Brooner wants to teach you to hold your head up.

"One thing I teach is that when you are walking and you are straight and your head is up, you are more aware of your surroundings," said the professional modeling instructor. "It is just amazing what you can see as opposed to walking with your head down. Plus, if you can project confidence, your audience recognizes it."

Brooner has been a model, and has taught modeling techniques to students who have appeared in fashion shows and television commercials from New York to Dallas. She believes the skills that help you walk a runway are skills that can help you become successful in any career.

Those techniques go beyond having good posture, but everything starts with how you carry yourself in public. Brooner teaches young women (and young men) how to sit, how to stand, and how to walk, pivoting gracefully on the turns. She demonstrates a proper handshake - firm but not hard, and definitely "not a fish." Maintain eye contact, and always keep your head up. Then we come to "how to make conversation."

"To be a good listener, don't do all the talking," she said. "Keep the subjects clean, and steer away from morbid topics."

This sounds like common sense, but Brooner maintains that social skills that used to be common are increasingly rare. She traces the decline in courtesy straight to your home, and to your dinner table.

"You always go back to the family," she said. "We are not eating meals at home. That's where you learn how to have a conversation, and how not to chew with your mouth open. Parents just don't have the time to teach proper etiquette any more."

Brooner also knows her way around a table setting. We have all experienced that moment of panic at a formal dinner, where we face a bewildering array of flatware, stemware, and utensils - a minefield waiting to blow up in front of someone we are trying to impress. Brooner's advice?

"It's simple. You watch your hostess, and do what she does," she said. When it does come time to choose which fork to use, Brooner's rule of thumb is to work from the outside in. And when you get up to visit the "powder room" during a meal, proper etiquette is to place your napkin on your chair seat.

I had to ask the expert how to handle a situation I always seem to encounter at a formal dinner: how does one discretely dispose of that annoying piece of gristle hidden in a bite of prime rib?

"You delicately get rid of it with your napkin," she explained. "It happens, and don't let it ruin your meal. Don't be embarrassed."

So I guess I have been doing it correctly. I just need to practice doing it while smiling, making eye contact, listening to the hostess, and keeping my head up.

XXX

Doris Brooner will teach Visual Poise through Modeling for Teens starting Wed, Feb 25 for six sessions. For more information, visit www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com.