Offer your card with both hands, text facing the recipient. Receive theirs the same way, take a moment to actually read it, and place it on the table in front of you (or in a card holder) during the meeting, not straight into a pocket or wallet.
Never write on someone’s card in front of them, and never put it in your back pocket, since that’s read as sitting on it.
- Stand up to exchange cards, even if you’d been sitting — doing it seated reads as careless.
- Present to the most senior person in the room first when meeting a group, not whoever’s nearest or spoke first.
- Don’t flick a card across the table or slide it with one hand — the two-handed presentation is the point of the gesture.
- Don’t fidget with a card you’ve received — no bending it, tapping it, or using it to clean your nails.