Exchanging business cards: introducing a person and an affiliation

Cards commonly give a name, organisation, position and contact details. Saying one’s name and affiliation connects this information with the person standing opposite. A bilingual layout or pronunciation guide can help participants who use different languages.

Business-etiquette guides commonly recommend presenting the card towards its recipient, using both hands and checking the name on receipt. For a simultaneous exchange, one recommended method is to offer your card with the right hand, receive theirs with the left, then support the received card with both hands. In larger groups, introductions and organisational roles shape the sequence, with adjustments for hosts, visitors and colleagues.

From visiting notes to cards

Paper bearing a visitor’s name existed in the Edo period. An Edo-Tokyo Museum library reference answer identifies the 1860 mission to the United States as an early documented example of Western-style cards without establishing a single inventor. Modern visiting cards spread during the Meiji period; older name slips should not simply be treated as the same institution as present-day business exchange.

Shibata’s multilingual cards

A surviving card for Shibata Sadataro carries both kanji and English. The National Museum of Japanese History tentatively dates it to 1862 and associates it with his first visit to Britain. Another card from 1865 includes French and a diplomatic title. The information and language on a card could be adapted to the people its holder expected to meet.

Visiting cards and business identities

The card’s social role also changed. Visiting cards could convey invitations, a change of address or condolences, generally without a professional title. In Japan, cards identifying an employer and position came to serve social purposes too, displacing the separate visiting card. Present-day business exchange therefore reflects changing uses as well as a change in printing and format.

Managing contacts digitally

Digital services changed what happened after an exchange. One example is the service that became Sansan, launched in 2007 to turn scanned cards into information shared within a business; the company introduced its personal card app Eight in 2012.

Scanning cards and digital exchange

A paper card may later be scanned and its text entered into a contact database. A digital card can instead be exchanged electronically from the outset. These are different processes and can coexist. Whether to use paper, how to organise the details and how to follow up depend on the business setting and the other participants.