It's not what you say, it's the way you sit
If this doesn't sound like real life, that is because it isn't. The bankers, who have all recently been made redundant, are taking part in a course on body language aimed at giving them an edge in job interviews.
Gill Hicks, who is running the course at outplacement firm Penna Meridian, quotes some figures to show how important body language is. Professor Someone-or-other has discovered that facial expressions are eight times as powerful as speech, and that people largely form their opinion of others within two seconds of meeting them. Words, it seems, scarcely matter at all.
I cannot help feeling sceptical about this and find myself leaning back in my chair and folding my arms. Hicks spots what I am doing and explains that this is typical body language of someone who does not believe what they are hearing.
Despite the unprovable statistics, Hicks soon provides evidence even for a cynic that body language is a powerful tool. She asks us to imagine we are feeling terribly bored, and to adjust our posture accordingly. Instinctively we all slump lower in our seats. Our chins sink down towards our chests.
Then we are told to imagine we are feeling enthusiastic about something. But we are not allowed to change our despondent physical positions. It is extraordinarily difficult to do this - the urge to sit upright and move the arms forwards, so that body and mind are in harmony, is overwhelming.
The point is that our posture can influence our mood. So simply adopting an upright stance can make us feel more positive about ourselves and our place in the world. Which is handy for people who have been made redundant.
Hicks stresses the importance of perfecting simple, obvious gestures. These include smiling and making eye contact that holds another's attention but does not lengthen into an intimidating stare.
She recommends practising repeatedly in front of a mirror at home, and even sticking up post-it notes with messages like "chin up" written on them.
The idea is that it is impossible to focus on your body language while you are actually talking to someone - you have to drill yourself to get it right before you go for that interview.
Another tip is to focus on the "business triangle" when you are talking to someone. That means looking anywhere within a triangle bounded by the eyes and centre of the forehead.
If you look elsewhere you will make less impact.
We then watch a video of the anthropologist Desmond Morris, who talks about the importance of "mirroring", or copying the body language of the person you are talking to create an understanding with them. His own body language resembles that of an excited gibbon, which makes it hard to concentrate on what he is saying. Perhaps that is the point.
The class then practises mirroring. We are split into pairs, with one person talking and moving their posture occasionally, while the other listens and mimics the movements of the speaker.
But this can easily go wrong. If the mimicry is too exact, the speaker can feel they are being made a fool of. And hostile gestures, we learn, should never be mirrored.
So if an interviewer shakes his fist at a candidate, the candidate should presumably be careful not to shake his fist back if he or she still wants the job.
Another pitfall with body language is that it varies widely from culture to culture. "In the UK we're probably the least tactile people on earth. So handshakes with foreigners might have to be longer to make the right impression on them," says Hicks.
Everyone has their own territorial zone, which they do not like to be violated, she adds. In London, this can be as little as 15 centimetres for close friends, and as much as 126 centimetres for colleagues at work.
Inevitably, the class practises handshakes. First I receive a bone cruncher, then a lettuce leaf. Some practising at home to be done there, clearly.
As the bankers leave at the end of the course, they promise to work on their handshakes until they have got them right. As far as I can tell from their body language, they mean it.
