52931 business english useful phrases for leading a meeting

Possible answer: • A meeting should be necessary information sharing and not just informative.. • A meeting should have an agenda send to all participant beforehand objectives, topics, p

LEVEL 2.0 - 2.5

BUSINESS ENGLISH MEETING PROCEDURE 06 – LEADING A MEETING: USEFUL PHRASES 01

IN CONTEXT 5-8 min LOC-P6-01- I

1 How this wise saying can be applied to a meeting leader?

Possible answer:

1 Being afraid to participate in or lead a meeting in front of a crowd, a group of people or a few of your hierarchic superiors is normal.

Being scared is your body telling you that you are in a dangerous situation, here not physically but rather mentally, when one wants to perform well to demonstrate his ability and value.

Courage is an attribute to possess to be able to master the art of leading a meeting especially when you are stil l green (a beginner) at it.

2 What is an effective meeting?

Possible answer:

• A meeting should be necessary (information sharing) and not just informative.

• A meeting should have an objective.

• A meeting should have an agenda send to all participant beforehand (objectives, topics, presenter of each topic and time allowed, background or relevant information to topics)

• Assign meeting preparation (asking questions, give a task regarding meeting topics and/or objective) to engage participants during the meeting.

• Assign tasks during the meeting–Being pro-active

Often issues/concerns arise during a meeting either examine further the question or hold another meeting for it and give responsibilities to your team

or each individual to find a solution.

• Examine your meeting process (review what happened to see how you can improve leading a meeting)

(Source www.effectivemeetings.com)

3 Do you dread meetings? Why?

VOCABULARY 8-10 min LOC-P6-01-V

“Courage is doing what you're afraid to do

There can be no courage unless you're scared.”

Eddie Rickenbacker 1890-1973 (American WWI pilot and airline businessman)

Classify the terms and find which are the two odd ones.

1 call – 2 adjourn – 3 set up – 4 lead – 5 put off – 6 fix – 7 skip – 8 arrange – 9 postpone –

10 attend – 11 hold – 12 put on – 13 wind up – 14 call off – 15 defer – 16 bring … forward

A Organize

Call – set up – fix – arrange – put on

B Delay

Put off – postpone – defer

F Close

Adjourn

Wind up

D Assist

attend

E Conduct

Hold

lead

C Cancel

Call off

Keep meetings under an hour If you need more time, take 15 min every hour.

Answers: 7 skip (to not go) – 16 Bring

forward (to hold earlier)

A 1, 3, 6, 8, 12

B 5, 9, 15

C 14

D 10

E 4, 11

F 2, 13

According to the National Statistic

Council in the USA, 37% of employee

time is spent in meetings.

In a typical meeting, agenda items are

completely covered only half the time

(53%).

There are 11 millions business meetings each and every day in the US.

WATCH IT 15-18 min LOC-P6-01-VO

In this video, you will watch a discussion in a business meeting about whether or not some maintenance on a company building must be done

Before watching

During a meeting, what is the role of each function/position mentioned below?

a chairman / chairperson

an attendee

Possible answers:

a chairman or chairperson = the person who leads a meeting, organization, committee, or event

an attendee = a person who is present on a given occasion or at a given place

(Source http://www.merriam-webster.com)

Watch it!

1 Watch (to 1:37), listen carefully and answer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vo_gHFs4is&feature=relmfu

a Who are the attendees?

b Who is the chairperson? □ Walter □ Denise □ John

c Who leads the meeting? □ Barbara □ Denise □ John

d Who is deferring the parking issue? □ Barbara □ Denise □ John

e Has the parking problem been brought forward? □ Yes □ No □ Maybe

f Has the parking problem been put off? □ Yes □ No □ Maybe

g Were the building repairs postponed? □ Yes □ No □ Maybe

NOTE to the INSTRUCTOR :

Ask the learner to read the script (following page) first to get familiar with it

If you think his listening skills are sufficient enough, just ask him/her to watch the video and complete the script

Answers:

1 a.Tan, Lin, Walter and Barbara (John too is an attendee but his name is not mentioned in

the dialog) - b Denise – c Denise – d Denise – e No not set earlier, but delayed – f yes – g maybe (we don’t know – we can suspect it has not been postponed according to the script)

3 Watch again (to 1:37) and complete

perhaps we should…

LIN: Oh come on - the building is practically falling down!

DENISE: Sorry Lin - Tan _

We in a minute.

DENISE: Thank you Tan What's your opinion Walter?

WALTER: Well, _, it's a question of safety _ we

should go ahead.

WALTER: _, yes _, there is a serious risk of

an accident And it's not a recent problem…

WALTER: Much earlier It's a real concern.

DENISE: Thank you Walter Well, if there's no…

BARBARA: _Madame .

DENISE: Yes Barbara.

BARBARA: What about the problem with parking? There were no places again this morning.

WALTER: Maybe if you got to work on time…

DENISE: Walter Parking isn't on the

agenda for this meeting - Barbara Well, if there's no more discussion - we'll put it to a vote

NOTE to the INSTRUCTOR : Hear Hear = to strongly agree with someone (derived from

“Hear him” an 18th century expression from the British parliament)

Answers:

TAN: Well, I'm not convinced that the work is as urgent as this report suggests, so perhaps

we should…

LIN: Oh come on - the building is practically falling down!

DENISE: Sorry Lin - I don't think Tan had finished We'll get to you in a minute.

LIN: Sorry

TAN: As I was saying, perhaps we should get a second opinion before we spend any money DENISE: Thank you Tan What's your opinion Walter?

WALTER: Well, as far as I’m concerned, it's a question of safety So I think we should go

ahead

TAN: Are you suggesting that someone could get hurt?

WALTER: In my opinion, yes If you ask me, there is a serious risk of an accident And it's

not a recent problem…

TAN: Are you implying we should have done something earlier?

WALTER: Much earlier It's a real concern

LIN: Hear hear!

TAN: In that case, I agree - we should do something now.

JOHN: I think so too

DENISE: Thank you Walter Well, if there's no…

BARBARA: Excuse me Madame Chairperson.

DENISE: Yes Barbara

BARBARA: What about the problem with parking? There were no places again this morning WALTER: Maybe if you got to work on time…

DENISE: All comments through the chair if you don't mind Walter Parking isn't on the

agenda for this meeting - perhaps you could suggest it for our next meeting Barbara Well,

if there's no more discussion - we'll put it to a vote

JOHN: Hear hear!

4 Answer:

Which phrases below express/allow for

Agreement:

•

•

Giving a point of view

•

•

•

Clarifications

•

•

Interruptions or make someone stop speaking

•

Cutting people short

•

•

Avoiding irrelevant discussion

•

• What do you usually say for each language function above?

Answers: Agreement: 1, 5 - Giving a point of view 3, 4, 7 - Clarifications 2, 10 - Interruptions

or make someone stop speaking 8 - Cut people short 6, 8 - Avoiding irrelevant discussion 9, 11

LEADING A MEETING – USEFUL PHRASES 10 - 12 min LOC-P6-01-E

1 So, I think … 7 I'm not convinced that …

2 Are you suggesting … 8 Excuse me

3 In my opinion, … 9 All comments through the chair if you don't mind

4 If you ask me … 10 Are you implying …

5 In that case, I agree 11 Perhaps you could suggest it for our next meeting

6 I don't think he/she had finished We'll get to you in a minute

1 Read:

Which phrases have you heard in meetings? Which phrases have you used? In what situations?

Giving an

opinion / point of

view

I think we should… Why don’t we…

The best thing to do is… One thing we could do is…

Ask for an

opinion

Peter, what are your views? John, what do you think? Peter, how do you feel about this? Any comments Julien?

Do you have any ideas on this Stephanie?

Suggesting Could I make a suggestion? I think we should

Shall we….? What if we…

Why don’t we… How about…

Clarifications In other words you said didn’t you? What you mean is

By that I mean… Did you say ? / Are saying that Let me just go over the main points again …

Cutting people

short

Sorry to interrupt/Pardon me but… Excuse me for interrupting, but Just a minute Listen… Hold on a moment…

Avoid irrelevant

discussion

This is not on the agenda

Let’s speak about it at a later date

Agreeing /

Disagreeing

Soft (agreement by conviction)

That seems right

I would agree with what Angela said

Yes, that makes sense

That sounds like a good idea

Firm (completely agree)

Yes, that’s a good/great idea

I agree completely

Soft:

I don’t quite agree with that

OK, but don’t you think that…

I see what you mean, however…

It’s a good idea, however…

I’m not sure about that because…

That might be all right but…

Firm:

That’s wrong!

I don’t agree with you!

Interrupt/

stop a person

talking

politely/softly

Sorry, could I interrupt for a moment?

Could I just say something?

Excuse me Can I just say/ask…?

If I could just finish…

If you’d let me finish what I was saying…

2 Read or listen to the phrases (your instructor will provide you) & classify them.

Answers:

1 Explain unknown vocabulary from the chart Ask other follow-up questions, as

What were you talking about?

Did you succeed in convincing your audience?

Did you successfully interrupt/cut people short/ clarify your point/avoid irrelevant

discussion?

2 A) Giving an opinion

(can be used during a talk to a group as to lead an argument or to convince in a meeting)

(Strong)

• I’m quite certain that…

• I feel sure/secure that…

(Weak)

• My impression is that…

• It seems to me that…

B) Clarify

(can be used as well to explain by giving a meaning, a reason, a cause- or ask for details)

(Explain)

• That means

• What I want to say is

• The reason I’m telling you is

• Let me explain what I mean

• Because of

(Ask for details)

• While we’re on the subject…

• I’d like to know more about…

• Could we discuss further…

• Is there anything else?

SPEAKING 5-8 min LOC-P6-01-S

1 Read the instructions

2 Perform the role play using phrases to

• Give an opinion

• Interrupt

• Ask for clarification/details

• Make a suggestion

Role-play 1

Your company employs five office cleaners who aren’t

needed for the next six weeks, but will be needed after

that What can you do with them in the meantime?

Think of 3 possible solutions

Instructor: Present the best possible solution and its reasons.

Learner: You don t agree with the solution offered Spend a

minute thinking of reasons to support your argument

Role-play 2

An audit explains that the level of motivation in your company is not high enough What are some ways in which staff motivation can be improved?

Think of 3 possible solutions and their seasons

Instructor: You don’t agree with the solution offered Spend

a minute thinking of reasons to support your argument

Learner: Present the best possible solution and its reasons

QUIZ 8-10 min

Match the vocabulary with its synonym

1 call

2 call off

3 adjourn

4 skip

5 put on

6 wind up

7 fix

8 hold

a organize

b set up

c arrange

d close (an event)

e conduct

f finalize

g cancel

h to not assist/attend

Answers: 1.a, b or c - 2g – 3 d,f - 4h - 5 a, b or c - 6.d, f - 7 a, b or c - 8e

Complete

1 Don’t _ the conference call yet Let me check with my schedule

2 This is Mark Duncan, he will be in charge of this project and tomorrow’s meeting

3 You need to pick up your colleague at the airport later The flight arrival time has been _

4 No, I can’t at 2 pm Can we _ our meeting _ in the morning?

5 The presentation has been _ from 1 pm to 2:30 pm

6 Could you please a meeting for the parking problem sometime in the

morning next week?

Answer: 1 postpone/defer/put off, 2 lead, 3 Put off/deferred/postponed, 4 Bring forward

5 deferred/postponed/put off, 6 put on

Match the phrases 1 to 6 with the speaker intention a to f:

1 Are saying that …

2 Just a minute Listen, I …

3 I would agree with what Mr Z said

4 The best thing to do is…

5 What if we…

6 That might be all right, but

7 If you’d let me finish what I was

saying…

8 This is not on the agenda

a Giving an opinion

b Suggesting

c Agreeing

d Clarifying

e Cutting people short

f Avoid irrelevant discussion

g Interrupt

h Disagreeing

Answers: 1d – 2e – 3c – 4a – 5b - 6h – 7g -8f

lead defer postpone put off bring forward put on