Develop Proficiency Business Meetings

Mutie' F. Abdulhafez
English for Meetings
Developing Proficiency
in
a Business Context

Four Phases of Meetings
• Phase 1: Planning
• Phase 2: Setup
• Phase 3: Running the meeting
• Phase 4: Follow-up

Introduction
When calling for a meeting, you have to make the following clear:
– The date, location, time, and length of the meeting
– The purpose of the meeting
– Who is expected to attend
 Email to call for a Meeting
 Writing an Agenda
 Opening a Meeting
 Apologies
 Before a meeting the minute-taker should review the following:
 The minutes from previous meeting
 All of the names of the attendees (if possible)
 The items on the agenda

Unit One:
Could we meet next week?

Asking for a meeting
 Could we schedule a time to meet next week?
 I’d like to schedule a meeting as soon as possible.
 Can we meet and go over this together?
 Perhaps we could meet and go over the details in
person?

Suggesting a meeting time
 How about Monday at nine?
 How about sometime after lunch?
 Could we meet next week?
 Can I suggest a time to meet on Thursday evening?
 Would half past five suit you?

Saying that you aren’t able to attend
 Sorry, I can’t make it then.
 I am afraid I have appointment then.
 I’m a bit tied up then. How about another time?

Saying that you can attend
 This sound good.
 Yes, that works for me.
 Yes, that would be fine.

Confirming the day and time.
 See you on Monday at seven.
 So, I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday at four

Unit Two:
Can we make a start now?

Opening the Meeting
 Good morning/afternoon, everyone.
 If we are all here, let's get started
 If we are all here, let's start the meeting.
 If we are all here, let's get started start.

Welcoming participants
 It’s nice to see everyone.
 Thanks for being here today.
 Please join me in welcoming Mr. __________.
 We're pleased to welcome Mr. __________.
 It's a pleasure to welcome you all in the meetings.
 I'd like to introduce Mr. __________.
 I don't think you've met Mr. __________.

Ways of stating meeting objectives
 We will be discussing __________.
 We will be examining___________.
 We're here today to discuss ____________.
 Our aim is to discuss _______________.
 I've called this meeting in order to discuss _____________.
 By the end of this meeting, I'd like to have discussed______.

Ways of asking participants to introduce
themselves
 Why don’t you introduce yourself to everyone?
 Will you tell us a bit about yourself
 Could you tell us all who you are and say something about
yourself?

Ways of introducing yourself
 I am the business development manager
 I’ve been with the Ministry of Interior since 2004.
 I’ve worked for the company for five years.
 I’m based in Abu Dhabi office.
 I work at our Al Ain branch.

Giving Apologies for Someone Who is
Absent
 I am afraid I'm afraid, Ms.________ can't be with us
today. She is in Dubai.
 I have received apologies for the absence of (Mr.
_______), who is in (place).

Reading the Minutes (Notes) of the
Last Meeting
 First let's go over the report from the last meeting, which
was held on (date)
 Here are the minutes from our last meeting, which was on
(date)

Dealing with Recent Developments
 Rashed, can you tell us how the project is progressing?
 Rashed, how is the project coming along?
 John, have you completed the report on the new project?
 Has everyone received a copy of the report on current
marketing trends?

Moving Forward
 So, if there is nothing else we need to discuss, let's move on to
today's agenda.
 Shall we get down to business?
 Is there any other business?
 If there are no further developments, I'd like to move on to
today's topic.

Introducing the agenda
 Have you all received a copy of the agenda?
 There are three items on the agenda. First,
 Shall we take the points in this order?
 If you don't mind, I'd like to go in order
 If you don't mind, I'd like to go in order skip item 1 and
move on to item 3
 I suggest we take item 2 last.

Allocating Roles (secretary,
participants(
 Reem has agreed to take the minutes.
 Hamad has kindly agreed to give us a report on this
matter.
 Rashed will lead point 1, (Hind) point 2, and (Hamdan)
point 3.
 (Hamad), would you mind taking notes today?

Agreeing on the Ground Rules for the Meeting
(contributions, timing, decision-making, etc.)
 We will hear a short report on each point first, followed by a
discussion round the table.
 I suggest we go round the table first.
 The meeting is due to finish at 10 o’clock.
 We'll have to keep each item to ten minutes. Otherwise
we'll never get through.
 We may need to vote on item 5, if we can't get a unanimous
decision.

Introducing the First Item on the Agenda
 So, let's start with ……………………
 Shall we start with……………………
 So, the first item on the agenda is ………….
 Pete, would you like to kick off?
 Martin, would you like to introduce this item?

Closing an Item
 I think that covers the first item.
 Shall we leave that item?
 If nobody has anything else to add, let’s move to the second
item
 Let's move onto the next item ________ .
 The next item on the agenda is ________ .
 Now we come to the question of ________.

Summarizing
 Before we close, let me just summarize the main points.
 To sum up, ...
 In brief,
 Shall I go over the main points?
Finishing Up:
 Right, it looks as though we've covered the main items
 Is there any other Business?

Unit Three:
Let me get back to you on that

Unit Four:
When would suit you?

Unit 5
I’m very sorry about that

Unit 6
How does that sound

Develop Proficiency Business Meetings

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