52931 business english useful phrases for leading a meeting

LEVEL 2.0 - 2.5 BUSINESS ENGLISH MEETING PROCEDURE 06 – LEADING A MEETING: USEFUL PHRASES 01 IN CONTEXT 5-8 LOC-P6-01- I How this wise saying can be applied to a meeting leader? Possible answer: 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 “Courage is doing what you're afraid to There can be no courage unless you're scared.” Eddie Rickenbacker 1890-1973 (American WWI pilot and airline businessman) 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) Do you dread meetings? Why? VOCABULARY 8-10 LOC-P6-01-V Classify the terms and find which are the two odd ones call – adjourn – set up – lead – put off – fix – skip – arrange – 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.InCancel a typical meeting, agenda items are Call off completely covered only half the time (53%) There are 11 millions business meetings each and every day in the US Answers: skip (to not go) – 16 Bring forward (to earlier) Statistic According to hold the National A 1, 3,in6,the 8, 12 Council USA, 37% of employee B 5,is9,spent 15 in meetings time C 14 D 10 E 4, 11 F 2, 13 Keep meetings under an hour If you need more time, take 15 every hour WATCH IT 15-18 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! 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 □ c Who leads the meeting? Barbara □ d Who is deferring the parking issue? □ Barbara □ e Has the parking problem been brought forward? □ f Has the parking problem been put off? □ g Were the building repairs postponed? □ Tan □ Lin □ □ □ Denise Walter Denise Denise Denise Yes Yes Yes □ □ □ □ □ □ □ John □ Barbara John John John No No No □ □ □ Maybe Maybe 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: 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) Watch again (to 1:37) and complete TAN: Well, _ 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 - Tan _ We 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, _, it's a question of safety _ we should go ahead TAN: someone could get hurt? WALTER: _, yes _, there is a serious risk of an accident And it's not a recent problem… TAN: _ we should have done something earlier? WALTER: Much earlier It's a real concern LIN: ! TAN: - we should something now JOHN: I think so too 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 JOHN: _! 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 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! Answer: Which phrases below express/allow for So, I think … Are you suggesting … In my opinion, … If you ask me … In that case, I agree I don't think he/she had finished I'm not convinced that … Excuse me All comments through the chair if you don't mind 10 Are you implying … 11 Perhaps you could suggest it for our next meeting We'll get to you in a minute Agreement: • • Giving a point of view • • • Clarifications • • Interruptions or make someone stop speaking • Cutting people short • • Avoiding irrelevant discussion • • What you usually say for each language function above? Answers: Agreement: 1, - Giving a point of view 3, 4, - Clarifications 2, 10 - Interruptions or make someone stop speaking - Cut people short 6, - Avoiding irrelevant discussion 9, 11 LEADING A MEETING – USEFUL PHRASES 10 - 12 LOC-P6-01-E Read: Which phrases have you heard in meetings? Which phrases have you used? In what situations? Giving an I think we should… opinion / point of The best thing to is… view Ask for an Peter, what are your views? opinion Peter, how you feel about this? Do you have any ideas on this Stephanie? Why don’t we… One thing we could is… John, what you think? Any comments Julien? 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 Sorry to interrupt/Pardon me but… Excuse me for interrupting, but short Just a minute Listen… Hold on a moment… Avoid irrelevant This is not on the agenda discussion Let’s speak about it at a later date J Agreeing / Disagreeing Interrupt/ stop a person talking politely/softly 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 Sorry, could I interrupt for a moment? Could I just say something? Excuse me Can I just say/ask…? L 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! If I could just finish… If you’d let me finish what I was saying… Read or listen to the phrases (your instructor will provide you) & classify them Answers: 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? 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 LOC-P6-01-S Read the instructions Perform the role play using phrases to • • • • Give an opinion Interrupt Ask for clarification/details Make a suggestion Role-play Your company employs five office cleaners who aren’t needed for the next six weeks, but will be needed after that What can you with them in the meantime? Think of 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 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 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 Match the vocabulary with its synonym call call off adjourn skip put on wind up fix hold a b c d e f g h organize set up arrange close (an event) conduct finalize cancel to not assist/attend Answers: 1.a, b or c - 2g – d,f - 4h - a, b or c - 6.d, f - a, b or c - 8e Complete lead defer postpone put off bring forward put on Don’t _ the conference call yet Let me check with my schedule This is Mark Duncan, he will be in charge of this project and tomorrow’s meeting You need to pick up your colleague at the airport later The flight arrival time has been _ No, I can’t at pm Can we _ our meeting _ in the morning? The presentation has been _ from pm to 2:30 pm Could you please a meeting for the parking problem sometime in the morning next week? Answer: postpone/defer/put off, lead, Put off/deferred/postponed, Bring forward deferred/postponed/put off, put on Match the phrases to with the speaker intention a to f: Are saying that … Just a minute Listen, I … I would agree with what Mr Z said The best thing to is… What if we… That might be all right, but If you’d let me finish what I was saying… This is not on the agenda Answers: 1d – 2e – 3c – 4a – 5b - 6h – 7g -8f a b c d e f g h Giving an opinion Suggesting Agreeing Clarifying Cutting people short Avoid irrelevant discussion Interrupt Disagreeing