Speaking in

Business

Context

Speaking in Business Context

Meeting Vocabulary

To organize a meeting

Arrange

Set up

Fix

To make a meeting earlier than originally planned

Bring forward I would like to bring the meeting forward a few

hours.

To make a meeting later than originally planned

Put back I would like to put the meeting back a few hours

Postpone

To NOT have a meeting at all

Cancel

Be in charge of meeting

Run

Chair

Go to a meeting

Attend

Do NOT go to a meeting

Miss

Types of meeting

1. Chat

Information discussion

2. Brainstorming

As many ideas as possible are produced for review later

3. Project meeting/Team meeting

A meeting of employees working together on a project

4. Department meeting/Departmental meeting

A meeting for a department

5. Meeting with suppliers

EX: To negotiate prices for an order

6. Meeting with clients

EX: To discuss a contract

7. Board meeting

An official meeting of the company directors

8. Annual general meeting (AGM)-(BrE) or Annual meeting (AM)-

(AmE)

Shareholders discussing the companys annual report

The role of a chairperson

- Before the meeting

- A good organizer

- Should prepare an agenda before the meeting to cope what will

be discuss

- To invite attendees to a meeting by circulating the agenda

- Make sure that a suitable venue for the meeting is available

- During the meeting

- Must be good timekeeper

- Should appoint a minute taker who will record details of meeting

- Should make sure that the discussion moves toward to next point

- Must ensure that the participants are given the chance to make

their points

- Should deal with disagreement tactfully

- Must make sure that the meeting concludes on time

- After the meeting

- The minutes should be circulated so that any points can be

followed up

- Should tell about the next meeting (when, where, and which

topic)

- Say thank you

The structure of a typical business meeting

I Introduction

II Reviewing past business

III Beginning the meeting

IV Discussing items

V Finishing the meeting

Sample sentences of running a meeting

I Introduction

Opening the meeting

Good morning/afternoon, everyone. If we are all here, lets start

the meeting.

Welcoming and introducing participants

I would like to introduce (name of participant)

Stating the principal objectives of a meeting

We are here today to

Giving apologies for someone who is absent

I have received apologies for the absence of (name of participant),

who is in (place).

II Reviewing past business

Reading the minutes of the last meeting

First, lets go over the report from the last meeting, which was held

on (date)

Dealing with recent developments

(Name of participant), can you tell us how the project is

progressing

III Beginning the meeting

Introducing the agenda

Do you have a copy of agenda?

Allocating roles (secretary, participants)

(Name of participant), would you please taking notes today?

Agreeing on the ground rules for the meeting

We will hear a short report on each point first, followed by a

discussion round the table.

IV Discussing items

Introducing the first item on the agenda

So, lets start with

Closing an item

Shall we leave that item?

Next item

Lets move onto the next item

Giving control to the next participant

Who is going to lead the next point?

V Finishing the meeting

Summarizing

Before we close, let me summarize the main points.

Finishing up

Is there any other business?

Suggesting and agreeing on time, date and place for the next

meeting

So, the next meeting will be on (day), the (date) of (month) at

(place)

Thanking participants for attending

Thanks you all for attending

Closing the meeting

The meeting is closed.