BAZA ZNANJA

Kurs: - Business English

Modul: Running a Meeting - Vođenje sastanka

Autor: prof. Gordana Matorkić

Naziv jedinice: Beginning the Meeting

BUSINESS ENGLISH: RUNNING A MEETING

The following phrases are used to conduct a meeting. These phrases are useful if you are called on to conduct a meeting.

One of the most common requirements of business English is holding meetings in English. The following sections provide useful language and phrases for conducting meetings and making contributions to a meeting.

Meetings generally follow a more or less similar structure and can be divided into the following parts:

I - Introductions

II - Reviewing Past Business

III - Beginning the Meeting

IV - Discussing Items

V - Finishing the Meeting

III - Beginning the Meeting

Introducing the Agenda

Have you all received a copy of the agenda?
There are X items on the agenda. First, ... second, ... third, ... lastly, ...
Shall we take the points in this order?
If you don`t mind, I`d like to go in order today.
Let’s skip item 1 and move on to item 3
I suggest we take item 2 last.

Allocating Roles (secretary, participants)

(name of participant) has agreed to take the minutes.
(name of participant), would you mind taking the minutes?
(name of participant) has kindly agreed to give us a report on ...
(name of participant) will lead point 1, (name of participant) point 2, and (name of participant) point 3.
(name of participant), would you mind taking notes today?

Agreeing on the Ground Rules for the Meeting (contributions, timing, decision-making, etc.)

We will first hear a short report on each point, followed by a discussion of ...
I suggest we go round the table first.
Let`s make sure we finish by ...
I`d suggest we ...
There will be five minutes for each item.
We`ll have to keep each item to 15 minutes. Otherwise we`ll never get through.