Business skills: Getting the most out of meetings

If you work for a company where meetings are held in English, you may have had one or these problems:

- being unable to say what you mean clearly and concisely;

- being unable to understand others – especially if they joke, go off the point, or speak too quickly;

- what the action points are – and what you're expected to do;

- being unable to concentrate for long periods of time on complex or detailed discussions;

- being shy (not willing to initiate a discussion, even though you have plenty of things to say).

5. Look through the following list of useful language for participants of a meeting. It will help you to be more confident and get the most out of your meetings.

Functions	Useful language
Getting the Chairperson's Attention	(Mister/Madam) chairman. May I have a word? If I may, I think... Excuse me for interrupting. May I come in here?
Giving Opinions	I'm positive that... I (really) feel that... In my opinion... The way I see things... If you ask me,... I tend to think that...
Agreeing	I totally agree with you. Exactly! That's (exactly) the way I feel. I have to agree with (name of participant).
Disagreeing	Unfortunately, I see it differently. Up to a point I agree with you, but... (I'm afraid) I can't agree
Requesting Information	Please, could you... I'd like you to... Would you mind... I wonder if you could...
Clarifying	Let me spell out... Have I made that clear? Do you see what I'm getting at? Let me put this another way... I'd just like to repeat that...
Asking for Clarification	I don't quite follow you. What exactly do you mean? I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you are getting at. Could you explain to me how that is going to work? I don't see what you mean. Could we have some more details, please?
Asking for Repetition	I'm afraid I didn't understand that. Could you repeat what you just said? I didn't catch that. Could you repeat that, please? I missed that. Could you say it again, please? Could you run that by me one more time?
Correcting Information	Sorry, I think you misunderstood what I said. Sorry, that's not quite right. I'm afraid you don't understand what I'm saying. That's not quite what I had in mind. That's not what I meant.

Chairing meetings

It can be difficult to chair an international meeting if your first language is not English. The role of a chairperson is to make sure that the objectives of the meeting are met, and that the people attending the meeting know what they need to do next. The chair should also make sure that everyone in the meeting can participate and understand what's going on. To chair a successful meeting, you need to keep to the agenda and time constraints, and also be sensitive to people and clarify or summarise where necessary.

The chair directs the meeting dealing with the meeting formalities and making sure that the points on the agenda are covered

 

6. Look through the list of useful language for chairing a meeting.

 

Functions	Useful language
Opening	Good morning/afternoon, everyone. If we are all here, let's get started / start the meeting / start.
Welcoming and Introducing	Please join me in welcoming (name of participant) We're pleased to welcome (name of participant) I'd like to extend a warm welcome to (name of participant) It's a pleasure to welcome (name of participant) I'd like to introduce (name of participant)
Stating the Principal Objectives	We're here today to... I'd like to make sure that we... Our main aim today is to... I've called this meeting in order to..
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. 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 first, 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.
Introducing the First Item on the Agenda	So, let's start with... I'd suggest we start with... Why don't we start with... So, the first item on the agenda is Pete, would you like to kick off? Shall we start with... (name of participant), would you like to introduce this item?
Closing an Item	I think that takes care of the first item. Shall we leave that item? Why don't we move on to... If nobody has anything else to add, lets...
Next Item	Let's move onto the next item Now that we've discussed X, let's now... The next item on today's agenda is... Now we come to the question of.
Giving Control to the Next Participant	I'd like to hand over to (name of participant), who is going to lead the next point. Next, (name of participant) is going to take us through... Now, I'd like to introduce (name of participant) who is going to.
Involving people	We haven’t heard from you yet, Bob. Can we hear what Jeremy has to say? Susan, you’re very quiet. Would you like to comment?
Summarizing	Before we close today's meeting, let me just summarize the main points. Let me quickly go over today's main points. To sum up,...,. OK, why don't we quickly summarize what we've done today. In brief,... Shall I go over the main points?
Finishing Up	Right, it looks as though we've covered the main items. Let's bring this to a close for today. Is there Any Other Business? I'd like to thank Marianne and Jeremy for coming over from London. Thank you all for attending. Thanks for your participation. The meeting is finished, we'll see each other next... The meeting is closed. I declare the meeting closed.

Speaking

7. Work in groups. You are members of a staff committee investigating ways of improving working conditions in your offices. After the meeting your proposals will be submitted to a management committee.

· Decide who will be 'in the chair' and who will take the minutes.

· Before the meeting starts, the chairperson should look at File 1, the others at Files 2, 3 or 4.

· Hold the meeting.

· Write a short report of your meeting, giving your proposals to the management committee.

 

File 1  Here are some tips for chairing the meeting: 1. Begin by starting the purpose of the meeting. 2. Give the name of the person you want to speak next. 3. Make sure everyone has a chance to give their views. 4. If someone is talking too long, say Thank you and name the next person who wants to speak. 5. If there’s disagreement on any point, call for vote. 6. Make sure one member of the group is keeping minutes: ask them to read out the notes at the end, if there’s time. 7. Keep to the time limit: if necessary stop the discussion and summarize the conclusions and decisions you have come to.

File 2  These are your department’s suggestions: - more staff parties and picnics - better toilets and showers - open roof garden to staff - more comfortable tables and chairs in staff canteen

File 3 These are your department’s suggestions: - more flowers and plants - more flexibility about taking time off - better lighting and heating - more pictures and posters on the walls

File 4  These are your department’s suggestions: - more comfortable chairs - a better coffee machine - proper plates in the canteen instead of plastic - more car parking places

Writing

8. Summarize what you have learnt in this unit and complete the following chart:

	DOs	DON’Ts
Chairperson	1. Have a clear purpose 2. 3. 4.	1. Go on for more than an hour 2. 3. 4.
Participants	1. 2. 3. 4.	1. 2. 3. 4.

Using the chart answer the following question in writing:

“What makes а good meeting?”

NEGOTIATIONS

Warm up

9. Discuss the following questions:

a) What is a 'negotiation?

b) How would you judge the success of a negotiation?

c) In what situations do you negotiate? Who do you negotiate with? Think about both your work and your private life.

d) What makes a good negotiator?

10. How appropriate is the following advice? Rank each suggestion on a scale from 1-10 (1 = essential, 10 = unhelpful) to indicate your opinion:

How to be a good negotiator

• try to get on well with your opposite number

• use emphatic language

• show respect for your opposite number

• make suggestions to resolve disagreement

• have clear objectives

• be determined to win

• say ‘I don't understand’, if that is the case

• listen carefully

• always compromise

• discuss areas of conflict

 

11. Choose adjectives which, in your opinion, characterize a perfect negotiator:

 

persuasive, pushy, polite, firm, aggressive, flexible, sensitive, confident, loud-mouthed, clear, competent, willful, knowledgeable about business sector, constructive, hot-headed, controlled, honest, prepared, tenacious

 

Reading

12. Read the text and add to the list of tips for successful negotiating your own ideas.