An overview of the formal business meeting terminology

1. BUSINESS ENGLISH:
MEETINGS

2. GETTING
STARTING
• Ok, shall we get started?
• Right, everyone’s here so let’s begin.
• OK, I think that’s everyone. Shall we kick off?
• Let’s get down to business.

3. WELCOMING
• Welcome, everybody.Thank you for coming.
• I’d like to start by welcoming everybody here today.
• Firstly, I’d like to introduce Miguel and Samantha.
• I’m not sure everyone knows Samuel and Jungho.Would you
like to explain your company and what you do?
• I’d like to thank everyone for being here today.

4. APOLOGIES
• I’m afraid that Roberto cannot be with us today because...
• Unfortunately, David our marketing manager couldn’t make it
today, because...

5. GOALS /
OBJECTIVES
• Our objective today is to...
• I think our goal for today should be to...
• I’ve called this meeting to talk about...
• By the end of this meeting I’d like us to decide...
• The goal of today’s meeting is to....

6. AGENDA
• Have you all got a copy of the agenda?
• Ok.As you can see from the agenda, there are 4 items.
Firstly,..., secondly,...., thirdly,..., and finally,...
• Let’s start by talking about...., then go on to..., and finish with...

7. MINUTES
• John will be taking the minutes today.
• Kevin, could you take the minutes, please?
Minutes are the notes about what is said during a meeting

8. PROCESS
• I suggest we go around the table and get everyone’s opinion
first.
• I’d like to hear what people think before we make a decision.
• Before we get started I’d like to give you a little more
background information on...

9. DURATION
• I would like to wrap-up by 4 o’clock.
• The meeting is scheduled to finish at 3 o’clock, and I’d like to
finish on time.
• We’re pretty short of time, so could you please be brief?
• Can we keep each item to about10 minutes?

10. LET’S BEGIN
• OK, so, the first item on the agenda is...
• Right, let’s get started with...
• Mr. Kim, could you introduce this item, please?
• Mr.Takahashi, would you like to start with the first point?

11. ASKING FOR
OPINIONS
• What do you all think?
• What are everyone’s thoughts on this?
• Does anyone have an opinion on this topic?

12. EXPRESSING
OPINIONS
• I’m convinced that...
• I’m sure that...
• I think that...
• In my opinion...
• My view is that...
• I’m pretty sure that...
Stronger expression
Weaker expression
...this is the best plan.
... this is the way forward.
...this is the best alternative

13. CONTROLLING
• What is active listening?
It’s when you respond to what people say to help motivate them
• Examples:
• Right.
• OK, I see.
• Good.

14. CONTROLLING
• Clarifying
• In other words, what you’re saying is that,....
• If I’m hearing you right, you think that...?
• So, what you’re saying is that...?

15. CONTROLLING
• Moving off the point
• Could I digress for a second?
• I know it’s not on the agenda, but...

16. CONTROLLING
• Keeping/sticking to the agenda
• I think we’re digressing. Can we get back on topic?
• We are getting a little side tracked.
• I’m not sure that’s relevant. Let’s stick to the agenda, please?

17. CONTROLLING
• Referring Forward
• We’ll get to that later.
• Can we talk about that later?
• Let’s not talk about this right now.We’ll be dealing with it a
little later.

18. CONTROLLING
• Referring Back
• We’re repeating ourselves now.This was discussed a little
earlier.
• We have already talked about this before lunch.
• We touched on this issue before.

19. CONTROLLING
• Postponing
• Shall we skip this item?
• I think we can forget about point 3.
• Let’s deal with this point in the next meeting.

20. CONTROLLING
• Meeting Length
• We’re getting pretty short of time.
• Can we move on to the next point before it gets too late?
• We’ve spent 15 minutes on this already. Let’s move on to
something else.

21. CONTROLLING
• Confirming a Decision
• Ok, so what we’ve decided is to...
• Is everyone in agreement?
• Is that clear to everyone or do you we need to have a
recap?

22. CONTROLLING
• Closing and Moving on
• I think that’s everything we need to discuss on that.
• It’s getting late. Can we leave this point and move on?
• Let’s get to the next point on the agenda, which is...

23. BEING THE CHAIR
Business Meeting English: Scenario Exercise

24. EXERCISE 1
• You’re running out of time and someone says “Can I
digress for a minute?”
• What do you say?
• I don’t think we should digress. Can we stick to the main
question?
• Ok, but please be quick.
• Sure, go ahead.

25. EXERCISE 2
• Somebody is in the middle of talking and another
person says “Excuse me, may I interrupt?”
• What do you say?
• Please, let him finish.
• Be quick.
• No.Wait your turn

26. EXERCISE 3
• You are talking about point number 3 on the agenda but
someone else starts talking about point number 5.
• What do you do?
• Allow them to continue then say “I think we can skip point
5.We’ve already discussed it.”
• Stop them and say “We’ll come to that later.”

27. EXERCISE 4
• There are 2 points left on the agenda but it’s getting
close to lunchtime. If you continue the participants will
miss their lunch. However, the meeting is quite
important.
• What do you say?
• Let’s adjourn for lunch.
• Let’s adjourn for lunch but please come back in 20 minutes.
• Let’s carry on and get this meeting finished.

28. ASKING QUESTIONS
How to ask questions in business meetings

29. DO PEOPLE
UNDERSTAND?
• Do you follow me?
• Am I making myself clear?
• Do you see what I mean?
• Are you still with me?
• Do you get what I’m saying?

30. MORE
INFORMATION
• Could you say a little more about that, please?
• Would you elaborate on that a little?
• Could you go into a little more detail about...?
• Can you give an example of what you’re saying?

31. CLARIFICATION
• What exactly are you trying to say?
• What are you trying to say exactly?
• What do you think is the main take-away?
• Why do you feel this is important?

32. YOU WANT IT
REPEATED
• I’m sorry, I missed that. Could you repeat that, please?
• I’m not sure I follow. Could you go over that point again,
please?

33. QUESTIONS
How to ask and handle questions in Business meetings

34. CLOSED
QUESTIONS
• When the answer is either Yes or No
• Do you plan to complete the report by the end of the
month?
• Is this report based on the latest data?
• Did you check with the accounting manager?
• Are you going to let the accounting manager know?

35. OPEN
QUESTIONS
• Used to get a longer, more detailed answer
• Could you tell me where I can download the document?
• Could you inform me about the best practices?
• Could you explain what’s in the report?
• I’d be interested to know where you got that information.

36. LEADING
QUESTIONS
• Encouraging people to talk
• Shouldn’t we discuss the results from the latest report?
• Can we talk about the results of the metrics analysis?
• What’s up next?

37. INTERRUPTING
Interrupting a speaker in a business meeting

38. CHAIR
INTERRUPTING
• OK Fred, if I could just quickly interrupt you there...
• Nick, sorry to interrupt but I’d like to hear some other views
on this.
• If I could just stop you there for a second.

39. CHAIR STOPPING
INTERRUPTION
• Just a moment, Dave. I’ll come back to you in a minute.
• One at a time, please.
• Please, let him finish what he was saying.

40. PARTICIPANTS
INTERRUPTING
• Excuse me, can I just interrupt quickly?
• Come I come in here?
• Can I just briefly comment on that?
• Can I piggyback on what Shelly was saying?

41. STOPPING AN
INTERRUPTION
• If I could just finish what I was saying.
• May I just finish my point?
• No, just one minute, please.
• I haven’t finished what I was saying yet.

42. REASON FOR
INTERRUPTING
• I’d like to point out that the data is from 2009.
• I’d like to add something to that point...
• I’d like to piggyback on what you just said.
• That’s a good point. I’d like to develop it a bit.

43. COMMENTING
• That’s a good point, Mike.
• I see what you saying, Jim.
• Yes, you’re spot-on.

44. CONTINUING AN
INTERRUPTING
• Thanks for bringing that up. Perhaps we should talk more
about it.
• Let’s talk a bit more about this new point.

45. DECIDING AND
CLOSING
• I think we need to discuss this further.
• I think we should have some more information on this.
• I would like to take this away and look at it in more detail.
• Let’s put this on next week’s agenda.
• Let’s leave this until next week.

46. TIME
• We’re running out of time.
• Unfortunately, we don’t have anymore time to spend on this.
• OK, everyone, we’re almost out of time.
• We getting really behind schedule.

47. CLOSING
• We have to bring this to a close.
• I think we have covered everything we’d planned to.
• I don’t think there’s anything else left.

48. DECIDING
• I really would like a decision before we close the meeting.
• Can we come to a decision before we leave?
• Are we ready to make a decision?

49. COMPLETING
AGENDA
• I think we’ve covered everything.
• OK. That’s everything on the agenda.
• Does anyone have anything else before we finish?
• Is there any other business?
• Are there any final questions before we call it a day?

50. CONFIRM
TASKS
• John, you’re doing the report on...
• Dave, you will get the data and email it me before the end of
the week.
• Steven, you will sort out...

51. NEXT MEETING
• Let’s set a time for our next meeting.
• Is July 8th a convenient day for our next meeting?
• I’ll confirm the date and location of our next meeting by email.
• I’ll email you the time of our next meeting.

52. CLOSING THE
MEETING
• OK. Let’s finish there.Thank you all for coming and I’ll see you
again in the next week.
• It’s getting late. Let’s call it a day.

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