Meetings

Intermediate1

Lead in

• Do you often have to take part in meetings?

• Are meetings sometimes too long? How much time do you spend in meetings? How could this be reduced?

• What kind of meetings are the most / least worthwhile? What makes a meeting effective?

• Do you sometimes have to chair the meeting? What qualities does a chairperson need to have?

• How important is reaching a consensus in the meetings which you attend?

• Do you often have meetings in English?

• What cultural differences in the way meetings are held and agreements reached have you noticed when meeting with people from other countries?

Unit 1 Organizing a meeting

1 Match word combinations with “meeting” with their meanings.

Arrange a meeting Chair a meeting Attend a meeting Miss a meeting Postpone a meeting Cancel a meeting

not to go to a meeting change a meeting to a later time organize a meeting go to a meeting not have a planned meeting be in charge of a meeting

Now choose the correct verb to complete these sentences.

1. She _______________________ the meeting because she was late for work.

2. I decided to _______________________ the meeting because there was nothing to talk about.

3. We can _______________________ the meeting until next week if necessary.

4. I asked Jean to _______________________ a meeting next week, but there were no rooms available.

5. They _______________________ the meeting, but they didn’t hear anything interesting, so it was a waste of time.

6. This meeting is very important. So don’t _______________________ it!

Complete the text with the following expressions (use words more than once).

minutes items/points your apologies sends out the minutes

meeting venue takes the minutes AOB agenda

An _______________________ is a list of _______________________ - different things – to talk about at a meeting. It begins with the _______________________ - the place where the meeting will be.

Before the meeting, someone sends out the _______________________. If you cannot attend the _______________________, you send _______________________ - a message to say that you cannot be there. At the beginning, someone reads out these messages.

The _______________________ of a meeting are written notes of what is said and decided in the meeting. During the meeting, someone ____________________ _______________________ - writes down what is said and decided. After the meeting, someone _______________________ _________________________ - sends copies to everyone.

The last item on the agenda is usually _______________________ (any other business) – other things that people want to talk about.

3 Complete this memo with suitable words or expressions.

From: Chief Executive

To: All managers

Subject: Memo

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Please find enclosed the _______________________ for next week’s meeting. Please make a note of the _______________________ : we are meeting in room 7. Please let me know if you are unable to _______________________.

Please find attached a copy of the _______________________ from the last meeting.

If want me to add other _______________________ to the agenda, please let me know.

Useful Vocabulary

Asking for a meeting	Could we schedule a time to meet next week? I’d like to schedule a meeting as soon as possible. Can we meet and go over this together? Perhaps we could meet and go over the details in person?
Suggesting a meeting time	How about Monday at nine? How about sometime after lunch? Could we meet next week? Can I suggest 7.30 on Thursday evening? Would half past five suit you?
Saying that you aren’t able to come	Sorry, I can’t make it then. I’m afraid I have another appointment then. I’m a bit tied up then. How about another time?
Saying that you can attend	Sounds good. Yes, that works for me. Yes, that would be fine.
Confirming the date and time	See you on Monday at seven. So, I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday at four.

Role play

Now role play the following situations with two partners. You need to arrange a meeting with two colleagues. You want to discuss the problems you are having with the new customer service software the company has invested in. Find a time that suits you all to meet. Do not show your diary to either of your partners.

Partner A

Your schedule for the coming week.

Mon	10-12.30 Meet Stephen Story
Tue	1.00-6.00 Interviews for team assistant job
Wed	In Hamburg on business
Thu	9.15-11.15 Meeting to discuss next quarter’s targets with George Cox 11.30-12.30 Meet Fiona to discuss software problems
Fri	All-day team-building workshop

Partner B

Your schedule for the coming week.

Mon	9.30-10.30 Angela Stevens 3.00-6.00 Brainstorming meeting
Tue	Out of the office all day
Wed	9.00-10.00 Dentist appointment 11.00-12.45 Planning meeting about PR events for new product launch
Thu	10.00-12.30 Meet with team leaders 3.45-6.00 Team meeting
Fri	All-day team-building workshop

Partner C

Your schedule for the coming week.

Mon	12.30-2.00 Martin Brown 2.15 – 5.30 Meet new HR manager
Tue	9.15-11.00 Harriet’s presentation 11.30-1.00 Progress meeting with Claudia
Wed	12.00-2.30 Business development meeting 3.00-5.45 Prepare for AZF Ltd meeting
Thu	4.00-5.30 Meeting to discuss possible cooperation with AZF Ltd
Fri	All-day team-building workshop

Unit 2 Chairing a meeting

The chairman, chairwoman or chair – the person in charge of a meeting – opens, runs and closes the meeting.

Useful Vocabulary

Opening the meeting	Is everybody ready? Let’s start. James and Chris send their apologies. Does everyone agree with the minutes of the last meeting?
Asking participants to introduce themselves	Why don’t you introduce yourself to everyone? Tell us a bit about yourself. Could you tell us who you are and say something about yourself?
Introducing yourself	I’m the business development manager. I’ve been with (the name of the company) since 2002. I work at our St. Petersburg branch.
Stating objectives	We’ll be discussing… Our task for today is to discuss … and to decide…
Running the meeting	So, the first item is the company car park. Let’s move on to the next point: the company restaurant.
Interrupting	Can I say something here? Can Isabella come in here? Sorry to interrupt, but I feel that… I’d like to make a point here if I could.
Stopping interruptions	Hold on, please. We’ll come back to you in a moment. Just a moment, I haven’t finished … (talking about the plans) Can I just finish, please? Let him/ her finish.