Meetings

BUSINESS  ENGLISH  VOCABULARY

Meetings

Word	Meaning
A.G.M.	Annual General Meeting
absentee	Person not at the meeting, not present.
agenda	Written list of points to be discussed at a meeting.
alternative	Choice of two or more possibilities.
attendee	Participant or person attending a meeting.
ballot	System of secret voting; voters place their ballot-papers in a ballot-box;
casting vote	Deciding vote, usually by the Chairman, when votes are in equal number.
chairman / chairperson	The person who conducts the meeting.
clarify	Make something clearer by giving more information.
conference	Formal meeting for discussion or exchange of views.
conference call	Telephone call between three or more people in different places.
consensus	General agreement.
deadline	Future date at which something must be done.
decision	Reach a conclusion or resolution concerning future action.
i-conference	A meeting or discussion between two or more people via the internet.
interrupt	Stop a person who is speaking in order to say or do something.
item	A separate point for discussion on an agenda.
main point	What is most essential.
minutes	A written summary of the proceedings at a meeting.
objective	What is aimed at, what one wants to achieve or obtain.
point out	Draw attention to something e.g. point out an increase in demand.
proposal	A course of action put forward for consideration; to make a proposal.
proxy vote	A vote cast by one person for another.
recommend	Advise a course of action;  make a recommendation.
show of hands	Raised hands to express agreement or disagreement in a vote.
summary	A brief statement of the main points.
task	A piece of work to be done;  to assign a task to someone.
unanimous	In complete agreement.
video conference	Conference linking people in different locations by satellite, TV, etc.
vote	Express one's agreement or disagreement;  to cast a vote.

Phrases

Interrupting
May I have a word?
If I may, I think...
Excuse me for interrupting.
May I come in here?
Giving Opinions
I (really) feel that...
In my opinion...
The way I see things...
If you ask me,... I tend to think that...
Asking for Opinions
Do you (really) think that...
(name of participant) can we get your input?
How do you feel about...?
Commenting on Other Opinions
I never thought about it that way before.
Good point!
I get your point.
I see what you mean.
Agreeing with Other Opinions
Exactly!
That's (exactly) the way I feel.
I have to agree with (name of participant).
Disagreeing with Other Opinions
Up to a point I agree with you, but...
(I'm afraid) I can't agree
Advising and Suggesting
We should...
Why don't you....
How/What about...
I suggest/recommend that...
Clarifying
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...
Requesting Information
I'd like you to...
Would you mind... I wonder if you could...
Asking for Repetition
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?
Asking for Clarification
I'm afraid I don't quite understand what your 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 Verification
Do you mean that...?
Is it true that...?
Asking for Spelling
Would you mind spelling that for me, please?
Asking for Contributions for Other Participants
What do you think about this proposal?
Would you like to add anything, (name of participant)?
Has anyone else got anything to contribute?
Are there any more comments?
Correcting Information
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.
Keeping the Meeting on Time
Well, that seems to be all the time we have today.
Please be brief.
I'm afraid we've run out of time.
I'm afraid that's outside the scope of this meeting.
Let's get back on track, why don't we?
That's not really why we're here today.
Why don't we return to the main focus of today's meeting.
We'll have to leave that to another time.
We're beginning to lose sight of the main point.
Keep to the point, please.
I think we'd better leave that for another meeting.

A very formal meeting:

Here's an example of how someone might speak in a very formal meeting, like a board meeting for a large company, or the public meeting of a government committee:

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get started. I hereby call the March 30th, 2013, meeting of the PMix Society to order.

Before we begin, I would like to thank you all for attending.

We have a few announcements to make before we get started. First of all, as you may have noticed, we have had a change in our agenda order. Secondly, there's an attendance log being passed around. Please make sure to sign that at some point during this morning's meeting.

The 3 items of business under consideration today are: one, the election of 3 new members of the Board; two, discussion of a proposal to establish an International English Day; and three, an update on our fundraising progress.

Let's begin with the first item. Natalia, I'll turn it over to you...

Here are some phrases used in this dialogue:

• Ladies and gentlemen
• Let's get started
• call (a meeting) to order
• Before we begin...
• I would like to thank you for (attending/coming/being here/etc.)
• attend (a meeting)
• have (some/a few) announcements
• items of business
• first of all...
• (something) is being passed around
• an attendance log
• (do something) at some point during (an event)
• a proposal to (do something)
• an update
• Let's begin with (something)
• turn it over to (someone)

A more casual meeting:

In a meeting with people who you already know, you can speak a little more casually, even if you're in a business setting. Here's an example of how someone might start a meeting at work:

All right guys, thanks for coming. Go ahead and take a seat, and let's get started.

How's everyone doing this morning? Good? All right!

There's a sheet going around. If you could sign in so that we know who was here, that would be great.

So, we have a few things to get to today. We're going to have our election, of course. After that there's a new proposal for us to discuss, about starting up an "International English Day" event. And then we'll go over fundraising.

Natalia, do you want to kick it off with the elections?

Here are some of the useful expressions:

• All right
• guys
• thanks for coming
• take a seat
• How's everyone doing?
• (something) is going around
• sign in
• Have (things) to get to
• there's (a topic) to discuss
• go over (a topic)
• kick it off