Business English Phrases for Meetings - Learn English with Harry

Business English Phrases for Meetings - Learn English with Harry Wherever, wherever you are, keep safe and keep  well. Today were going to talk to you about some business English  expressions.  In particular, were going to look at English phrases for meetings, around the start and perhaps the closing of meetings. So if youre not used to  hosting a meeting, particularly if youre not used to hosting (meaning to hold a meeting in English)  well,  hopefully some of the English phrases  for meetings that I have for you would be helpful. Useful English Phrases for Meetings Like all meetings at the beginning, theres often a lot of small talk, particularly if you havent seen the people for a while. There may be talk about how they got there to the meeting.Did they find the office okay?Did you need a taxi?What is  the weather like?What was the flight like?It’s something that you can use as small talk.And of course, a lot of meetings take place, not physically, but on a conference call. So in this case what you’re going to say wont make any difference. The expressions and phrases would be exactly the same.Of course, the small talk might be a little bit different because theyre going to be in their own offices and havent travelled.So you might just ask something about the weather, the football match the family, if you know them well, whatever it may be. But small talk always helps to break the ice and get people warmed up and ready for the meeting.If youre the chairman of the meeting, then you can start by saying something like:Hi guys, welcome. And tha nks  for joining us.Hello everybody. Thanks for phoning in. (if its a conference call)Lets get the meeting started.Let’s kick offWhy don’t we start?Everybody seems to be present. Anybody else can join later as they come.We’ve a lot to coverWe’ve a lot to get throughso yet youre making everybody aware that the meeting wont go on longer than is absolutely necessary. But we have a lot to get through. We have a lot to cover. So the sooner we start, the sooner the meeting will end. English Phrases for Meetings - Infographics Enjoyed this infographic? Here's what you can do next: If youve got a very formal structure and somebody kept minutes or the notes on the last meeting, well its always a good place to start.Lets start with the minutes of the last meeting.Has anybody got any questions arising from those minutes?Meaning is there anything in the minutes that they need explained or they dont understand or something has fallen through the, the um, instructions that hasnt been followed up. Okay.So lets start with the minutes of the last meeting as anybody got any questions or anything they wished to add. So somebody might like to add something following on from that particular meeting. Something has perhaps has changed, some action has taken place that has resulted in something either been resolved or perhaps it is now off the agenda.Its a good opportunity at the beginning of the meeting just to find out where everybody is.If you want to know has everybody read the minutes:Is everybody okay with the minutes?  Has everybody understood the minutes and is there a nything additional to add?Anything extra that people should know?Lets start with the minutes of the last meeting. Anybody, any questions or anything they wish    to add or would like to add before we move on?So again, youre just letting people know that we just spend a few minutes with this and then well move on to the items that are specific to this particular meeting today. Okay?You should all have a copy of this weeks agenda. So youre setting the scene, youre going to refer to this agenda.In case of anybody around the table or on the conference call who hasnt got a copy of it, then you would be happy to send it to them.So everybody is up to date, lets get onto the first item. So this is the next part:What is the first item to be covered?So you look around and you see who is the most appropriate person to cover this first item. So you might pick somebody like Michael and you can say:Okay Michael, can I come to you first? Can you give us a quick update as to where we are with the n ew product development?Or the application or the design. So depending on what business youre in, you want this guy Michael who is probably the key person involved in this part of the product or the project. You want him to give everybody an an update as to where we are. So youre identifying him and he is then going to give everybody a quick update as to where he is aware the company is with the application, with the product, with the development, whatever it happens to be.And then you will thank him.Okay, thanks Michael. Thats very clear. Anybody, any questions? Anybody got anything to add?And then again, you open it to everybody around the table or in the various conference  locations if they, anything that they wished to ask specifically.Next. So this is again, were going to move on to the next point.  Whats next?Lets move on.We, as I said, weve got a lot to do so there  are  a couple of these points that we may be able to get through quite quickly. So again, youre letting people know that you dont want to spend all day on  these points.And then you might ask some questions of the people.Have you had time to consider? Question, what can you add to improve the situation?Are there any obvious elephant traps?Are there any obvious impediments? Anything that you can add?If people start talking about things not particular to what you want to talk about, well then pull them back.Okay guys, lets stick to the point that stick to the agenda.I know theres a lot you want to talk about, but no, we can cover those outside the meeting.I really want to stick to the agenda and want to stick to the point we are getting off the point.Please,  lets stick to what we are talking about. Lets not wonder.Lets stick to our agenda and lets stick to the points that we are talking about.So very clearly letting people know that you want to cover everything. Theyll get a chance to raise issues later on.  Somebody might ask some questions:Can you give us some more detail?And I really need some