Exercise 2 - Meeting Process

How to attract attention before the meeting
-Hello everybody. Please have a seat. (President Obama said at news conference)
-All right. Is everybody here? Great, I think we can get started.
-Okay. Let's get down to business.
-All right then. Can we get started?
-Okay folks. Let's get started, shall we?
-All right. Can I get everybody's attention? I think it's about the time we got started.
-Right, I think everybody is here. Let's get started.
-Is everybody ready to start?
-Okay, everybody. Let’s all take your seat, get thing started.
-Okay, let’s kick the meeting off.

How to greet in a meeting
-Great! Thank you all for coming.
-Well, good morning everyone. I'm sorry I had to call this meeting at such short notice.
-Well, good afternoon everybody. It's good to see you all here.
-Hello everyone! I'm glad to see you all here. I know it's a long way for some of you to come here.
-I really appreciate your being on time and already to work.


How to introduce attendee
-Let’s start by taking a roll call
-Attending to today’s conference are our colleagues in Roma office
-Andrew John is also joining us today, he is our chief engineer.
-Stone Shi will be with us shortly.
-First of all, I’d like to introduce George from the Hong Kong office. Would you like to say a few words about yourself, George?
-Everybody say hello to Kurume. She’s visiting us from the Japan office.
-I’d like to introduce a colleague of mine.
-I’d like you to meet a friend of mine.

How to introduce yourself
-I am Simon, senior manager from consumer department.
-I am Simon. I am in charge of sales marketing.
-I am Simon. I am responsible for the sales marketing.

How to introduce your objective
-As you know, the main objective of this meeting is to agree on ways to make up the budget shortfall of $100,000 shortfall we’re facing.
-The reason we’re meeting today is to work out ways to deal with the marketing challenges that we’re facing.
-The primary purpose of this meeting will be to start a discussion on ways to cope with the huge increase in demand that we’re seeing.
-Here’s the reason why small businesses won’t adopt enterprise 2.0
-I would like to begin by re-emphasizing something that we all know
-I would like to comment on the problem of
-I like to make a few marks concerning
-I would like to mention briefly that
-There are three points I’d like to make
-The most important problem seems to be

How to ask someone to start
-George, could you start by explaining the background on the first item?
-Cathy, why don’t you tell us what you’ve been thinking on the advertising issue.
-Well, Susanne, would you be so kind as to begin?

Signposting
-I've divided these sections of the presentation into three parts.
First, we'll go to review history sales data.
Next, we'll discuss developing sales trends.
And finally, we'll compare our performance with other competitors.
So, let's talk about the history sales data.
Okay, that covers the history sales data. Now let's move on to some of the trends… First, we'll talk about...then, … and we will finish this section with...
-I've divided these sections of the presentation into three parts.
-There are three types of prices we had to think about: Economic price, market price and sociological price.
Let’s look into each of them for more details. First, economic prices, this is based on product cost.

Summary and Close
To signal the end of a topic or section of a presentation:
- Okay, that’s all I have to say on this topic for the moment.
- Right, that ends the last section of my talk.
- That's all I want to say for now on the third part of my presentation.
To introduce the summary:
- So, to sum up
- To conclude,...
- In conclusion,...
- Now, to sum up...
- So let me summarize what I've said.
- Finally, may I remind you of some of the main points we've considered.
- During my talk today, I’ve described the results of our investigation.
To make a concluding recommendation:
- In conclusion, my recommendations are...
- I therefore propose the following strategy.
- I'd like to finish with...some observations based on what I've said.
- There are two conclusions to be made from this, namely,...
- I think we have to...
- I think we have seen that we should...
- What we need to do is...
- So, let me get straight to the point. We need action and we need it now.
To finish off a presentation and invite questions:
- Many thanks for your attention. Now I’m very interested in hearing your comments.
- Thank you for your attention. And now if you have any questions, I’d be glad to answer them.
- Thank you for listening. Now, I’d be glad to try and answer any questions.
- I thank you all for being such an attentive audience and now I’m sure you must have some questions, so I’ll be happy to answer them…. Yes, Simon ..
- So, let’s throw it open to questions.
- Any questions?

How to ask for clarifying
-Could you speak a little more specific?
-Could you explain this problem in more details?
-I am not sure I understand, could you explain it to me again?
-I am not sure I follow, could you explain it?
-Let me see if I understand.
-OK John, I just want to make sure that I understand your problem.
-Is that correct?

How to apologize
-Please accept my sincere apologies.
-We’re having a temporary problem with our software.
-We’re doing everything we can to resolve the issue.
-We’re doing everything we can to sort it out.
-Can you leave it with me for a day or two?
-I’ll look into the matter urgently, and get back to you tomorrow.
-I’ll send you a replacement immediately.
-We are sending you a small gift as a gesture of goodwill.
-I can assure you that this will not happen again.
-I apologize again for any inconvenience this has caused.
-If you have any further queries, do not hesitate to contact me.

Exercise 1 - Opinion_Agreeing_Suggestion

Karen: OK. Now let’s talk about who we want to use the spokesperson for this project.
Let’s go around the table. Shall we use the sports star or someone else? Sven, what do you think?
[Exercise] To ask for opinion, we can also say:
-Sven, How do you feel about this?
-Sven, What’s your opinion on this?
-Sven, What’s your view on this?
-Sven, What’s your feeling on this?
-Sven, could you please share your thoughts on that?
Sven: Well… One possibility would be to use a famous overweight business executive, or CEO.
[Exercise] To express an opinion or suggestion, we can also say:
-Perhaps we should use a famous overweight business executive.
-In my opinion, we should use a famous overweight business executive.
-From my point of view, we should use a famous overweight business executive.
-I tend to feel that we should use a famous overweight business executive.
-I have the impression that we should use a famous overweight business executive.
-Don’t you think it is a little early?
-What about using a famous overweight business executive, or CEO?
-Why don’t we use a famous overweight business executive, or CEO?
-What if we use a famous overweight business executive, or CEO?
-Maybe we could use a famous overweight business executive, or CEO?
Miguel: Sorry, can I come in here?
[Exercise] To interrupt, we can also say:
-Sorry, can I come in here?
-Can I interrupt for a moment?
-May I speak something about that?
-Can I make a suggestion?
Karen: Yes, go ahead Miguel.
Miguel: That’s a good idea, but I’m not sure would work.
[Exercise] To disagree, we can also say:
-That’s a good idea, but I’m not sure would work.
-Good suggestion, but I can see one or two problems with that.
-Well, I’m not sure about that, to be honest.
-I’m sorry but I really can’t agree.
-I’m afraid I don’t totally agree with you.
Karen: Why not?
Miguel: Well, For one thing, our customers want to be fit, not fat.
Karen: Then, what do you suggest?
Miguel: Perhaps we should just use the famous sports star like we usually do, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. You know what I mean?
Karen: Good suggestion, but I can see one or two problems with that, to be honest.
Miguel: Oh?
Karen: First of all, our target markets are in the UK and the US. I need a man who American and Britain really love. Secondly, our target customer is kind of special.
Charles: I have a good suggestion.
Karen: Go ahead, Charles.
Charles: It’s just an idea, but how about choosing someone from a sport where normal to be heavy, American football, for example, heavy but agile; overweight but strong and fast. You know what I mean?
Karen: Right, I can see what you mean. What do others think?
Miguel: Yes, that’s might be worthy trying.
Sven: Ok, but how about the UK?
Karen: mm… Let me think about this. Shall we try to find someone in golf – That’s popular in the US and the UK.
Charles/ Sven/ Miguel: Good idea
[Exercise] To show agreeing with something:
-That’s a great idea.
-I can’t agree more.
-I entirely agree with you.
-No argument for me on that.
-OK. I can go along with that.
-Absolutely.