Vocabulary
What does someone mean if they say "I concur"?
I agree.
"Tanaka, please distribute the minutes to everyone, and Chuck, please touch base with the development team and prepare a status update for the next meeting."
End of a meeting; assigning responsibilities.
Disagree strongly but politely with somebody's proposal.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I totally disagree with your proposal."
Politely interrupt a speaker whose PowerPoint slides are not showing on the screen.
"Excuse me, your slides don't seem to be on the screen yet."
Use an expression to encourage everyone to share their ideas and opinions.
If you have an idea, please ´throw it out there.´
What does it mean to "commence a project"?
To start working on the project.
You are chairing a 4-hour long meeting from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. It is now 2:00. How would you tell everyone at the meeting that it's lunchtime and that food and drinks are outside in the lobby? All attendees need to be back by 2:30 PM.
"Let's adjourn for a short lunch break. Refreshments are available in the lobby for you to enjoy. We will resume the meeting in 30 minutes, so please be sure to return to your seat by then."
You are in a meeting, and a colleague is taking a long time to describe a problem, and not getting to the point. Interrupt politely, and ask the person a question to bring them back to the point.
Excuse me, but can you explain your point? How does this relate to (the project) we´re discussing?
You are the meeting chair. Sandra has interrupted Jackson's presentation to ask a question. Interrupt Sandra's question and politely request that she hold her questions until Jackson is finished.
"Excuse me, Sandra, please hold your question until Jackson has finished his presentation. Thank you."
You want to emphasize something about a product you work with or a project you´re working on. (Be specific in your answer)
I´d like to point out that...
What should you do if someone asks you to "rephrase your question"?
Repeat the question, but use different (usually simpler) words and descriptions.
"Unfortunately, Jeff from finance is not able to join us today. Marianne will be taking minutes today; Marianne, please be sure to take good notes for Jeff!"
Opening; announcing meeting absences and roles.
You couldn't understand someone's suggestion. Politely ask them to say it again, rephrasing in simpler language.
"I'm not sure I completely understood your suggestion. Could you explain it again to me in simpler terms?" /OR ¨Could you rephrase it?
Politely interrupt a meeting to remind the chairperson that another group has reserved this conference room at 4:00 PM, and it is already 3:45 PM now.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but the next meeting in this room is scheduled to begin in 15 minutes. If you can, please try to wrap things up as soon as possible. Thank you!"
Your colleague is talking about something that is not related to the agenda of the meeting. Use an expression to politely explain that his/her points are not relevant to the meeting.
I´m afraid that´s outside the scope of this meeting.
If someone says you are "getting into the weeds," what do they mean?
You are focusing on too many irrelevant details, losing focus, nad wasting time & energy.
"Thank you for your presentation; it contained a lot of very interesting and useful information. Could you please elaborate on the budget a bit more? Namely, I'd like to hear your opinion on how best to keep operating costs low."
Q&A; discussion
You are chairing a very formal meeting. Announce that the meeting has finished using formal language.
"Thank you for participating in today's discussion. We will now adjourn this meeting.¨
You are the meeting chair. Two speakers have been arguing for a long time and nothing is getting done. Politely interrupt them to get things back on track.
"Excuse me, we're getting off track here. Let's try to stay focused on today's agenda for now. We can hold a separate meeting to continue your discussion later, okay?"
Use an expression to tell someone that you think they have a great idea.
I think you´re onto something there! / You´re onto something with that idea!
Your boss wants to know if you are on the same page with her about a project. What does she mean?
She wants to know if you agree with her.
You are in a meeting with 20 people and want to vote on which of three ideas to discuss further. Ask for a vote using professional language.
"I'd like to put these three ideas to a vote to see which we should discuss further. Can I get a show of hands for those who wish to discuss the first idea? The second? And the third?"
You are a regular employee attending a meeting with native and higher level English speakers. Someone uses a term or expression you do not understand. Politely interrupt, and ask for clarification of the term. NOTE: You can come up with a difficult (maybe technical) term to ask about here.
"Excuse me, but can you explain that term you just used? I´m not sure I understood it. / What do you mean by ______________?
Somebody has interrupted you with a question that you do not want to answer yet. Politely defer the question until you have heard opinions from everyone in the room.
I'd like to hear the opinions of everyone else in the room before answering that question. Let's take turns sharing our ideas and then we'll come back to your question.
You want to read over the agenda items that have been discussed before continuing to the next item. Use two expressions to explain this.
I´d like to run through the agenda items we´ve already discussed before moving on to the next item.