Summary
Highlights
This section guides you on effectively starting a meeting. Learn how to get everyone's attention using phrases like "If I could have your attention, please" and how to welcome participants with sentences such as "I’d like to welcome you all here today, now let’s get down to business." You also learn how to introduce yourself and other presenters.
Discover how to clearly introduce the meeting's topic and outline its agenda. Useful phrases include "Today’s meeting is about... We’ll talk about..." or "The aim of this meeting is to... We’ll go over..." The term 'go over' means to analyze something carefully, and 'cover' can be used similarly.
Learn how to present and discuss each agenda item. Start with "So, let’s start with..." or "The first item on the agenda is..." After discussing an item, use closing statements like "I think that covers the first item" before moving to the next with phrases such as "Let’s move on to the next item" or "Now we come to the...".
This part focuses on encouraging attendee participation. Learn how to invite opinions using questions like "..., what’s your opinion on this?" or "Would you like to share your thoughts on this question?" It also covers how to hand over to another presenter with phrases like "I’d like to turn it over to...".
Learn strategies to keep meetings focused and prevent distractions. Use polite but firm phrases such as "Let’s not get too far off-topic here" or "I don’t think that’s relevant to today’s discussion." If a topic is important but not for the current meeting, you can "shelve it" or "table it" for future discussion.
Conclude your meeting effectively by summarizing key points using phrases like "Before we close, let me just summarize the main points" or "To sum up...". Follow this by finishing up the meeting and asking for any final questions with statements like "OK, it looks like we’ve covered the main items" and "Are there any questions before we finish?".