Business Meetings (Part-2)

4).The Role of the chairperson:

a). Before the meeting:

A good chairperson has to be a good organizer. What they do before the meeting is as important as the meeting itself. They should make sure the agenda (the list of things to be discussed) is complete by asking those involved what should be on it and then circulating (distributing) it to every one concerned. They should check the venue, making sure the room will be free, without interruptions until the end of the meeting.

b). During the meeting:

The chairperson should be a good timekeeper. They should start the meeting on time, without waiting for latecomers.

They should appoint a minute-taker to take the minutes, making sure that opinions and action points (where participants agree to do something) are noted.

They should make sure each point on the agenda is allocated the time it deserves and should keep to the timetable. When the time allocated to one point is up, the chair should make sure that discussion moves on to the next point. Even if the issue has not been completely covered or resolved.

The chair should make sure that each participant has the chance to make their point, and should deal tactfully with disagreements, making sure that each side feels their point of view has been noted. They should also try to avoid digressions, where people get off the point.

Finally, they sure the meeting finishes on time, or early.

5).Points of view:

a).Opening the meeting:

Jane, a chief executive of creative advertising, is opening a meeting:

“ Ok. Let’s get started..”; “ Let’s make a start…”, “Let’s get down to business”;

“Shall we make a start?”; “Let’s begin, shall we?”; “It is about time we got started.”

Then, she says: “As you know, I’ve called this meeting to discuss the situation in the design department…………”

She could also have said:

“As you are aware I have arranged this meeting to ...”

“As you are aware the purpose of this meeting is to…”

“As you are aware the main objective is to…”

b).Invite people to speak:

-“Would you like to open the discussion, Aicha?”

-“Perhaps, you’d like to get the ball rolling , Aicha”

-“Aicha, would you like to kick off?”

c).Asking for one’s opinion:

-“What about you, Omar?

-“What are your feelings on this, Omar?

-“What do you think about this, Omar?

-“What are your views on this, Omar?”

d). Asking for every one’s opinion:

“What is the general feeling on this?”

e).Making your point:

Head of Human Resources: I believe the Department Design needs a certain amount of freedom, but there are limits.

Head of Design: As I see it, I can’t run the Design Department as if it was the accounts Department.

Chief Financial Officer: In my opinion, they’re going much too far. I can’t bear to think of the costs involved.

Senior Designer: Of course, we are sensitive types, and need to be given the freedom to work how we like.

f).Other ways:

-“The way I see it…”

-“It’s clear to me that…”

-“Personally, I think….”

-“It looks to me as if ….”

-“Obviously…..”

Exercises:

1).Replace the underlined expressions with appropriate forms of the verbs in (1); in some cases, more than one verb is possible:

A meeting of the Tennis Club Committee meeting was (1) organized for 1 March, but not every one could (2) go to it, so it was delayed until March 31. One Committee member said that it was too late, so eventually, we (4) moved it to March 15. The chairperson (5) was in charge of it, very efficiently, and we decided on some new membership rules. Only one committee member (6) did not go to the meeting.

2). Look at (2). Types of meeting and try to complete the following. Tell which type of meeting would you be most likely to hear each of these statements:

a. I’m pleased to announce another good year for shareholders of this company.

b. I know this sounds crazy, but how about giving away 100.000 free samples?

c. Things in the sales department are getting out of control. We should all start making a real effort.

d. So, you think you can provide 10.000 a month at a unit cost of £4,90?

e. Have you heard? Suzanne is being fired: apparently her sales figures aren’t good enough.

f. That’s a deal, then. Looking forward to working with you. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

g. Amazingly, we’re ahead of a schedule on this project.

h. I recommend to shareholders that you accept Megabook’s offer for our company.

I.As you know, Megabook wants to buy this company. As chief Financial officer, what do you think of their offer, Mohammed?

3). Match the verbs (1-7) with the nouns (a-g) that they go with:

1. take a. a minute- taker

2. appoint b. the minutes

3. circulate c. time

4. allocate d. the agenda

5. move on e. to the next point

6. avoid f. on time

7. finish g. digressions

4). Correct the following mistakes if there are any mistakes:

a- It’s about time we get started.

b- Let’s begin, let we?

c- Shall we make a start?

d- Let’s do a start.

e- Let’s get up to business.

f- I’ ve call this meeting to ….

g- The main subject is to ….

h- As you are beware..

5). Match the sentence beginnings (1-5) with the correct endings (a-e). The sentences all contain expressions in the lecture:

1. The way	a. I think that the prizes we win help us to attract and keep the best designers
2. Personally,	b. As if the design people think of themselves as living on another planet
3. It looks to me	c. I see it, you should be looking at what we produce not at the time of day we produce it.
4. It’s clear to	d. opinion, we have to think of the needs of each Department
5. In my	e. me that they set a very bad example to the other Departments.