Reasons for meetings

English

For

Business

Communication

A Modular Short Course on

· Meetings

· Negotiations

· Presentations

· Telephoning

· Socialising

Trainer

Andrei L. Chernyshev

VORONEZH – 2014

©Andrei L. Chernyshev 2014

Day 1

Meetings

Agenda

· Types of meeting. The features of a successful meeting. The role of the chairperson. Five golden rules for chairpeople.

· Arranging a meeting. Setting the agenda.

· Discussing and evaluating meetings.

· Opening a meeting.

· Stating the objectives.

· Linking items and ideas.

· Reporting progress. Explaining cause and effect. Interrupting and dealing with interruptions.

· Asking different kinds of questions and clarifying.

· Expressing strong and tentative opinions.

· Agreeing and disagreeing. Discussion techniques.

· Responding to others. Buying time. Taking a vote.

· Summarizing, clarifying, and closing. Thanking participants.

· Confirming decisions and action points. Follow-up emails. Saying goodbye.

· Useful phrases and vocabulary.

· Test.

· Games.

Most managers spend many hours in meetings, which play an essential role in the life of an organization. An effective business meeting has a clear purpose, a list of points to discuss, a result, and finally, a report of what took place at the meeting. It should take as short a time as possible.

There are many different types of meeting, and in the workplace you be involved in some of the following: board meetings, departmental meetings, team meetings, staff meetings, weekly meetings and, the most formal of all, annual general meetings.

Reasons for meetings

Meetings may be held in order to satisfy a company’s legal obligations. A meeting held for this reason might be an annual general meeting (AGM) for a limited company. Here are some other reasons why meetings take place in an organization, with some specific examples.

Decision-making – selecting a candidate for a job buying new equipment

Problem-solving – late delivery of supplies shortage of skilled workers

Information-gathering – reporting on a conference market research

Information-giving – training and presenting results

Idea-generating – sales strategy and product development

Negotiating – suppliers’ contracts + pay and conditions

Reviewing/evaluating – staff appraisal and year-end review

Which of the following types of meeting do you attend?

* * *

At which type of meeting would you be most likely to hear each of these things?

Listen to the recording of Allan Case, an engineer, talking about the characteristics of successful business meetings. Identify these points.

The Role of the Chairperson

* * *

The chair or chairperson is the leader of a meeting – the person who controls the direction that it takes. He or she is responsible for the following:

· Introducing the agenda

· Introducing the speakers, if appropriate

· Running the meeting

· Ensuring that rules are followed

· Encouraging everybody to take part

· Preventing digressions

· Timekeeping

· Achieving objectives of the meeting

· Summing up at the end

· Setting the date of the next meeting if necessary

* * *

Appendix A

Word partnerships: a meeting

The following verbs are commonly used before ‘a meeting’:

Arrange

Organize

Schedule

Call

Run

Chair

Have

hold … a meeting

Attend

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14