Roles at the meeting: participant

1. Getting the Chairperson's Attention

(Mister/Madam) chairman. May I have a word? Excuse me for interrupting. May I come in here?

2. Giving Opinions

I'm positive that... / I (really) feel that... / In my opinion... / The way I see things... If you ask me,... I tend to think that...

3. Asking for Opinions

Are you positive that... / Do you (really) think that... / How do you feel about...?

4. Commenting

That's interesting. / Good point! I get your point. / I see what you mean.

5. Agreeing

I totally agree with you. / Exactly! / That's (exactly) the way I feel. I have to agree with (name of participant).

6. Disagreeing

Unfortunately, I see it differently. Up to a point I agree with you, but... (I'm afraid) I can't agree.

7. Advising and Suggesting

Let's... / We should... / Why don't you.... / How / What about... / I suggest / recommend that...

8. Clarifying

Have I made that clear? / Let me put this another way... / I'd just like to repeat that...

9. Requesting Information

Please, could you.../ I'd like you to... / Would you mind... / I wonder if you could...

10. Asking for Repetition

I'm afraid I didn't understand that. Could you repeat what you just said? I didn't catch that. Could you repeat that, please? I missed that. Could you say it again, please?

11. Asking for Clarification

I don't quite follow you. What exactly do you mean? Could you explain to me how that is going to work? I don't see what you mean. Could we have some more details, please?

12. Asking for Verification

Do you mean that...? Is it true that...?

13. Asking for Contributions

We haven't heard from you yet, (name of participant). What do you think about this proposal? Would you like to add anything, (name of participant)? Are there any more comments?

14. Correcting Information

Sorry, I think you misunderstood what I said. Sorry, that's not quite right. I'm afraid you don't understand what I'm saying. That's not quite what I had in mind. That's not what I meant.

15. Keeping the Meeting On Target (time, relevance, decisions)

We're running short of time. Please be brief. I'm afraid we've run out of time. I'm afraid that's outside the scope of this meeting. Why don't we return to the main focus of today's meeting. We'll have to leave that to another time. Keep to the point, please.

Ex. 15. Read through the following talk at the meeting and fill in the missing words. You can refer to the information in Exercises 13 and 14.

Meeting Chairman: If we are all here, let's get (1) __________. First of all, I'd like you to please join me in welcoming Jack Peterson, our Southwest Area Sales Vice President.

Jack Peterson: Thank you for having me, I'm (2) __________ forward to today's meeting.

Meeting Chairman: I'd also like to introduce Margaret Simmons who recently joined our team.

Margaret Simmons: May I also (3) __________ my assistant, Bob Hamp.

Meeting Chairman: Welcome Bob.

Reviewing Past Business

Meeting Chairman: Let's (4) __________ started. We're here today to discuss ways of improving sales in rural market areas. First, let's (5) __________ over the report from the last meeting which was held (6) __________ June 24th. Right, Tom, over (7) __________ you.

Tom Robbins: Thank you Mark. (8) __________ me just summarize the main points of the last meeting. We began the meeting by approving the changes in our sales reporting system discussed on May 30th. After briefly revising the changes that will (9) __________ place, we moved on to a brainstorming session concerning after sales customer support improvements. You'll find a (10) __________ of the main ideas discussed in these sessions in the photocopies in front of you.

Beginning the Meeting

Meeting Chairman: Thank you Tom. So, if there is nothing (11) __________ we need to discuss, let's move on to today's (12) __________. If you don't mind, I'd like to (13) __________ item 1 and move on to item 2: Sales improvement in rural market areas. Jack has kindly agreed to give us a (14) __________ on this matter. Jack?

Discussing Items

Jack Peterson: Before I begin the report, I'd like to get some ideas from you all. How do you (15) __________­­­­­­­ about rural sales in your sales districts? I suggest we go round the table first to get all of your input.

John Ruting: In (16) __________ opinion, we have been focusing too much on urban customers and their needs. The (17) __________ I see things, we need to return to our rural base by developing an advertising campaign to focus on their particular needs.

Alice Linnes: I'm afraid I can't (18) __________ with you. I think rural customers want to feel as important as our customers living in cities. I suggest we give our rural sales teams more help with advanced customer information reporting.

Donald Peters: Excuse me, I didn't catch that. Could you (19) __________ that, please?

Alice Linnes: I just stated that we need to give our rural sales teams better customer information reporting.

Finishing the Meeting

Meeting Chairman: Unfortunately, we're running (20) __________ of time. We'll have to leave that to another time.

Jack Peterson: Before we close, let me just summarize the main points…

Ex. 16. Match the two parts to make sentences and questions.

Are you saying that we Can we come back Could I just Could I make Do you think that Hold on a moment, It I understand correctly, Just a moment please, I What do you think Would you like

a point here? about that point? promise we’ll come right back to you. interrupt you there? should cancel our stand at the trade fair? to make a point here? to your point in a minute? we should increase our marketing budget? please. We’ll come back to you soon. you’re saying that we should end the contract.

Ex. 17. Which sentences 1-10 from the previous exercise can be used…

1. to interrupt someone to make a point?

2. to ask for other people’s opinions?

3. to stop someone from interrupting?

4. to clarify someone’s point?

Ex. 18. Read the following recommendations and practice using each of them in dialogues with a partner.