English for Meetings

OX.FORD

i

PRESS

UNIVERSITY

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP Oxford University Pressis a department ofthe University ofOxford. It furthers the Universiqfs objective ofexcellence in research,sdrclarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Odord NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong (arachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melboume Mexico City Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With ofrces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Tirrkey Ukraine Vietnam are registered trade marks of oxrono and oxroRD ENGT,ISH Oxford University Pressin the UK and in certain other countries @Oxford University Press2oo7 Adapted from Xnglirhfor Meetingsby Kenneth Thomson @CornelsenVerlag GmbH & Co. OHG,Berlin zoo3 The moral rights ofthe author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press(rnaker) First published zooT 2011

2O1O

2OO9

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 photocopying No unauthorized All rights reserved. No part ofthis pubtcation rray be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,or as expressly pennitted by law or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope ofthe above should be sent to the EIII Rights Departrnent, Oxford University Press,at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must irnpose this same condition on any acquirer Any websites referred to in this publication are in the public domain and their addressesare provided by Oxford University Pressfor information only. Oxford University Press disclaims any responsibitty for the content rsB N : 9 7 8 o a 9 4 S j 9 ? A6 Printed in China ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

kepored for OUPby Sntfish DesignEditorbl and ProjectMarugementIld n$tz.ations Wi Stephen May Photocredits:istock photo library Coverifi]6'gescowtesyof Getty Images (main image/David LeesEaxi; top left/Tisherfihatcher/Stone) and Superstock (bottom leftflhe Copyright Group)

l3

Gontents PAGE TITLE

I I

TOPTCS

USEFULLANGUAGE ANDSKILLS

Gould we meet next week?

Arranging a meeting Confirming a meetingby email Rescheduling a meeting

U s i n gf i r s t n a m e s A p o l o g i z i n gf o r c h a n g i n g a m e e t i n gt i m e G e t t i n ge m a i t sr i g h t G e n e r am l e e t i n gv o c a b u l a r y

Can we make a s ta rt now?

S a y i n ghe[[oandmaki ng i ntroductions Startinga meeting Statingthe obiectives Introductions

, V l a k i nsgm a l lt a l k Wr i t i n gf o r m a la n d i n f o r m a l agendas C h a i r i n ga m e e t i n g

Ganlmakeapoint here?

Reportingprogress Explainingcauseandeffect Interrupting anddealingwith interruptions

I n t e r r u p t i n gp o l i t e l y A s k i n gf o r c l a r i fci a t i o n G i v i n gy o u r o p i n i o n V i d e oc o n f e r e n c i n g

I'm not sure I agilee

Askingfor comments and contributions Expressing strongandtentative opinions Agreeinganddisagreeing

D i s a g r e e m e natn d c r i t i c i s mi n differentcultures D i p l o m a t i ct a n g u a g e M a k i n gp o s i t i v es u g g e s t i o n s Resolving conflicts

It's a deal

Responding to offers Buyingtime Takinga vote Summarizing the resultsof a meeting

Reaching agreement T a t k i n ga b o u t p o s s i b i l i t i e s C o n t r o t t i n tgh e t i m i n go f a meeting I n t e r c u l t u r aclo m m u n i c a t i o n

48

So, I think we're finished for today

Endinga meetingandthanking T a l k i n ga b o u t p l a n s participants F o r m aal n d i n f o r m a lm i n u t e s Confirming decisions andaction M i x i n gb u s i n e s sa n d p l e a s u r e points Follow-up emails Sayinggoodbye

PAGE

APPENDIX

54 56 62 67 74 77

Test yourself! Partner Files Answer key Transcripts A-Z word list Useful phrases and vocabulary

r4

23

32

40

I

I I

4l

About the book is a realchallenge Participating in a meeting for non-native speakers andcancausea certainamount WhenareyouaLlorved of anxiety. to makea contribution Whenis andhowdo youwordit properly? if youactuatly the righttimeto askquestions a1d,,,natr^appens haveto runthe meeting? Andwhat aboutwriti ngup the minutes? Englishfor Meetings arithespeaking in a skitlsthatyouneedin orderto participate Crese'ris Thiscompact, meeting withconficence. butcomprehensive coursecontains needed theexpressions - frominformal meetings in typicalevervda, 5-5iness Englishfor Meetings chatsto formatmeetings. presents li'e','ocat.lary andexpressions in sucha waythatyoucanlearnthemeasilyandusethem imrnediale,y. for Meetings Engtish consists of sixunits,whichpresent different areasthatyoumightcomeacross in a mee:ing. Unitr dealswithhowto arrange a meeting andalsoincludes expressions needed when postponing a meeting. Following this,otherimportant topicsarepresented, for example, the useof youropinion, howa meeting smalttalkat the beginning of a meeting, starts,howto express andhow Engtish for Meetings to interrupt. includes for peoplechairing usefulexpressions the meeting, as participants. for rvellas theother Youcanalsofindout howto drawup an agendaandwritethe minutes for bothformaIandinformal meetings. yourpersonal Everyunitbeginswitha Starter- thisis a warmerexercise whereyoucandiscuss experiences andthoughtson the unittopic.Themainsectionof the unitconsists of listening comprehension exercises, authentic materials, andexercises thatenableyouto practise usingthe points language of the unit.Therearespeaking activities at various throughout the units,whereyou canpractise the relevant expressions. At theendof eachunitis theOutput,whereyouwitlfind reading textson variousrelatedtopics,for example, video-conferences. Thebookendswitha fun you havelearnt Testyourself!crossword to recycleandconsolidate the vocabulary andexpressions in the book. Youwillfindtheanswers to al]exercises in theAnswerkeyat the backof the book,alongwiththe PartnerFiles,the Transcripts ofthe listeningextracts, andthe A-Z wordlist.TheUsefulphrasesand phrases, vocabulary youcanusethisto sectionincludes alltheessentiaI organized thematicalty; prepare quicklyandefficiently. for an important meeting TheMultiROM contains all the Listening extracts fromthe book.Thesecanbe playedthroughthe player your audio on computer, or througha conventional CD-player. In orderto giveyourself extra listeningpractice, listento it in yourcaror copyto yourMP3-player. TheInteractive exercises let you your phrases, review learningby doingUsefuI Vocabulary, and Communicatlon exercises on your computer; thiswittbe particularly valuable if youareusingthe bookfor self-study.

ls

Gould we meet next week?

@Workwithapartner.tlatchthedifferenttypesofmeeting(r-5)withthedefinitions(a-0. r ! progress ZL--.tOratnStOfmfng ,, awtJ -ts, .

meetlng

g''"hotd..+ a b c d e f

i

sP

-rr-,#

--'-*' r-rkirk.off *'S$J

Peoplewhoworkin the samedepartment havethistypeof meetingregularly. Thisis a meetingof a company's mostseniormanagers. lf youneednewideas,you havethistypeof meeting. Thisis a meetingfor a company'sinvestors. youtalkaboutwhathasbeenaccomplished At thistypeof meeting, on a project. Thistypeof meetingis heldat the beginning of a project.

Nowask your partner the questions below and makea note of the answers.Thentell the class what you havefound out. r Howoftendo you havemeetingsin Engtish? Whichof the meetings abovedo youattend? Whatothertypesof meetingdo you have? . Areyourmeetingswith cotleagues fromyour companyor with contactsfromother (customers, companies suppliers, clients,...)? llirc 'L !3

t

Listento the two telephonedialoguesand completethe table. Dlalogue1 a Whatwill the meetingbe about? b Whenwill the meetingtakeptace? c Howlongwill the meetinglast?

Dialogue2

Couldwe meetnextweek?

6 | UNIT1

a

2

Listenagain and completethe sentencesfrom the dialogues.

2-1

Catt1 r

Couldwe _

z How

call2 a timeto meetnextweek? Mondayat nine?

3 Sorry,I can't_ 4 How 5 Shoutdwe _ afternoon?

it then. sometime afterlunch? for thewhole

6 Let'sleavethe lengthof the meeting for now. 7 So.l'll_

8 _

youon Mondayat two.

we couldmeetandgo overthe

details

? in mind?

9 Whattime_you 10

Woutdhalfpastfive_

11

I'm_ then.

t2

Well,l'll seeyou 7.3o,then.

73 | look_

you?

| haveanotherappointment

Monday

youthen. to meeting

Wfrkt s€ntences(r-r3) can be used: a to arrangea meeting? b to discuss the lengthof a meeting? c to arrange thetimeof a meeting? d to saythat a suggested timefor a meeting is notconvenient? e to confirmthetimeof a meeting?

3

Putthewordsin the right orderto maketypicatsentences for makingarrangements. r let'ssoonmeeting a sometime have Letb havea meetinqsometimesoon. z like to you when meet would ?

3 at Thursdayhow t.3o about morning?

4 woutd for next be Tuesdayyou how ?

5 fine would yes, that be

6 to forwardyou I look then meeting

UNlT1

4

Couldwe meetnextweek? |I 7

Workwith two partnersto arrangea suitabletime to meet.Firsttookat the UsefulPhrases on this page.Thenlookat yourdiaryandthe instructlonsin the PartnerFlles. Partner A File13,p. 59 Partner B File1,p. 56 Partner C File20, p. 61

E$qtr ilnrsE3 Asklng for a meetlng Couldwe schedulea timeto meetnextweek? I'd liketo schedule a meetingas soonas possible. Canwe meetand go overthistogether? Perhaps we couldmeetand go overthe detailsin oerson? Suggestinga meetingtime HowaboutMondayat nine? Howaboutsometimeafterlunch? Couldwe meetnextweek? CanI suggest7.3oon Thursdayevening? Wouldhalf pastfive suit you?

Saylngthat you aren't able to attend Sorry| can'tmakeit then. I'm afraidI haveanotherappointment then. I'm a bit tied up then.Howaboutanothertime? Sayingthat you can attend Soundsgood. Yes,that worksfor me. Yes,thatwouldbe fine. Confirmingthe day andtime Seeyouon Mondayat seven. 5o, I lookforwardto seeingyou on Tuesdayat four. ._-l

5

t

Readthesetwo emallsconflrmlngmeetlngs. Whlchemellis forma[andwhichis informal?

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Att

kply

kply

All

Fffi.rd

hnt

To: [email protected] From: caroline@rainbow-seafch.@m Subj€ct: Meeting

To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Slbjece Meetingto discusscontractchanges

DearMrArmitage li was a pleasureto speakto you today.l d like to takethisopportunity to thankyoufor agreeingto meetwith ine nextweek.

chm€nG: Mry23*Points_to_Dlseuss.doc

Hi lan, It was nice to speakto you today.Thank fror agreeing to meet with me.Justto confirm the date and time of o0r meeting:Monday23 May at 2 p.m.My PAwill let you know which meetingroom wdll be usinglater in the week

lwould alsoliketoconlirmthe dateandtimeof ourrneeting:7.30 p.m.on lvlonday, I September in RainbowExecutiveSearch'sofficesat 11Great RusssllSfee!, LondonWC1. thould you haveany.questions in advanceof our msding,pleasedo nothesitateto get in touchwith me.

I'm a$achinga list of points to discuss.Give me a call if you haveany questions before the meeting.

lvery muchlooklorwardto meetingyou next Monday.

Lookingbrward to seeingyou on Monday.

Yourssincerely Reg'ards,

CarolineJones

Mark

i

T: +44 (0)304454368tt F: +44 (0)3044At 3680 email:[email protected] www.rainbow-search.co. uk

n tl

tl

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tj

8 | UNIT1

Couldwe meetnextweek?

Wecan often say the samething in either a formal or less formal way. Completethe table with sentencesfrom the emails on the previouspage.

lnformal

Formal ,

It was a pleasureto speakto you today, I'd liketo takethisopportunity to thank youfor agreeing to meetwithme ...

It wasniceto speakto youtoday. 2

Justto confirmthe dateandtimeof our meeting: Givemea callifyouhaveanyquestions before the meeting. you... I verymuchlookforward to meeting

5

Yours sincerely

6

GETTIIIGETAILS RIGHT

Unlikemostwrittenbusinesscommunication in English, emailoffersthe chanceof communicating using an informa[, friendtystyleof writtenEnglish. Youcangreetsomeonein an informalemailusing phraseslike: Hi Martha HelloPaula Dearlim Veryinformalemailscanbe closedwith phrases suchas: AIIthe best Cheers Whenan emailneedsto be formal- for instance, whenit's to a business contactwhoyoudon'tknow well- thena formalgreetingshouldbe used: DearMr Simpson

It'scommonto add a friendlyphrasebeforethe close: Lookingforwardto seeingyou soon. (informal) I lookforword to our meetingon Monday.(formal) Thefirst letterof an emailafterthe greetingalways hasa capitalletter: HelloRobert, lustto letyou know...

Closingphrasesshouldalsobe morepolite: Bestregards(neutral) Yourssincerely(veryformaD

6

Write an email confirmingthe date and time of a meetingusing one of the notes below.Think about whetherthe email should be formal or informat.

Send ewall to Dawd: confrrYwwtr*nvg (to di r,^tt Problervrrv'titLr cLwtwvg Lantract)

7qilLJuw . Wednr.rdaY, a

10.70a.w'

a

twvwY ffice

Tado

Emailhlr,r Frank:

c

tqkobout o4r,,r.ew ryt i.YT Pack4ge ,

Fridory,12septet*f"t ' 3.00p.m. . @tltcir h*rd ofrtLei gini"at

UNIT1

Couldwe meetnextweek?| 9 I

Lroto

37

Carollnefones is phoningCharlesArmitage.Listento their conversatlon.Why ls she calling him? lYhat do they decide?Thenlisten again and completethe sentencesfiom the dialogue.

4

['m-'

sorry, f,

| haveto askyou l'm -2 3 our meetingnext if we can week.Something has-a up.

I can'tget Unfortunately

8

Doyou haveanother time in -"? )

'\q.-..F-

f

f

Sorryto -e you-lt couldn'tbe I'm

-10,

Couldwe -7

afraid.

llatch sentoncesfrom exercise7 with the sentencesbelowthat havea simllar meaning. a Wouldit be possible to putthe meetingbackand meeton Wednesday at73o? Could we pootpone the meetin7 until Wedneodayat the aame time? b lt's unavoidable, unfortunately.

you. c Sorryto haveto trouble d I reallymustapologize.

e Wouldyouliketo suggest anothertime?

I haveto attendto something else.

ustilG F|RSTllAr$Es Theuseof firstnamesin Engtish-speaking business is common.Thoughit is notthe practice environments junior evenseniormanagers everywhere, areaddressed by staffusingtheirfirstnamesin someoffices. Onfirstmeetingsomeoneit's bestto addressthem

bytheirsurname: It'sa pleasureto meetyou,MsCarmichael. Pleased to meetyou,Mr Freeman. Afterthat,the changeover to firstnamesis usually madequitequickly,eitherlaterduringthe first meetingor at the secondmeeting.lf your relationship withyourbusinesspartneris friendly youcanswitchto theirfirstname and relaxed, withoutaskingtheirpermission.

Youmay,however, wishto asksomeone's permission beforeusingtheirfirstnamewith ohraseslike: Doyou mind if I collyou Caroline? Thisquestioncanbe answered with phrases sucnas: No,notatall. Pleasedo. Youcaninvitesomeoneto usevourfirstnamewith phraseslike: Please,call me Carl. By the way, it's Paula.

10

1 | UNIT

Couldwe meetnextweek?

AIJDIO

A..a

9

5

Listento Mark Peters'dictaphonemessageand use it to completethe email he writes later to his assistant. To: [email protected] From: [email protected] Subiect: Arrangements for meetingwith salesteam

HiA nna , I'veiustarranged a meetingwith lanSweeney in salesfor Mondayat 2 p.m.Canyoutakecare please? of the preparation, Couldyou

a meetingroomand

' l anandmethe room

: the agendato lanandthe consultants? Andwe'llneed

number? Also,canyou AV- canyou

projector a dataprojector and an overhead for us?Don'tforgetto somecoffeeand biscuits.

Finatly, canyou you to

Thediscussion is importantso I'll need ' the meeting,please? th e m i n u te s .

Thanksfor yourhelp. Best, M ar k

1O

Work with a partner and chooseone of the'lo do' lists betow.Yourpartner is your executive assistant.Talk about the plannedmeetingand what you would like your assistant to do. Thenswitch roles and do the samewith the other list.

v) t J

fuL"*tng-" to dkc*ts autu''nan ' sLltrr/uJ*t'WelwsdaY' praduLtww

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4th h'gwt,:$,*5P'vw'

_ :r l^r4rr.d. f." __-yTfiii". Aonday,1th FebL0 o._.

A*k Sarato urra'Ve: lvl**tvg roorw Data Proiutor Teorand bucwils l'liw^tet

J J J

Co#ee.^a iawzi"i flike-Conrad andS.l,

n*,

UNIT1

tt

Couldwe meetnextweek? | 11

Findslxverbsoften usadwlth o meettngto makeusefulphrases.Lookfromleft to rlght as well as rp anddown.Writethe verbslnto the spacesbelow.Theffrst exampleis donefor you. D

E

4P

K

Y

E

s

F

B

A

t

c

1H

o

L

D

X

X

N

W

T

2tO

F

c

S

I

W N

c

W D

c

K

D

T

G

a

E

E

K

A

C

U

R

P

N

A

5C

H

6A

I

R

o

X

G

E

B

T

ic

A

N

c

E

L

M

*t r t*j T N i Hi

a

K

E

S

N

Y

K

E

H

W

L

R

S

V

G

D

L

N

T

R

2A

R

R

A

N

G

E

D

D

F

A

to hold

3to

a meeting

4to 5to 6to

llatch the yerbs (r-6) wlth the phrases (a-f). a | | to holda meetingat a latertime or planned datethanoriginally b

tr

to havea meeting

c

n

to organizea meeting

d

T

to leada meeting

e

l

to decidenotto holda meetingand to tell peoplethis

fn

to go to a meeting

l{owusethe verbs(r-6) to completethe sentences. r

lf Petercan'tget hereby five,couldn'twe just nextweekinstead?

ourmeetingand haveit early

you z Could

a teammeetingfor nextWednesday at 4 p.m.?AskNeitCrossif he canattendand bookoneof the largemeetingrooms.

3 We'vedecidedto

the meeting. Instead, couldyoujustemaiImeyourcomments?

4 I haveto

a lot of meetings andspenda lot of timetalkingaboutwork. I oftendon't haveenoughtimeto actuallygeton with mywork. Unfortunately,

It'simportantthatthe teamknowsaboutthesechanges. Let's giveeveryone the details.

a meetingand

5 l'm goingto ourmeeting thismorningso l'11 be makingsurethatwe stickto the agendaandthatwe finishon time.

t2 l

UNIT1

t2

Couldwe meetnextweek?

Usethe cluesto completethe crossword. Across 4 She'sill so we haveto ... the meeting. 6 CouldI ... that we meetand eo overthe details? at four...you? 7 WouldnextTuesday ro Thelist of topicsin a meeting. Down t Weneedsomenewideas.Let's hovea ... meeting. z l'il ... the minutesin todav's meeting. 3 Tochangea meetingto a laterdate. 5 Please... the agendato the other teammembers. 8 Let'scall o ... meetingfor everyone in the department. 9 Totakethe [eadingrolein a meeting.

t3

Put the words in the right order to makesentenceswith expressionsfrom this unit. 1 time meet could week a 2 meet go

schedule we to

next ?

details person and over perhaps could we

3 meeting then forward to

I

you look

questions call if meeting give a before any have you the 5 appointment time l'm another at I

Youare invitedto a on a newJirrgle-sentence mi corfany. Work arpne, t vour ordertoprriveat the Ofrfect secondSiartof the mfting, designfor a posterth1f will t statement.#

me

have that afraid

se str

:cide f

s,in

on

in

-

the ?

UNIT1

Couldwe meetnextweek?| 13

Readthe article and say whether you agree that meetings are more effective lf they have a more formal structure.

Oldis llew: TheNewOld-Fashioned Meeting lf you think that agendas,minutes,and chairpeoplein meetingsare out, think again. As companiesseek to make more effective use of their staff'stime, 'old-fashioned'and formalfeaturesare makinga big comebackin the meeting room, reports Janine Adler. In the past, companiestried to encouragethe creativity of their staffthrough flexible, informal meeting formats. You know the kind ofthing: no agendas,no chairpeople, and people enteredand left meetings as it suited them. This trend was probably most popular back in the late 1990s.But when the global slowdown in economic performance came, most companieshad to start thinking more about their costs. 'It was really quite common for meetings to go on for hours and then for everyone to get up and leave without really knowing what had been decided,'says Aaron Blumfeld, a lecturer in businessadministration. 'A company's staffis one of its major costs,and staffmeetings are very expensive for a company. There is now a trend among large companiesto reintroduce structure into meetingsto make betteruse of time.'adds Blumfeld. Some CEOs seethe task of making meetings more effrcient as so important that they are taking personal responsibility for making sure that the job gets done. Lynn Rossmannis CEO of Luxes AG, a subsidiary of Hamilton-Luxes Corp. She spent time looking at ways of making meetings more focused. In the end, she decided that the good oldfashioned meeting format with a chairpersonand an agendawas the right one for her company. 'If you want to hold a meeting at Luxes, you have to have a chairpersonand an agenda.It's not that I like bureaucracy- I'm just getting people to use their time more effectively,' states Rossmann.

a a a

you attendformalor informal? Arethe meetings Whatotherwaysarethereto makea meetingmoreeffective? Thearticlementions somepossible advantages anddisadvantages of formaland informal meetings. Whatotheradvantages canyouthinkoP Whatdisadvantages?

14 1

Gan we make a start now?

Readthe list of statementsaboutthe chairperson's roleanddecidewhetheryouagreeor disagree. Thendiscussyouranswerswith yourpartner. Adnftpa:oa dp& r

Aglee WE

finishthe meetingon time,evenif a decisionhasn'tbeenreached. encourage everyoneto contribute to the discussion, evenif some participants don'twant to. couldn'tmakeit to the meeting- her Blackberryis in the chair.

let the mostconfidentpeopledominate the meetingbecausethey probably havethe best ideas. followthe agendaand not allowthe discussion to go in differentdirections. from interrupting stop participants eachother. allowan antagonistic atmosphere to developbecauseit makesparticipants think moreclearlyand creatively.

a 6-€

TT

[tr TN

Colleagues fromacrossfuropeareattendinga kick-off meeting.Listento the threedlalogues. Whatis the relatlonshipbetweenthe peoplebelow? a Theyhavenevermetbefore. b Theyhavemetbeforebutprobably do notknoweachotherverywel[. c Theyprobabty knoweachotherquitewell.

T T T

Steveand George

4

Georgeand Paula

5

Georgeand Juliet

I

n

Paulaand Steve Andreand Steve

UNIT2

Canwe makea start now? I 15

ttoto

82 H

Completethe sentencesfrom the dialogues. Listen again to check your answers. Work with a partner to take turns readingout the completedsentences. r

youagarn.

Niceto

are you?

, thanks.And you?

2

thankyou.

3 I'm

you

my

colleague, JulietStrauss? Hello,I'm GeorgeFrank. meetyou.

you

6 Pleasedto

my AndreJacob. colleague,

do?

8 How IJDO

g3

l{owlistento the threediatoguesagain.Tick I work

Dialoguer

sport

I

Dialoguez

n

Dialogue3

l

T T T

whichtopicsaredlscussed.

m$Slon clnema polltlcs

T T T

hrfilly

T

n n

l

T I

n

T T

hotldrys hobblcs we*thar

n T n n n T n n T

Workwith yourpartnerto dlscusswhlchsubiectson the list arenot approprlate toplcsat businessmeetings.Canyouaddanyothertopicsthat aregoodto discuss? SMALLTALK

Smatttatk is usedto breakthe ice and createa relaxedatmosphere beforethe realbusinessbegins. makingsmalltalk can be difficult,particularly However, whenyou meetpeoplefor the firsttime. Oneproblemis that smalltalk can be aboutmanydifferenttopicsand you probablywon't be sureof all the vocabulary. Onesolutionis to preparetopicsthat you would like to tatk about.lf you'regoingto havea meetingwith peoplefromanothercountryresearch topicsrelatingto that country.Forinstance, beingpreparedto chatwith Frenchpeopleaboutthe Cdted'Azuror DanesaboutCopenhagen will make you feel morerelaxedand meanthat you canstartconversations confidently. Of course,makingsmatltalk is not just abouttalking- it's alsoaboutlistening,and the moreactively the better.Therearea numberof commonlyusedphraseswhichshowotherpeoplethat you're interested in what they'resaying: I see.

Oh, reallyT

Interesting.

Thot's absolutelyfascinating !

16 | UNIT2

4

Canwe makea start now?

ilatch the two parts to makesmall talk questions. r Whichhotell z How long 3 Whichairport 4 Didyou 5 ls this 6 Areyou 7 Do you know

\

a b c d e f g

did you fly into? are you stayingat? my colleague, YvonneJamieson? the first time you'vecomeherefor a meeting? a colleagueof JimRobertson's? comehereby plane? haveyou workedfor yourcompany?

@

T T

n n T l

l{ow matchthesc answersto the questions. A Not really.He worksin marketing and I'm in customer service. B No,we cameby car. C Almostfourteenyears. D LondonStansted. E No, I don't think we'vemet. F No,it isn't.I was herein Junefor the kick-offmeeting. G TheCarltonInternationat, off Shaftesbury Avenue.

5

How wasyour journey?

Workwith a partnerto practisemakingIntroductions andsmalltalk. A Partner

PartnerB

yoursetf. Sayhelloandintroduce \

AskaboutBb journeyto the meeting.

yourself. Sayhelloand introduce

,/ \

Respond. AskaboutA'shotet.

Respond. Askif this is B'sfirst meetingat the headoffice. Respond. AskhowlongA hasworkedfor the company. Respond.

UNIT2

n

o

a

O

9

Canwe makea start now? | 17

Listento a chairpersontalklng at the beginnlngof a meetlngandsaywhetherthe sentences belowaretrue p or fabe P. Correctthe htse sentences. r Nigelis the lastpersonto arriveat the meeting. is fromthe marketing z TimMcCarthy department. :

SaltyJones will cometo the meeting late.

is to discuss strategies for increasing sales. 4 Theaimof the meeting will present an overview of whatthe competitors aredoing. 5 JohnLawson 5 AlisonKingwill present the newsalesstrategy.

T T T I

u n

rlxo

a

llow tisten againandcompletethe sentences.

9

a lt's

to see

b Beforewe

can I

c SallyJoneshas can't d PierreKaufmann e As I said in the

Tim McCarthyto you all.

her either. I emailedlast week,we'll be

our

for increasing strategies sales. f

7

Let'sget downto

Putsentences(a-0 fron exercise6 underthe correctheadlngin the table. I

llow addthesesentencesto the table. r We'remeeting todayto talkaboutthe salesconference nextmonth. fromCathyRoberts z I haveapologies andStuartJohnson. glad you make it l'm could all today. 3 Lincoln, oneof our management consultants. + Thisis Edward great lt's to see everybody. 5 knowMarioMaleta? 5 Doeseverybody is to lookat the newadvertising Our objective today campaign. 7 8 Canwe get started? JuneWrightwasn'tableto makeit today. 9 Unfortunately, 10 So,letl begin.

r I uNrr2Canwe makea startnow? t Dlo

a 10

yourselfor someone for introducing else.[istento the tatch thetwopartsto makesentences dialogue to checkyouranswers. a rortwo vears.

Doeseveryone whydon'tyouintroduce z Peter,

b aboutvourself. as ourheadof PR.

3 Tettusa bit 4 've beenwith BrentJones 5

Thomson? d knowPeter

development manager fortheWest wasthebusiness

e slnce2002.

yourself to everyone.

ago 6 Frank loinedustwo months

llatch theverbsonthe teft with phrasalverbsonthe rightthat havethesamemeaning. a go backover

discuss 2 revrew

b thinkabout

3 finalize

c lookat

4 examrne

d talkabout

5 consider

e finishoff

usingthecorrect llowcomplete thesentences formof the phrasalverbs(a-e)aboye. Right.Thismorning we'ilbe at waysof cuttingour costsandalsotatking

nextyear'sbudget. 2

TheannuaIconference is nextweek,so we'llbe off ourfinalpreparations thismorning.

3 Weneedsomenewideasabouthowto increase

sowe'ilbe oursales,

thisafternoon. abouta newmarketing strategy

we'llbe in thefactoryin thelastmonth.Thismorning 4 0K.Therehavebeenthreeaccidents back

andthinking ourhealthandsafetyguidelines

whatwe cando to improve oursafetyrecord.

fromaccounting We'ilalsobe looking thenumbers andtalking waysthatWC canimprove uponthem.

UNIT2

10

Canwe makea start now? | 19

to uge Useoneof the sGtsof notosto preparoandglvethe Introductlon to a meetlng.Remember phrasesto welcomepartlclpantsandto stert the meetlng. A lmpo*aat

Notes for meetwg -aLw of mezing: rewew ottrLastadveersLvtg cawryagw

' o$*ctivei o€ *ectnnf;liaefize plansfot nextyea/s sales conferenee ' introdvcc llany Finet €rom our

- rewwwtherto lntrodwe lvlargaretHart

eve m a nagemenl a ge acy ^t ' apologies:l;ll C""pc r (nalliaayl anA Bob Cvlbe* (fraining cours.)

He*drY -aPologvu:JLwt

(ru)

tl

rcmi44e?,

ilatch the descrlptlonswlth the ltems on the formal meetlngagenda. lt standsfor any other a Thisis when issueswhichare not on the agendacan be discussed. business. b Theseare the main pointsfor discussion at the meeting. c Thisis when the notesof the last meetingare checkedfor accuracy. reportswho is not able to attend. d Thisis the point in the meetingwhen the chairperson e Thisis when any issuesrelatingto the last meetingare discussed.

Agenda Bard meetingWednesdall1{ November

Apologies Minutesof the last meeling Mattersarisingfromthe minutes

n n n

4 Reviewof IPOactionplan 5 Redesignof corporateimage proposals 5 Post-lPO investment 7 AOB

IUDIO

(> 11

ilow llstenandmatchthe extrectsfromthe neetlng(A-E)wlth the ltemson the formalagenda.

An

Bn

cn

n

En

20 | UNIT2

Canwe makea start now?

AI,DIO

At2 t2

Listento two colleaguesdiscussinga sales meeting.Completethe missing information in the memo below.

Hi everyone, As youall know,we'rehavingthe regionalsales meetingnextweekinsteadof the weekafter. Herearethe pointswe'llbe talkingabout.As usual,I'veindicated whowillbe leading the discussion. lf youhaveanyquestions, canyou let me knowwhattheyarebelorethe meeting, olease? Regional salesmeetingagenda February 13th,9.30 Room338 ' s_

targetsfor next months(Francie)

t_' teamm_ k_

accounts(Michael)

' f_

(Ralf) frommarketing

responsible for

c_^ ' competitor

(Ralf)

Best, Polly

FORMAI AilD

AGEIIDAS 'XFORTAI

Thesedays,mostagendasfor meetingsin English-speaking businesscontextsare informal.The majority : aresentas emailsand consistof the time,date,and placeof the meeting,and an overviewof the tooicsthat will be discussed. ; Thestyteof writingis briefand note-like,for example: Update on constructionstatus . 0iscussionof proposedbudget i Thisbrief,note-likeEnglishis also usedin formalagendas. The realdifference betweenformaland , informalagendasis that, in the former,eachpart of the agendais clearlynumberedand othere]ements i are included. : Formalagendasare usuallyreserved for the mostimportantmeetingswithina company- for instance, a ' boardmeeting- or meetingswhichbusinesses are requiredby companylaw to hotd,suchas the Annual GeneralMeeting(AGM).

UNIT2

Canwe makea start now? lz t

t3

Theformalagendain exercisefl is for a boardmeeting.Whichof the followingtypesof meeting are,in your experience, motelikely to haveformalor informalagendas?

t4

Workin groupsof fourto practisethe beginningof a meeting.Firstlookat the UsefulPhrases on this page.Then look at the instructions in the Partner Files.

PartnerA Partner8 PartnerC PartnerD

file 3, p. 56 file 4,9.59 FileT,p. 57 file 8, p. 57

usEFUrPilRASES

Askingpartlclpants to introduce themselves Whydon'tyouintroduce yourself to everyone. Te[]us a bit aboutyourself. Couldyoutettus all whoyou areandsaysomething aboutyourselP

Welcomingparticipants It's niceto see everyone. Thanksfor being heretoday. Statlng objectives We'ltbe discussing ... will be examining ... Joaquin

t5

Introducingyoursetf i I'm the businessdevelopment I manager. , I've beenwith OfitechSAsince j 2oo2. , I'veworkedfor the companyfor four years. I'm basedin the Valenciaoffice., I work at our Bilbaobranch. ,

Put the words in the right order to makesentenceswlth expresslonsfrom this unit. 1 my z

let

introduce me

you've first

colleague

meeting come for

this

3 Smith know

everyone Margaret does

4 pleasant had

I

bit

iourney you yourself a

5 about

tell

6 down

business to

7 nice it's 8 be

meet to

can't Salty us

get you

is

here the

a

time ?

Ms ?

hope a

us

Yourcompanyhasbeenlefi $50,000iBthq willof a formeremployee. sta$s theX,rritt i that fte moneyshq.rldbe $enl'on i i improving the livesbf pr""*'t erirpto$es'.i

person in

Calla meetingto discusstrFwto!spefioit. i Explainth_eggintpftne mebting..and theS; try andcometo a conclusion.

let's

today with

22 | UNIT2

Canwe makea start now?

Whichpiece Readthis advicefor chairpeople aboutrunningmeetingseffectively. you of advicedo thinkis the mostimportant?

Fivegoldenrulesfor chairpeople Time is god in meetin-es.Don't let a discussionrun on unnecessarily.If an issuecan't be resolvedin this meeting.cut the discussionoffand continueit in a later meeting. But if 1'ouand your colleagueshave to reach a decisiontoday, be honestand tell them that they'll have to sit there until the iob is done.

Don't call meetingsoutsideoffrcehours. You u antparticipantsto be enthusiasticabout beingat your meeting,so neverschedule meetingsfor eveningsor weekends. Meetingsarefor business, not socializing. A certainamountof smalltalk at the beginning andend of a meetingdefinitelyhelpsto createa friendly atmosphere andbuild teamspirit. But time is money.Make surethat participantsget down to businessaftera few minutesof pleasantries. Also makesurethat businessis concludedbeforesomeonechangesthe subject to footballaeain.

Let'smeetat 10to discussthe

a. \,-rl\

*

*

)

I

Give peopleenoughtime to preparefor a meeting.It's surprisinghow many chairpeoplecall meetingsat shortnoticeandthencomplainthat the participantshaven'tpreparedproperly.With advancenotice,participantswill cometo your meetinghavingthoughtaboutyour agenda,readthroughthe andcomeup with solutionsto backgroundpapers,preparedpresentations, problems. Meetingsshouldbe democraticin approachand spirit. The only point in bringingpeopletogetherfor a meetingis to let themdiscussan issue.If you want to announcedecisionsthat havebeenmade,don't do it in a meetingbut find anotherway of communicatingit. Your meetingsshouldhavea creative andopenatmosphere so that your peoplecanmakeinterestingcontributionsto thediscussion.

a a a

Do you agreewith the advicegivenhere? woutdyou put the five goldenrules? In whichorderof importance Whatotherpiecesof advicecanyou giveto chairpeople?

lza

Gan I make a point here?

Gomplete thequestionnaire byticking7 eithera or b. !@il

a a a a a a a a a a a a aa a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a aaaaaaaaoaaaoo Oa

! t Vou want to make a point in a meeting. e Doyou: . r---r a | | warr until someone else invite^i5 o . you to speak? tPea^t .

-l -'l

b Ll

.

4 Someone is talking nonsenss. Do you: L-l stoP them? et them rhcm go no on? b | | Iet

your point immediately? make

.

5 There's a long silence in a meeting. Do you: .- ll something (anything!) to end ""y silence? " in. -

r-1

.:,.,

. L_l waituntil they have finished speaking? ol-]-. b LJ interrupt them with your own . noitttz ! I .

speak up?

: '. . o

. [] irrt".rrrpt and ask them to explain? b l-J let them finish and hope that you will understand them by the end?

prefer that they wait until you have finished speaking? t-.1 b | | prefer that they interrupt you to Lake their Doint? . Ll

? Nobody want6 to listen to you. Do you: a | | stay calm and continue talking? . F-b | | get angry and stop talking?

a-O ao a a a a o o a a a o a a a a a o a a a a o a a o a a a a a o o a o a a a a a a a aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Turn to page66 to find out your score.

r! Dlo

t .t

listen to a meetingof the management teamat a conference-organizing company,and tick @ the correctboxesin the table.

r Overallsales z Telecom sales sales 3 PharmaceuticaI sales 4 Finance 5 lT s ales

verygood

good

T

n

n

t_l

l

r-

t_l T

i-

acceptable

! -_ _ l

Ll

____l

.--i

T

T

:

] : o . . .

6 Someone is not being clear. Do you:

! 3 so*"orre wanta to make a point while o you are speaking. Would you: o t-ta

' ' '

-

^_r_!__!_ ^ _^-a!__ ! 2 Someone is speaking in a meeting and you want to say something. Do you: .

:

Poor

I

n n n n

Yerypoor

u n l n n

: : ' : . . . . .

24 | UNIT3

CanI makea pointhere?

AUDIO

(-> (l

2

ilatch the two parts of the sentences.Listenagain to checkyour answers.

a3

r I thinkthiswasdue I z Themarketis stitla bit depressed because Saleswereup herefor the reason 4 I thinkthis wasas a poorly,the 5 ThelT sectorperformed reason

a resultofsomebad planningon our part. b of debtand lowershareprices. in our c beingthat we madesomemistakes marketresearcn.

work by our production team. e to excellent

ilow use the words in botd to completethese sentences. r

Asa of someaggressive cost-cutting, our pre-taxprofitsare better thanexpected.

\7

Theboardpostponed the IPO of the current[ackof stockmarket confidence. 3 Mr Allmanhasleft his job, the reason thatwe wereunhappywith his performance. 4 We'relookingfor a new PRagencyfor the that our currentagencyhas ideas. run out of interesting 5 The projectfailed

3

to a lackof interestamongEKIP's seniormanagement.

Put the words in the right order to makethe sentenceswhich GeorgeFinchusesto structure what he is saying. r

the quick here's situation overview of

2 at

a

first let's tetecoms look

3 now pharmaceuticalsto 4 on to

[et's turn

I'tl finance move the now sector

5 lT about now, what ?

UNITg

CanI makea point here?| 25

Weusethe pastsimpleto talkaboutdevelopments in finishedtimeframes: Ourcustomerbase lncreosedin size... - lastyear. - two yearsago. - betweenzoo4 and zoo8.

- in lune.

Weusethe presentperfectto talkaboutdevelopments in unfinished timeframes: Our saleshavelncrerlsed..,

- duringthe currentquarter. - for the losttwo years. - since lost year.

4

- recently.

Putthe verbsIn bracketsInto the pastsimpleor the presentperfectto completethe sentences. 1

DualsoftSmarketshare

(decrease) in size in the last quarterof 2oo4.

2

Thenumberof profitwarnings issuedby majorcompanies quarter. the current

acquisition 3 Thetimewe spendon customer workforce 4 Thesizeof Euclipse's

Go down)thisyear. (increase) two yearsago.

capitalinvestment spending 5 Pharmaprop's

5 Complaints

(go up) in

(teveloff) sincelast year.

(decline)dramatically sincezoo4.

7 Therateof unemployment

(reacha high) in zoo7.

8 Thenumber of franchisers in Europe

(rise)steadilybetweenzoo4 and

zoo8. (remainstable).

9 Since1994,our staff size 10

ln zoo4andzoo5,thecostof parts

(falDsignificantly.

ilow wrlte the verbsfromthe sentencesaboveunderthe correctgraph. B 75

26 I UNIT3

CanI makea pointhere?

AJDIO

a 13

5

Listento GeorgeFinch'spresentationagain and comptetethe sentences. r

Overall,our salesperformed

in the last quarter.

z Saleswereup here,for the reasonthat the telecomsteam performed was at the otherend of the scale.Salesperformed 3 Pharmaceuticals 4 Theguyson the financeteam performed

nere.

, as ever.

5 The lT sectorperformed lf ow write the phraseswith performedon the scale.Thefirst one has beendonefor you. performed

pcrformed

performed -tffit!_

6

ilatch the two partsto makesentences andquestions. r Areyou sayingthat we

a a point here?

z Canwe comeback

b aboutthat ooint?

3 CouldI just

c promisewe'[]comeright backto you.

4 CoutdI make

d interruptyou there?

5 Do you thinkthat

e shouldcancelour standat the tradefair?

6 Hotdon a moment,

f

correctly, 7 lf I understand

g to yourpointin a minute?

8 Justa moment,please.I

h we shouldincreaseour marketingbudget?

9 Whatdo you think

i

please.We'[lcomebackto you soon.

j

you'resayingthat we shouldend the contract.

10 Wouldyou like

Whichsentences(r-ro) canbeused... a to interrupt someone to makea point? b to ask for otherpeople'sopinions? c to stop someonefrom interrupting?

point? d to clarifu someone's

to makea point here?

UNIT3

CanI makea oointhere?l ,27

{r0lo

?7

{,Dto

(>

Listento flvemanagers at a European construction company meetingto discussproblems with a proiect.Thereareseveralinterruptions. Howaretheydifferent?

Listenagain and completethe sentencesfrom the diatogue.

14

Harry. , please,

ona z We'Il

to you.

right I possibly

3 4 CanI

here,Norman? you, but can I makea

5 Sorry 6

a point here?

here?

,go

!9 lgLlIlI_ JlI ERluP_r' i.

j In Engtish-tanguage businessenvironments, interrupting is generatly However, it's seenas acceptable. j importantto makeinterruptions politety.Makingyour point loudlyoverwhatsomeoneelseis sayingcan as rude. { be regarded by saying: i Youcan beginan interruption Sorryto interruptyou or (moreformatty) I opologizefor interrupting but ... Thiscan be followedby a quickquestionto the speakerto givethemthe chanceto acceptor reiectthe interruption. Usequestionssuchas: CouldI come in hereT CouldI moke o point here? CouldI just commenton that? Therearealsowaysto interruptwithoutwords.Forexample,clearingyourthroator coughinghelpsyou to get someone's attentionbeforeyou interruptthemto makea point or ask a question.

Ze I UNtf3

|

-8.rv t E-15

"

I

CanI makea pointhere?

Listento extractsfromtwo meetingsandsaywhetherthe followingstatementsaretrueI or fake Fl .

r Meetingr is aboutoutsourcing the logistics and lT departments. z Ralphdoesn'twantto useBuxtonServices because he thinkstheycanhandlethings in-housebetter. because she doesn'thearwhatStephensays. 3 Jiltinterrupts Meeting z is about a takeover offer. 4 5 Robertis worriedaboutthe shareholders. 5 SuewantsGordonto explainsomething. AJDIO

r> <3 r5-16

I T u T

n l

l{ow listen again and completethe sentencesfrom the dialogues.Whichsentencesare usedto deal with interruptionsand which are usedto ask for clariffcation? StephenHoldon, hold on. CanI makea point here? l what I was saying.

Ralph

Sorry but I haven't

liU

Sorryto interruptbut I'm afraidI don't reallyfollowyour

StephenCoutdI

; finish?

Robert That should ... Gordon Robert.We'vealreadyagreedthat we ... Robert lf I could just Sue

Can I say somethinghere?I'm afraidthat I don't

Gordon Justa Beth

a, please.

6.You'llget a

z to speaksoon.

No, wait, let's hearwhat Sue 8. Sue?

ASr(l{G FOR CLARTF|CAT|Oil

lf you don't understand what someoneis saying,you can,of course,tell themwith a sentence suchas: l'm afroid I don't understandyour point here. Youcan usethe followingphrasesin bold to beginsentences askingsomeoneto ctarifutheiropinion: Areyousoyingthot we should have investedin new project monagementsoftware? Doyou meonthat it was a mistake to lower our prices? Isyourpointthat we need to start production earlier than planned? It'salso possibleto seekclarification by usingpositivestatements insteadof questions.Forexample: lf I understondyou correctly,you need more time to finish the report. Youcan clarifuwhat you weresayingwith phrasessuchas: WhatI meant to say is ... I was trying to say that ...

UNIT3

9

CanI makea point here?| 29

Unscramble the wordsto makequestionsthat askfor clarification. more/are/we/staff/shoutd a that/saying/ /you/hire/? Are you aayingthat we should hire more ataffi b anothermeeting/think that/weshould/doyou/have/?

point/shoutd c the trainingbudget/is/that/we/your increase/?

d upgrade/saying that/areyou/ourlT system/weshould/?

e his customers/point that/isyour/spendmore/timewith/heshoutd/?

f

you feel/conference nextyear/weshouldincrease/do/the length/ofthe/?

ilow matchthe questionsabovewith thasestatements. r @ Theannualconference wasnot because it was successful too short. z I

systemis too Ourcomputer old and slow.

3 f]

Hespends too muchtime in the office.

t,' |t-__-l | The financeteam is too small. 5 | | We don't investenough moneyin stafftraining.

5 n

Weneedmoretimeto talk aboutthis. 'He spendstoo muchtimein theoffice.'

30 | UNIT3

1O

CanI makea point here?

Workin groupsof four to practisegivingopinions,makinginterruptions, andasklngfor clarification.Lookat the UsefulPhrasesbeforegoingto the PartnerFlles. PartnerA PartnerI PartnerC PartnerD

u-sjFul-_PJlrAtEc "Givingyouropinion I think ... We should... I'm convinced that we should... I tend to think that it's ... It seemsto me that ... Interrupting Sorry but ... Sorryto interrupt,but I feelthat ... CoutdI comein here? I'd like to makea point hereif I coutd. CanI iust say somethingaboutthat?

tl

Asking for ctarification l'm not sureI understand what vou're saying. D o you meanthat ...? Areyou sayingthat ...? you think you correctly, lf I understand that ... Deatingwith interruptions H ol don, pl ease. We'l[comebackto you in a moment. Justa second,please.I promisewe'll comerightbackto you.

,

Put the words in the right order to make sentenceswith expresslonsfrom thls unlt. r

there could just

z

that

3

moment come promise back you

4

something add

you

5

|

you're understand I'm

6

upgrade tike

7

you

saying the

8

I'm

don't

you

what

saying sure

I

I

you

I

interrupt?

point about think I

in

tike would to

correctly tike we

do ?

that

you

we'll

here? what

you

increase are

really afraid follow

right to a

not

understand if

should budget ?

argument your

Yourcompanyhasdecidedto qppointan Engligh languagetedeher.Calla meetirgand discltssthe requiremonts for ihis post.Whenyou havqdecHed jo6 on the description, designan adverttOattrAct goodcandidates.

would

to

Filer5, p. 59 File9, p. 58 tite 5, p. 5Z Fiter9, p. 6o

UNIT3

CanI makea point here?| 31

Readthe article about video conferencing.Doyou agreethat havinga video conferenceis more difficult than havinga face-to-facemeeting?

Digital meetings: The grourth in video conferencing n increasingnumber of cornpaniesare turning to video conferencingto bring people together for meetings.Experts predictthat in the next l0 years,video conferences will replaceas much as 20o/oof businesstravel. So why has there been such growth in digital meetings? 'The key driverbehindour useof videoconferencing is cost,' says Martin Pile, Director of CorporateCommunicationswith a multinational engineering company.'Thetechnologymeans that we can saveon airfares and hotel bills. Our people can meetmore frequentlyat lesscost. 'Video conferencesalso enableus to bring together peoplewhowouldnevermeet if the technologywas not there.' Fiona Clark, a communications consultantwho advises companies about digital conferencing solutions.is alsoenthusiastic. But shesoundsa note ofcaution. 'Companieshaveto realizethatthetechnologyis not free. Video conferencingsystemsare getting cheaperand more reliable,but companieswhich want to usethem still haveto make somekind of investment.This can be a particularproblem for smallandmedium-sized companies,' saysFiona. 'There's also the problem of people feeling comfortablewith videoconferencing,' sheadds.

a a

'Meeting via a video link-up definitely beats discussing issuesvia email. But usersoften find the video conference environment difficult at first.' Fiona often recommends companies that adopt video conferencing to invest in training for the staff who will meet each other dieitallv. 'People have to realize that a meeting via video conference is not the same as a face-to-face meeting. People can feel nervous and act in a different $'ay than usual,' Fiona comments. 'We provide training where rl'e videotapeusers and get them to notice their

nen'ous tics on screen. If people play with their hair or put their hands in front of their mouths because they're nen'ous. rve can draw their attention to this and help them to appear more relaxed,'she adds. 'We also advise people to slor*'dosn their body language.Hand and body gesturescan sometimes seemmore aggtessiveon screen.' 'And don't forget that everyoneshould r*'earname tags during video conferences.'says Fiona. Having a video conference may not be as easy as going to a real meeting. especially at first. But more ofour meetingsare going to be held via video link-up in the future. It looks like u'e're all going to need some of that training.

According to the article,whatarethe advantages and disadvantages of videoconferencing? you probtems Can thinkof other userscanhavewith videoconferencing? Howcouldthese problemsbe overcome? Haveyou everparticipated in a videoconference? lf so, whatdid you like or dislike? lf not, wouldvou tiketo?

32 1

I'm not sure I agree Disagreement is an partof solvingproblems. important lf it leadsto conffict,that'sgreat. Conflictis creativeand produces

Youshouldnever disagreeduring meetings. The aim should always be to reachagreement-

solutions.

Whichopinlon(s)doyouagreewlth?Discuss youranswerswlth a partner. ruDto

r-) <J 77

Threemanagetsat the pan-European consuttancyProflexisarebrainstormingquestionsto ask group in candidates a intervlew. Listen andtlck @ ttresix topicstheywantto askquestions iob about.

T T l T

budgets

tr

projectplanning

deadlinesvs quality

n

staff

flexibility

T

teambuilding

juniorand seniormembers

r

time management

A,DIO

A2 17

Howwill the managers askfor the participants'opinions duringthe interview?Listenagainand markthe phraseor wordyou hear. r z 3 4 5 6

Wouldyouliketo comment on / respond to that? Doyou thinkso I agree? Tetluswhatyouthink about/ of this. Doesanyonehaveanyopinionson / wantto sayanythingabout that? Whatdo you feel/ think aboutthat? Doesanyone wantto giveustheir views/ ideason this?

lNlT4

l'm not suret agree| 33

r,0to

? '

3

ilow lookat howthe managers expressopinions.Llstento the meetingat Proflexlsagainand completethe sentence beginningsbelow. , we needto thinkof somedifficult...

'I ,T

, I thinkwe shouldask ...

rI And +[

, I think that we haven'tasked... , it's moreimportantto meeta projectdeadline...

5n

, that'sprobablya[[ we'il have...

uoto

.-) '=j

Llstenagain and matchthe completedbeginnlngs(r-S) wlth tha endings(A-E) to make sentencesfrom the dialogue. r-=1

A B C D E

4

l-Z LJ ll L--] Ll

... timeto tatkabout. ... thanto guarantee the qualityof the projectoutcome. ... questions aboutprojectmanagement. ... about projectplanning. ... enoughquestions aboutteambuitdingin the past.

Unscramblethe words to makesentenceswhich ask for or expressopinions.Canyou say which is which? r

about/ourwebsite/you think/whatdo/redesigning What do you think about redesiqning our webaite?

z herjob wett/inmy mind/thatshe does/well,/there's reallyno doubt

I

quickty to finish/weshouldtry/the report/more

4 that I shouldchair/theannualgenera[meeting/doyou think absolutely clear 5 shouldinvest/thatwe/in a new lT system/it's you/is it possibte/to fly to Manchester 6 instead/for

image/butlthink/l couldbe wrong/thatwe need Z a newcorporate 8 fee[that/byship instead/send the goods/weshould/doyou

Askingforanopinion:t

Expressing anopinion:

4 3a I UNIT

5

I'mnotsureI agree

Sometlmesour oplnlonsarestronger- or weaker- than normal.Readthe sentencesbelow your answers anddecldewhetherthe oplnonsglvenarestlong,neutralnor tentatlve.Compare wlth a partner's. neutral tentative strong r

I could be wrong,but don't we needto investmore time in this project?

trn

z We couldsendhim the minutesof this meeting.

TI

3 Theret no doubt in my mindthat Jessshouldspend moretime on planning.

tr

4 We mightneeda biggerteamfor this project.

l

5 We shouldtake a breakat half past eleven.

tr

6 Mikedoesn'tspendenoughtime with his customers.

tl

8 ls it possiblefor her to spendlesstime in meetings?

T I

9 Therecan be no doubtthat we havea problemhere.

l

7 | do think that Johnshouldcometo the next meeting.

I I

tr tr

T T

I

n

l

T T

n n

tr

u

L_J

A'DIO

& 18

6

Somemanagprsercdlscusslngwhetherlo outsourcethelr company'sfacltlty management. Ustenandtkk @ the approprlatebor. Whatdo they thlnk aboutCnlg's proposal?

r Helen

T

z William

n

3 Claire

tr

n n n n

4 Oliver ruD|o

o r8

n I I

tr

I

llow metchthe two partsto mtke scntencesfiom the dlrl€ue. Llstenegalnto checkyour an3rett I think itl r Absolutely. z I can'tgo along 3 I'm afraid I 4 | supportthe idea 5 l'm not sure

a b c d e

up to a point. whetheror not I agreewith Craig'sproposa[. can'tagree. with this, Oliver. a fantasticidea.

UNIT 4

I'mnotsuret agree| 35

€R|nTIsH,.DISAGIEETEilT*AI{D Whenexpressing disagreement or criticismin Englishit's normallybestto use politeand diplomatic language. Thisis especially importantwhentalkingto nativeBritishEnglishspeakers, who - insteadof saying/ disagree!- will often use (and expectto hear)phrasessuch as: l'm afraid I can't agree. you can expectbusinesscontactsfrom the USto be moredirectin their use of languagethan Generally, their Britishcounterparts. SomeBritishpeoplecan be a ]ittlesensitiveabout both offeringand accepting criticism. This is probablywhy one of the most frequentlyusedphrasesfor disagreeing in BritishEngtish is : Yes,but... . This reallymeanssomethingtike:'(l'm saying)Yes(becauseI don't want to be impolite) but ... (l don't reallyagreewith you at all).'

7

Workwith a partner.Readout the oplnionsanduie the phrasesyou hayelearnedto saywhethel you agree(stronglyor tentetlyely),dlsagree,or are not sure. . Thebiggestproblemfor businesses is thattherearetoo manyrulesandregulations. . Wespendfartoo muchtimein meetings andnotenough timedoingrealwork. . lt'smoreimportant to havea fewcustomers whospenda lot of moneythana lot of customers whospendverylittlemoney. . Unemployed peopleshouldhaveto do workforthe moneytheyreceive.

8

Workwlth two partnets.Youaremeetlngtwo colleagues fromthe senlormanagement teamof yourcompanyto dlscussthreelmportantpoUcylssues.Asyou talk aboutthe issues,practls€ asklngfor andglvlngoplnlonsuslngthe phrasesyou havetearned. PartnerA Yourtopicis whethersmokingshouldbe allowedin the compony. Tellyourpartners whatyouthinkaboutthe subject andaskfortheiropinions. PartnerB Yourtopic is whetheracceptingandgiving gifts to business portnersshouldbeollowed. Tel[yourpartners whatyouthinkaboutthe subject andaskfor theiropinions. PartnerC Yourtopicis whetheryou shouldallow employeesto workfrom home. Tellyourpartners whatyouthinkaboutthe subject andaskfortheiropinions.

ge I Ulf 4

I'mnotsureI agree

A'DIO

o 19

9

tarry Hodglnsls tetllng hls teamabouta prcducthe hasrccentlyseenat a confierence! YolceoverlP. Llstento thls ertract fromthe meetlngandseywhetherthe sentsncesaretrue p

orfatsef,. r Larry doesn't thinkthattheyshould usetheircomputers to makealltheirphone calls. l 2 He wasn'tvery interestedin Voiceover lP beforehe went to the presentation. 3 The qualityof servicefor Voiceover lP is excellent. at the conferencewere not very impressive. 4 The technicaldemonstrations 5 Metroloopsaidthe call didn'tgo throughbecauseof a firewall.

n n l T

A'DIO

o 19

Listcn rgeln and complete the sentenceswlth words from tte bor. How dlptomatlc ls the crlticism in the diatogue?

ThecurrentVoiceoverlP solutionsare,frankly,rather 2

Thetechnical demonstrations thattheygavewere

a bit _. 3 It allsounds wasactually really 4 Oneof the demonstrations 5 It was all a little

, I mustsay.

6 Thetechnology is still pretty

you maywantto express Ssmetimes criticism in a stronganddirectway: Yourperformancehasbeenterrible/awful. But,mostof thetime,you probabty wantto express criticism in a lessdirectandmorediplomatic you shouldavoidusingnegativewordssuchas tenlble andaurful: way.Forexample, Htsperformancewas ar.ful, Herreportwas&>t1fbfte.

Hisperformancewdsnotverygood. Herreport wasnotrallyupbffindod.

Youcanalsousewordssuchasgomcrhrt anda blt to softencriticism. Yourworkan the projed wasgmerhat unsotisfactory. Hermanagementof the teamis o blt disappointing. Elpressions suchas unsatlsf,adory, belowsbndsrd,and inadequate canbe softenedin this way: Thequalttyof seruiceis mtteollydsfaebry. Thevoicequaw ls ndrullyupbfin&rd. Yourwo* is notreollyadequote.

UNIT4

1O

I'm not sureI agree| 37

Rewrltethesesentences to makethe crltlcismlessstronganddirect. r Thequatityof yourcompany's customer service is unsatisfactory. 5orry, but the quality of your companyb austomer aervice ia not really aatiafactory. z Yourmanagement styteis terrible.

3 Theservicewe havereceivedfrom Metroloopis mediocre. are disappointing. 4 Theresultsof your marketresearch to problemsolvingis inadequate. 5 Yourapproach 5 Geofflsoresentation was belowstandard.

TSAKII{G POSITIVE SUGGESTIOIIS is to makepositive suggestions thatmightsolvethe problem. ; Onewayto stoparguments of ohrases we canuseto do this: : Therearea number lsuggestthotwe/theyaskfor anothermeetingwiththesupplier. Lefs oskher to stort worka weekeorlierthanplonned. I oftenputsuggestions in theformof questions: 1 English-speakers : Whydon'twecontacta few alternativesuppliersT Couldn'twecometo the officeat the weekendT t Whotoboutifyou wroteher a letterexplainingour position? Thisensures thatthesuggestion doesnotsoundlikea command or an orderandmay ' makeit easierfor otherpeoptet: aCree.to il ToaCre,:, saytThat'sa goodidea.

tl

Work with a partner. look at the problemsand choosewhich solution you prefer.5uggest the solution using phrasesfrom aboye. r

Problem:Our currenttelecomsprovideris too expensive. Possiblesolutions: a savemoneyin otherareas the contract b try to renegotiate c get out of the contractand find anotherprovider.

z Problem:Our call centreooeratorsare rudeto customers, Possiblesolutions: a providemoretrainingin customer care b replacethe existingteam with staffwho havea morepositiveattitude carevia the Internet. c providecustomer

38 | UNIT4

t2

I'm not sureI agree

Workwlth threepartnersto practiseerchanglngoplnlons.Lookat the UsefulPhrases before going to the Partner Files.

PartnerA PartnerB PartnerC PartnsrD

USEfUtPHRASES Askingfor opinions Do you agree? Whatdo you think aboutthat? Wouldyou liketo give us yourviewson this? Wouldyou liketo commenton that? Do y ou t h i n kw e s h o u td...?

Agreeingtentatively I thinkwhatyou'resayingis true up to a poi nt. I supposethat mightbe true. I guessI seewhat you mean. Disagreeing No,I think you'rewrongthere. I'm afraidI can'tagreewith you there. I don'tthinkthat'strue. Yes,but ... I completely disagree.

lgreeing I thinkyou?eright. That'sright. Agreeingstrongly Absotutety. I think that'sa fantasticidea. I agreecompletely. Yes,that's definitelytrue.

13

Making positivesuggestions Howaboutif we ...? Coutdn'twe just ...? Whydon'twe ...? Whataboutif you ...?

Putthe wordsin the right orderto makesentences wlth expresslons fromthis unit. r

about what think you

that

z good 3 be to 5 that 6 we

do ?

that's very suggestion a

sure not

honest so

afraid don't

about visit

that

I'm

with

agree I

about to

up

agree point all

yes

at

person if

company the

You are organizinga barbecuefor.twenty people. You want tgprovide hamburgerpin warm rolls, Naked potatoes,dalad,chilledwine, and soft drinks. Ypu want to slt down to eat Ft 2 p.m You havethe barbecueequipment bpt nothirg els6. work in pairs to-jtlepap a prpiqpt mggilement plan. Remember:some taskscan happensimultaneously. What time do you need to start?

t'm how

in?

File6, p. 57 File11,p. 58 Fiter7, p. 6o File16,p. 59

UNIT4

I'm not sureI agreelg s

Whetherwe like it or not, conflicts sometimeshappenduring meetings.Which pieceof advice for resolvinga conflict do you agreewith most?

t,

Thebestwayto stopan argument is to getthe peoplewho

disagreeto brainstormsolutionsto the problem. Thisworkswell becauseitb a positiveapproach to the situation.Arguingis so negativeand such a wasteof time. Brainstorming solutions helpseveryoneto work as a teamagain.

An effectiveway to end a conflictis to get the peoplewho disagreeto say what the others' positionsand opinionsare.Mostconflictshappenbecause peopledon't reallyunderstand what the othersare thinking. lf they haveto think hardaboutthis, it takesthe heat out of any disagreement, no matter how strong.

ThereSno way that a solutionto a disagreement can be foundif peopleare angryand upset.The most importantthingthat peopleneedto do to stop an argumentgoingfurtheris to cool off Theycando this by takinga shortbreakfromthe meeting, sptashing somewateron theirfaces, and gettingsomefreshair.

Whatare your strategiesfor resolving a conftict? Whatwas the last conflictyou hadto deatwith?Howdid vou resolveit? Do you thinkapologies are importantin business?

D

An argumentshould be stopped by getting the people involved to say sorryto eachother for lettingthe situation get out of control.lf peoplesaid unpleasantthings to ea{h other duringthe argument,they should apologizefgr havingsaid them.ThatSthe only ., way that everyonecan move on and stop thinkingabout the conflict.

It's a deal

Yourpartner r Howimportantis consensus in the meetingswhichyou attend? you attend 2 Do the meetings usualtyend in agreement or disagreement? 3 Whatsort of factorsgenerally leadto disagreement? 4 ls it normallypossibteto dis c us th s e p o i n tc a u s i n g is disagreement untiIagreement reached? in the 5 Whatculturaldifferences way that agreement is reached haveyou noticedwhenmeeting peoplefromothercountries?

ruDto

at

Stephanie Heller works for the UK subsidiary of a German company. Listen as she discusses upgrading the company's lT network with a potentiat supplier and say which statements are

true@ or falsef. r

Correctthe falsesentences.

Stephanie, lsobel,andAndrewhaveneverdiscussed this topic before.

z Stephanie would[iketo ordersomenew PCs.

n T

mightordermorethan55 PCsif the priceofferis low enough. 3 Stephanie

n

company will instat]the new PCs. 4 lsobelandAndrew's

T

doesn'twant to pay morefor after-sales service. 5 Stephanie

n

4 2 lUN | T 5

5

lt'sad ea l

Workwith a partnerto practisethe dialogue.Swaproleswhenyou havefinishedandrepeatthe exercise. Usethe expressions fromexercise4. PartnerA

PartnerB

Makeyour offer:5o mobilephonesfor €6,ooo \

Rejectthe offer:it3 too expensive! Reviseyour offer: offer a rzolodiscount.

Reviseyour offer further:offer an r8o/o discount.

"/ \ ,/ \

package Offera full-service after-sales as well.

Rejectthe revisedoffer:it's still too expensive.

Youfindthismoreinteresting: buysome timeto thinkaboutit.

,/ \

Acceptthe offer.

WORKI]IGTOGETHER TO REACIIAGREEIIEIIT

It can be frustrating whensome participants put off a decisionand a meetingendswithoutagreement. In an international context,it3 important to understand the reasonsfor this. For instance,in south-east Asianculturesit's the groupthat'simportantin decisionmaking.An individualwill seldomagree to somethinguntil a consensus has been reachedamongcolleagues. Otherbusinesscultures(suchas those of southernEurope)tend to be quite hierarchica[. Executives may postpone reaching an agreement until they have discussed the issuewith their boss. So don't pushfor agreement rightaway: Youmay be pushinga potentialbusiness partneraway.Instead,researchbefore a meetinghow the decision-making processworkswithinthe business cultureyou'redeatingwith.

U N I T S l t 's a d e a l l . l 3

6

Therearea numberof phraseswhlchareoftenuseddurlnga negotlatlon.Completethe mlnldlatogueswlth phrasesfromthe box.

We don't havea lot of time.Canyou deliverthe machinepartsby next Fridayat the latest?

A

' how manyotherorderswe'reworkingon right now.I'll checkand

B

' earlytomorrow.

aaa

Whatsortof after-sales servicecanyouofferus?

c D aaa

j. l'[ emailyou detailsof our differentservicepackages and Thereare you can choosewhichone you want.

E

Canyou give me a roughidea of how muchthis will cost?

F

No,sorry. At the moment soonas I can.

aaa

a how expensive it will be. I'll let you knowas

G

Will you havea problemfinishingthe reportby Thursday?

H

Yes,I will. ls there laterthan planned?

aaa

5 on when I can finishit?CanI giveit to you a week

I

Thanksfor takingthe time to talk to me today.Now,what'sthe next step?

I

Well,l'I offeryou.

aaa

K L

6 and sendit to you.Thenyou cansee in detaitwhat we can

Niceto seeyou again,Sue. Niceto seeyou too. I wantedto meetyou today

l from last week.

We often show that we are talkingabout possibilitiesin a negotiationby usingconditional forms. Condltlonalr(to show that somethingis tikelyto happen) lfthe pricels right, we'llbeablebbuy more. lf you prepare some different options for me, l'll compore the prices and specifications, then make a choice. Condltionalz(to talk about thingsthat are not certain) Couldyou deliver the system quickly if we gove you the order? We would be prepored b poy more if we received a good level of service back-up. Notethat in conditional2, the past simpleform of the verb is usedin the rf part of the sentence.

i

If you preporedsomedifferentoptionsfor me, I couldcomparethe pricesand specifications, thenmakea choice.NOT:lFyeurreu{darepare-

t f 4 lUN | T 5

7

lt'sad ea l

Completethe sentenceswith the correctform of the words in brackets. r

(give)us moretime,we wouldbe ableto lookat our logistics lf they problems in moredetait.

z l'[[ giveyou a t3o/odiscountif you

(place)your ordertoday.

to ptacethe orderif you 3 | wouldbe prepared servicedea[.

(offer)us a betterafter-sales

(confirm) the job offertoday,he'ltbe ableto startworkat the 4 lfwe beginning of the month. I

I

(come)to yourteammeetingat 10 a.m.,wouldI be abteto leaveat midday? | haveanotherappointment to get IO. lf I

Work with a partner to do the following role-playto practisetalking about possibilities.

SalesManager

overallsaLu

.

Iwrense Youarea sales manager andyouaremeeting . Proide better serwce yourboss, thesales director, torequest twomore cLiznts far LmPortant members ofstaffforyourteam. Youhave made a nevl , FLn/ m'orc noteofsome ofthebenefits thatcanbeexoected if ct4,stoYn&rs yougetthenewstaff. o (1e;tYnrrewwY ftovn Useconditional sentences to atstlvg ct't'stowwrs explain tothesales director whathe/she canexpect if yourteamisincreased bytwonewsalespeople.

)

SalesDirector Youarea salesdirector listening to a request from yoursales manager fortwomore salespeople for hisiherteam. Useconditional sentences toexplain youexpect theincreases inperformance if you agree totheincrease instaff.

15Yoiaereaseia overall talet 7Aolai4creasein salegto impo*ant clienfr 75to inereasein profit{rom new cvttemett

A'DIO

r> <J 2l

9

Listento a meetingof the boardat Gripex,an American-ownedparts manufacturer for the automotiveindustry, wherethe directorsare making an important strategicdecision. Choosethe word or phrasewhich correspondsto what you hear. r z 3 4 5

Christian wantsGripexto continue/ stop productionin Germanyand to decrease/ increase production in Slovakia. Nadine is against/ supports Christian's idea. Reginaabstains/ supportsChristian's proposal. They'llmeetagainon Tuesday/ Thursdaynextweek. Theboard'sdecision will resultin 43o / 34o peoplelosingtheirjobs.

U N ITI l fsadeall {5 tDto

Ato 21

Llrten egdn. *r"r"

rl

*e centencesfron the dlelque wlth wordsfion the bor

to the boardthat we lookat shuttingdownour plantin Germany and movingproduction to our plantin Slovakia.

z ls anyone 3 I'll 4 Letb

to secondChristiant it. thisto a ?

5 Allthosein 6 Regina. Areyou 7 Christian's

11

is carried: andone 7 votes'fof,none'againsf,

look et s.ntancor r-E bslow.Whlchof lhc functlonr In the chart wouldyou usc thcr 5or?

1 So,we'vedecidedto advertisethe job in TheTimesandto hold interviewson 3othAugust. 2 So,doeseveryone thinkwe shouldgivethe contractto ZafodLtd? I All in hvour?Thoseagainst? is nowhappywith the decision? 4 CanI assumethat everyone 5 Canwe havea quickshowof hands? 6 fustto confirm,we'regoingto increase thesizeof the callcentreteamand providemore customer servicetraining. 7 Arewe readyto makea decision? 8 Let'sdecidewhatwe wantto do now.

4 6 lU N| T5

t2

lt'sad ea l

Duringa meeting,the chairpersonhas to be awareof the time. Findsentencesthat can be used to controlthe timing of discussions.

2 We're

five.

out

running

by finish

.i :

try

to

finish

of

time.

3 Let's

time.

on

4 we

need

until

without

5 Letl

time.

over

only

the

next

unless

stitl

withinr

meet

through

6 Remember,

again

remember

we

don't

',, have

again

,90

much

deadlihe time.

,r'to

73l":T;H"T:i,1lH:::,Til:,Tilf1T:;llf:Iil:l: trtr@ iiiiilii iii:;j,r USEFULPHRASES

Rejectingan offer Sorrybut I'm not ableto go alongwith that. Unfortunately, I won't be ableto take you up on that. I'm afraidI can'tagreeto that. I don'tthinkthat wouldbe oossible.

t4

Acceptingan offer I think we'll go for that. Thatsoundsgoodto me. Thatwouldbe great. Askingfor time to consider I'd tikea coupleof daysto think this over. CanI get backto you on that? I needsometime to think it over.

Putthe wordsin the right orderto makesentences with expressions fromthis unlt. 1 can we'tl we soon get d) discuss we again?

on 05

can

you can't with I I'm there

you to back that later that

Yourcompanyis underthreatfrom competitors. You have to reduce overheadsby 20o/o. Your present costs are divided as follows:

afraid agree

think couple to tike of l'd over this a oays

Salaries: 400/o

R & D: 5olo

Marketing: 1Oo/o

Travel: 5o/o

Administration:100/o

Facilities:5o/o

Rent: 1Oo/o

Sundriesi5o/o : :

Communications:100/o:'

i

Hold a meetingand decide how you can make the necessaryeconomres.

U N I T s l t 's a d e a l 1 4 7

Readthe artlcteaboutinterculturaltrainingfor buslnesspeopte.Doyouthink intercultural is as importantas foreigntanguage awareness skills whendoingbusinesswith companies fromothercountries?

Building intencultural bridges for neachingbusiness agneements Discussions between companies fromdifferentcountries often breakdownbecause of a lackof cutturalunderstanding. Training in intercultural awareness - aswellaslanguages - is the gap,writesSamantha keyto bridging thecommunication Cole. More and more companiesare increasingtheir

managementlevel. The messagefor companies

languagetrainingbudgetsto equipstafffor global

here is, don't sendanybodybut seniorpeopleto

business.But languagealoneisn'talwaysenough.

meetingswith Japanesecounterparts.

According to Neil Calder, communications

Calder has tumed his attention recently to

consultant, languagetraining is only half the

central and eastemEurope(CEE). So what has

story. 'Companiesfrom different countriescan

he found out?

usuallydealwith languagedifferencesby leaming foreign languages.But they also needto be able

'There are as many businessculturesin CEE as there are countries,but we can make a few

to deal with cultural differences.That's where

generalizations.For one thing, you can expect

interculturaltraining comesin.'

to discussa proposalat a meetingright through

According to Calder,the differencesbetween

to the agreementstage.But, in the end, verbal

northem and southem Europeancountries are well documented. Executives from Germany

agreementsare not takenseriouslyin the region: yourbusinesspartnerswill want to seesomething

who want to do businessin Italy or Spainneedto

in writing outlining the agreementin the days

understandthe groundrules. Meetingsare rarely

after the meeting.'

used to solve problemsand reach agreementin these countries. Instead, meetings are used to spreadinformation about decisionswhich have alreadybeenmade.

So how does Calder see the future of intercultural awarenessin business? 'Companies are still investing more money in improving foreign languageskills. I want to

Similarly, businesspeopleneedto understand

seea situationwhere investmentin intercultural

the cultural systemsof respect and deference

awarenessis on the same lel'el as language

when they meet up with Asian counterparts.

training.Only then*'ill companiesbe ableto send

For example,senior executivesfrom Japanwill

out well-roundedexecutivescapableof building

only discussbusinesswith peoplefrom the same

businessbridgesin the global environment.'

. In your experience, are theremoresimilarities than differences in the way that peoplefrom differentculturesbehavein meetings? r Whatculturaldifferences haveyou encountered when doingbusinesswith peoplefrom abroad? . Whatadviceabout businessmeetingsin your countrywouldyou offerto someonefrom another culture?

U N I T S l t 's a d e a t 1 4 1

roro

n

2

Llstenagaln and say In whlch order the speakersdlscussthe followlng polnts.

f

sPecifications|

I

[

l_J *ftersale s*rvice

Price I

aetiverv,.le:itsI

;-l

_IJ quantity

I*l instattatlon %-

! oto

.-: 20

3

ilatch the two parts to makesentencesfrom the dialogue,then listen agaln to check. r

4

I want to explore

a we'll be able to buy more.

2 I'm surethat we canwork

b until later.

3 lf the priceis right,

c we'l[be ableto get themout to you withina week.

4 Let'sleavethe issueof price

d something out for you.

5 Onceyou'vedecidedwhat you want,

e as soon as we can on that.

6 We'l[get backto you

f

the possibility that you couldhelpus with this.

t{hlchsentence meansthe sameas the first: A or B? r

I won't be able to take Unfortunately, you up on that.

n

z

CanI get backto you on that?

T T T

3

| thinkwe'llgo for that proposal.

n

4 ld tikea weekto thinkthis over.

5 | needto run this past my boss.

(r-5) canyouusefor: Whichof the sentences accepting? rejecting? buyingmoretime?

T T T T T

A l'm afraidI can'tacceptyour offer. B I'm afraidI can'tagreewith you. A CanI disagreewith you aboutthat? B CanI giveyou an answerto that later? A We'[[probablyagreeto that proposal. B We'llprobablyattackthat proposal. A B A

I needa weekto consider this. I needa weekto understand this.

I needto makesuremv bossdoesn't find out aboutthis. B I needto get my boss'sapproval for this.

.i o

So, I think we're finished for today

Answerthe questlons,thenworkwith a partner andcompareyour answers. youattendrecorded Areall the meetings in a set of minutes?

Doyouandyourcolleagues taketurnsto takethe minutes, or doesthe samepersonalwaysdo thejob? howdetailedarethe minutesfromyourmeetings? In genera[, Whoarethe minutesdistributed to?

Dlscussthe advantages anddlsadvantages of mlnuteswlth your partner. A,DIO

I

t

Themanagement teamof the ScottlshfabrlccompanyTweedTradltlonis dlscussing redeslgnlngthe cornpany's offlces.Llstento the endof the meetingandcorrectthe six mistakes ln the mlnutes. 2 p'm' Meeting to discuss redesign/move - 18tMarch Astion PolDts: Mike to

redesigm two interior designers for guotations for office ' contast . look for interior desigm software (irrportant!)

Sueto.talktomarketinginDundeeabouthiringafacilitydFlrager building company (did work for us atready) Andy to ' talk to old . get ctuotes from two other builders Steffr to Nick to John to

new computers ' look for work r pl,an how to keep office running smoothly during building r talk to lawyers

Next meeting: 8s March 2'30 P'm'

UNIT6

So, I thinkwe'refinishedfor today | 49

{JDIO

:?

2

Gomplete the sentenceswlth wordsfromthe box.Thenlisten againto checkyour answers. congludesr frX r iust r over a partlcipati6n. thrOUghr Wrap r Let's zl

thingsup there. want to go

what we'vedecidedthis afternoon.

3 Let's

a time for our next meeting.

4 That

our businessfor today.

5 Thanksfor your active 6 We reallygot

this afternoon. a lot of business.

T Krl{GfStr{UTES Minutesstartwith the dateof the meetingand a shortdescription of what the meetingwas about.Thereshouldalso be a tist of who was at the meetingand who was not ableto attend: Meeting to discussChristmaspublic relations activities- st November :

Present:Norman,Una, Frazer Apologies:Frenco,Connor

,

it is bestto keepthe minutesshortand simple: Usualty, to John talk to bank

'

Votesare usuallyrecorded: Thecommitteedecidedby 5 votesto t to hire a new solesperson.(Thismeansthat six people votedfor hiringa new salesperson, and one personagainst.)

AiJqto

:l 21,

-r 3

www.plush-furnlshlngs.com is an online soft furnishings retaiter. Listento a meetingof the cost accountingteam and answerthe questlonsbelow. r

ls Kenhappywith the outcomeof the meeting?

z Whatare PetraandAlexgoingto do?Why?

3 Who does Edwardhaveto meet?Why?

a WhatdoesKenthink of Edward?

5 WhatdoesKenhaveto do next?

6 Whatare the actionpointsfrom the meeting?

50 | UNIT6

So, I thinkwe?efinishedfor today

A,DIO

A 24

4

tow llstento a meetingbetweenmanagers at a catlcentreandtakethe mlnutes.Usethe r. examplein exercise AOB The last item on moreformalagendasis usuallyAOB(AnyOtherBusiness). This describes a part of the meetingwhichis reserved for the discussion of itemswhichare not identifiedon the agenda.In a meetingwith an agenda,the chairperson oftenasksat : the beginningwhetherparticipants wantto discussanythingunderAOB: Doesonyonehove anythingthey'd like to bring up underAO8? lf a subiectcomesup duringa discussion, but is not directlyrelevantto the discussion, a chairperson mightask that the item be deattwith underAOB: Couldwe deal with that point underAOB? Thisway he/shecan makesurethat the agendais followed.

5

ilatch the two parts to makesentenceswhich can be usedto talk about AOB. r 0K. ls thereany other 2 Let'stalk about 3 | havean item 4 ls thereanythingthat anyonewouldliketo bring 5 Coutdwe talk

AJDIO

a

O A 2v27

a b c d e

overthat pointunderAOB? up underAOB? businessthat we needto discuss? for AOB. that whenwe get to AOB.

Listento threedialoguesof peoptesying goodbyeaftertheir meetingsandmatcheach dlalogueto the corect description. Dialogue r

n

Thespeakersknoweachotherwel[.

z Thespeakerswork in the sameoffice. 3 Thespeakershavenevermet beforetoday'smeeting.

T T

AJDIO

€

25-27

7

Listento the diatoguesagainandcompletethe sentences. r

lt reallywas a

to meetyou in personat [ast.

z Thepleasure wasall 3 Andthankyou for

the timeto showme aroundyourplant.

4 Well,Mr Marks,Matthewwill showyou backdownto 5 | hopethat you havea 6 Wetl,thanksfor Z ltwasa 8 Havea safe

iourneyhome.Goodbye. alongthis afternoon. as always,Catherine. backto Birmingham.

UNIT6

9 Bye,and

you agarn

10 Car[and Garythanksfor Anyway,I'd better 72

8

Seeyou guys

So,I thinkwe?efinishedfor today | 51

Catherine. us today.

gorng.I haveanothermeetingin five minutes. for Iunch?

After a meeting,peopleoften write follow-up emails.Gompletethe three emailswith wordsfrom the box. attached. attending o in contact o greatlt . impressed. interesting. know . spendingr taking

HiGaryhiCarl, our Thanksagainfor ...-1 teammeetingyesterday- it was really usefulto haveyouthere.Attachedare the minutesof the meeting. I spoketo Andreand Sabineafterlunch yesterdayand theyagreethat these lessformal'inter-team'meetingsare a goodideain additionto ourexisting meetings. interdepartmental WhattimeareYougoingfor lunch? Letme-2. Cheers, Julie

Dear Mrs Cooper, I am writingto thank you once again for 3 the time to meet me yesterday. It reallywas most aroundyour plant. I was verv . by your expertise in rapid r-iooring;; f""tcertainthat this will guaranteeyou successwith your expansionplans. It was also fascinatingto hear about your plans to enterthe Chinesemarket.We will be proud to offer you any assistancethat we can in this venture. Pleasenote that I have now spoken to our sales engineerMr Kovak who will be ;

withyouin the nearfuture. I meeting. Best regards, Bernard Marks

DearSilvius' an outline Friday'Please.find It was goodto seeyou againon 8 mail' this to of ourdiscussion g time lookingat our newrange Thanksfor As promised,I h3v9.10wsentthe fabric=s. of water-resistant be with you by Wednesday' should to you- they ;ili;. Havea niceholiday! l lookforwardto seeingyouin August' Bestwishes' RogerConibear

7 look forward

to our next

sil

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9

So. I thinkwe'refinishedfor todav

Workwith two partnersto role-playa meeting.Lookat the UsefutPhrasesbeforegoingto the PartnerFiles. PartnerA Filerz, p, 58 PartnerB File18,p.50 PartnerC Fitez, p. 56

PHRIE: USEFUL Endinga meeting Let'sfinish here. I think that'severything. I think that bringsus to an end.

I think it is time to finish.

Confirmingdecisionsand actions So,to sum up what we'vedecided... Right.I'm goingto ... We'vedecidedto ... Tracy,you'll ... Thankingsomeonefor a meeting Thankyou all for comingin today. Thankyou very muchfor your time. Thankyou for your hardwork. I think we've comeup with a lot of good ideas.

i

1O

Sayinggoodbye I look forwardto seeingyou (alDagain s oon. I hopeyou havea safejourney. Havea safetrip home.

Put the words in the right order to makesentenceswith expresslonsfrom this unit. r

here up

things wrap

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and

2 again time us visit 3 safe 4

get

home that

I

today thank the

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UNIT6

So. I thinkwe?efinishedfor todav | 53

Haveyou everdone businesswith peoplefrom any of the countriesin this guide? lf so, do you agreewith the informationgiven?

MixingBusiness andPleasure Gonearethe dayswhenbusiness wasonlycarriedout in officesandconference rooms. Nowpeoplemixbusiness andpleasure in a rangeof settings. Butwhatarethe rulesof business entertaining in an international context? Here's a briefguide.

China In common withother Asian business cultures, theChinese are

Bfitain

Forser breakrast meernss.

They'redeeplyunpopular, evenin fonrvardlookingLondon.The Britishpreferto do business overlunch0r,on occasion, dinner. The lattermealis,however, for pleasure, usuallyreserved allowingbusiness contacts an opportunity to get to knoweachothera littlebetter, sodon'texpectto talk shopoveryourlambcutletandtrifle.

keen on lavishbusiness entertaining. Largeevening mealsareverymuchon the agenda yourhostto orderenough here.Expect to feedtwelve people for a partyof six.Themealwillprobably also consistof several courses, soit'sa goodideat0 pace yourself andnoteattoomuchearlyin themeal.That youto leavelotsofthefood said,goodmanners require 0neafter-hours venue where business andpleasure can uneaten: finishing offyourfoodwillsendtheinsulting pub.'Going pub'issomething be mixed is the to the of signalthatyourhosthasnotordered enough to satisfy pastime, people national a no less so among business yourhunger. thanthepopulation asa whole.lf yourBritishbusiness It'snota badideato practise eatingwithchopsticks contacts takeyouto the pub,be prepared to drink beforemakingyourbusiness tripto China. Yourhosts the Britishversionof beer.Expectsomething a little youreffortsto usethemand different will certainly appreciate fromthe light,refreshing beersyoumaybe youshould for European-style avoidasking cutleryif usedto.Britishbeer- warmandflat- isanimportant product. atallpossible. national Makesureto try it beforemoving on to something a littlemoredrinkable.

Ja pa n ffyou'redoingbusinesshere,

youcanexpectto be lavishly entertained meerngs. USA Breariasr *nercfl afterofficehoursby yourhost,whowill business is mixedwithsmoked salmonEl pickupthebillfor foodanddrinks.ln theevenings, arruscramoreo prrny I eggs,nave 'ecome isprettymuchofftheagenda, years. business s0don'texpect popular hereinrecent lf you're invited toone,set toputthefinishing touches toa dealoversushi. Whatis youralarmclockforanearlyrise:suchmeetings often firmlyontheagenda, however, is drinking - andquitea getunderwayasearlyas7a.m.lExpect to discuss a people lotofit.Japanese business canconsume a good lotof business overyourbreakfast. parging dealof sakiduringan evening's after-work people Business fromtheUSarealsokeenon afterandenjoytoastingoneanother. lf someone offersyoua hoursentertaining. lt's not unusual to receivean toast,besureto returnthecompliment. invitation to haveanevening mealwitr a business host popular Karaoke isanespecially activityforentertaining at hisorherhome. lf youreceive likethis, aninvihtion lf youaretakento a karaoke business contacts. bar, remember to turnup puncfually. Youcanalsoexpect thegoldenruleis to takepart.lt's important gets to show a tourof yourhost'shomebeforethe evening yourhosts thatyou're a goodsport, evenif yoursinging underway. Bringflowers or a botfleof wine.I yourstrongpoint. voiceis notexactly

a a

partners Aftera meetingis finished,do you preferto socialize with yourbusiness overa drinkin a pub,or wouldyou rathertakethemto a culturaleventsuchas the theatre? Canyou offeradviceaboutsociatizing with peoplefrom otherculturesthat you haveworkedwith? Whatadvicewouldyou offera visitorto yourcountryaboutthe after-hours business culture?

54 1

Test yourself! Across r Anotherwordforprepare;l' il ...o quotationfor youandsendit to youbyFriday. 4 I 9 10

13 74 t6 20 21 22 23

25

(z words- 4, z) If I cometo your teammeetingot 70a.m.,... I be oble to leaveat middoyT Tohold a meetinglaterthanoriginattyplanned:llnfortunatelyI can't mokeour meetingon Tuesday.Couldwe ... the meetingto Wednesday? Anotherword for badly: Salesperformedvery...here. Anotherphrasefor [ef's finish our meetingnow; Let's,.. things up here. Tosupporta motion:l'il... that. Tostarta discussion:Whowontsto get the boll ...? Theoppositeof I think you're obsolutelyright: I completely.... Torejectan offeror suggestion:l'm aftaidI won't be oble to ...you up on that. Thevoicequalityis terrible:Thevoicequalityis not reollyup to .... A groupof peoplewho work togetherin a department:. EveryTuesdoy all thepeoplein my deportmentget togetherfor a quick... meeting. why somethinghashappenedl. Exptaining I think this wosas a ,,, of somebodplanningon our port. Not exactzConyou give me o ... idea of how muchthis will cost?

Down z Anotherword for schedule:Couldyou ,,, a meetingwith the marketing ossistontfor next Tuesday? To speakwhensomebodyelseis speaking: CanI ...here? 3 5 Anotherway to sayexamine:Ourobjectivetodoy is to ... the new advertisingcampaign. (z words- 4, z) 6 (Dan)can'tcometo the meeting:(Dan)has senthis.... 7 May I ... TimMcCarthyto you?Tim,this is CharlotteBone. rr Tochangethe time: Conwe ... our meeting?l'm afraid I won't havetime on Tuesdoyafter oll. rz Tomakea democraticdecision:Right.Let'sput thisto a ,,,, 15 Thewrittenrecordof a meeting:Haveyou got o note of that for the ..., Ms Michoels? r7 A personin controlof moreformalmeetings:A ...shouldfinish the meetingon time,evenif a decisionhasn't beenreached. r8 Anotherword for soy somethingabout: Doesanyonewant to ... on that? r9 Anotherway to say Let'sstort now: Let'sget ... to business. z4 Thelist of topicsto be discussedin a meeting:Colinhasaskedme to drawup a quick....

Testyoursetf!| 55

Partner Files PartnerB

PartnerA

Youneedto arrange withtwocolleagues. a meeting youareall having Youwantto discuss theproblems withthe newcustomer servicesoftwareyour hasinvested in.Finda timethatsuitsyou company allto meet.Donotshowyourdiaryto eitherof your partners.

Youworkfor Burotech PLC, anofficeequipment Thefirmhas company withbranches acrossEurope. which recently beentakenoverbya UScompany wantsto implement itsqualitycontroImethods at Burotech. TheUScompany hasselected stafffrom to actasQualityWorkers all levelsof the business to launchthe andis holdinga seriesof meetings project.

ilonday /2.3O-2.OO/uartrnBrown 2./5-5.3O / et navlTPmanaaer Iuesday q./5 -//.OO Hartetbprnentatton //.3O-/.OOProqress neetuqwithClaudtd andAndrav

Youarethechairperson at oneofthesemeetings. Explain Welcome theotherparticipants. the of themeeting to them.Askthemto obiectives introduce themselves andprovide somebackground information abouttheirworkfor Burotech.

Wednesday /2.OO-2.5OBusrneas metnq d*ehpment A.7 netinq 3.OO-5.45 Prepare ltd f1r lhursday 4.OO-5.3OMeetnqt0 diivasspa*sbleco-operatron withAZltd Fdday A//-day tean -buldnqwa&shop

of vnunvg: tuYw YnilAber'tto tntrodwe /.urk thsnsdvu. "ir^"r* qualutYcontrol Y'n&tfud'

abouttuw tW i"dens 7i^,1*ur* -iia at cawbc LwPletwented b*rotu'h.

PartnerC yourcompany, Youarechairing a meeting between Ltd,a manufacturer Holdermatic of vending whereyouareheadof production, machines and paints. NoblePaints, a manufacturer of industrial Youhavejustfinished discussing whetherNoble Paints candevelop a newpaintforyourvending machines. byconcluding themeeting. Make Starttherole-play sureyoudothefollowing things: . endthemeeting . asktheothersto summarize whatactiontheyare goingto take r thankyourvisitorfromNoblePaints forcoming . showyourvisitorto thereception areaandsay goodbye. Afterthe meetingis over,writea list of theaction pointsandinclude it in anemailto yourcolleague fromNoblePaints. andthe representative

PartnerC Youaretheassistant financemanager at Genexsis from Ltd.Yourbosswantsto buysoftwarelicences AccountSoft. He/She wantsyourentireteamof costs€5o. Eachlicence 5o peopleto havelicences. He/She thinksthatthelicences aretooexpensive for5o licences. andwantsa discount of aboutzoo/o lf he/shecan'tgetAccountSoft Ltdto agreeto a high-enough discount, he/shewillorderfewer Yourboss licences to be usedby keystaffmembers. you will negotiate the numberof softwarelicences willbuyandthepriceyouwill payforthem,butyou areenthusiastic to takepart.Tryto speakasmuch aspossible by makingpoliteinterruptions.

Partner Fileslsz

PartnerC You'rea memberof the publicrelations teamat a pet food manufacturer. Yourleadingbrandof dog you'vejust heard food is Friskeee. Unfortunately, that Friskeee containssmallquantities of 244T.This is a chemical whichis not dangerous for animalsto eat.lt can,however, causesickness in humansif theyeata lot of it. Foodsafetyguidelines do not provideclearrulesaboutZ44Tandthereis no legal reasonwhyyoushouldwithdrawthe productfrom shops.Thisis strictlya potentialpublicrelations problem.

customers. Instead, thereshouldbe a customer care websitewherenewcustomers canbuyinsurance andexistingcustomers canfindanswersto their questions. Yourreasons for thinkingthisare: r An effectivewebsiteis not cheap,but you would savemoneyon staffandtraining.Thismoney couldbe usedfor designing anddeveloping the website. . Cal[centreagentssometimesgivecustomers inaccurate information andaresometimes not verypolite.A websitewouldlet you controlthe quatityof yourcompany's customer care.

Youaregoingto havea meetingwith other members of the PRteamto decidewhatto do. Here areyournotesfor the meeting. PartnerC

The,sitwtitt+ h)ill wt cdwe any seritw h?Altl4 prablemr, but it cauld be a seriiw public relatitwr prob lext.

We . wt tell oo+yovl.e outride thz carnpany abow the. prabtem Friskux.from ail tfups .-ry.* erlwllytnte ZtpIT frorn Frkkzez iw fl/1& lWnre

Youworkfor BurotechPLC,an officeequipment company with branches Thefirm has acrossEurope. recentlybeentakenoverby a UScompany which wantsto implement its qualitycontrolmethodsat Burotech.Thecompanyhasselectedstafffromall levelsof the business to actas QualityWorkersand is holdinga seriesof meetings to launchthe project. Youareoneof the QuatityWorkers. Thechairperson yourselfandyourworkfor wi[[askyouto introduce the company. Usethe followingdetails: Name:Useyourown name Assistant lob titte:Administrative Basedin: Useyourown town foinedcompany:2oo2

your During themeeting, aswe[[asoffering youshouldinterrupt opinions, theotherparticipants whattheyaresaying. andaskthemto clarifiT PartnerD

PartnerA Youarea memberof the customer care management teamat the subsidiary of a British Youaremeeting insurance companyin yourcountry. to discusspossible with threeothermanagers changesin the wayyou offercustomercare. Thecompanyhasa callcentrewith 55 agents.z5 of theseagentsspendtheirtime makingcallsto potentialcustomers. Theother4o agentsanswer callsfrompotentialandexistingcustomers. Thecompanyhasbeenlookingat web-based customercarefor severalyears.Youthink that calt centreagentsshouldno longeranswercallsfrom

Youwork for BurotechPLC,an officeequipment company with branches acrossEurope. Thefirm has recentlybeentakenoverby a UScompany which wantsto implement its qualitycontrolmethodsat Burotech. Thecompanyhasselectedstafffroma[1 levelsof the businessto act as QualityWorkersand is hotdinga seriesof meetings to launchthe proiect. Youareoneof the QualityWorkers. Thechairperson yourselfandyourworkfor wittaskyouto introduce the company. Usethe followingdetails: Name:Useyourown nome Leader lob title:PurchasingTeam Basedin: Useyourown town foinedcompanyi2oo4

58 | PartnerFites

PartnerB

PartnerB

You'rea memberof the publicrelations teamat a petfoodmanufacturer. Yourleadingbrandof dog you'vejust heard food is Friskeee. Unfortunately, that Friskeee containssmalIquantitiesof 244T.This is a chemical whichis not dangerous for animalsto eat.lt can,however, causesickness in humansif theyeata lot of it. Foodsafetyguidelines do not provideclearrulesaboutZ44Tandthereis no legal reasonwhyyou shouldwithdrawthe productfrom shops.Thisis strictlya potentialpublicrelations problem.

Youarea memberof the customer care management teamat the subsidiary of a British insurance companyin yourcountry. Youaremeeting with threeothermanagers to discusspossible changesin the way you offercustomercare.

Youaregoingto havea meetingwith other members of the PRteamto decidewhatto do. Here areyournotesfor the meeting.

?uPLe thts u )4ntd serww,Problem! nntSoLvgto ut tho are Prob^bLY thLr tvfirvnanow ' trY to kLeP confidexttaL , k; Frt^rlcu*Lwthe shtPs

Lwthe ,'Jthi*t" zW frow Frukze* fit*re are ."pvspotre a Pk stratEY to shlw,n)e do! 'a|mr**,g zW fro wt ..tl^"-

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dbout thz Problew

Duringthe meeting,as wellas offeringyouropinion, youshouldinterruptthe otherparticipants andask themto ctarifowhattheyaresaying.

PartnerA Youwork for AccountSoft and havea meetingwith the Genexsis Ltdfinancemanager. He/Shewantsto ordersoftwarelicences. Eachlicencecosts€5o. youdo not offerdiscountsunlessthe Normally, customerordersat least4o licences.Thestandard you reallyneedto get the discountis 5%. However, orderfromGenexsisand are readyto be more flexibteaboutpricethanusual.Negotiate the yourcustomer numberof softwarelicences will buy andthe pricehe/shewill payfor them.Tryto get an orderfor as manylicences as possiblewith the smallestpossiblediscount.

Thecompanyhasa catlcentrewith 65 agents.z5 of theseagentsspendtheirtime makingcallsto potentiaIcustomers. Theother40 agentsanswer callsfrompotentiaIandexistingcustomers. Thecompanyhasbeenlookingat web-based customercarefor severalyears.Somepeopleare sayingthat callcentreagentsshouldno longer answerca[[sfromcustomers. Instead, theythink thereshouldbe a customercarewebsitewherenew customers canbuy insurance andexisting customers canfindanswersto theirquestions. Youdisagree stronglywith the idea.Youthinkthat: . Thecompany wouldn'tsaveanymoney. A customercarewebsitewould be veryexpensive andthe companywill losemoneyas customers who do notwantto do business on the lnternet go to otherinsurers. o Quatityof serviceproblemsshouldbe solvedby providingmoretrainingfor callcentreagents.A pageon the website askedquestions' 'frequently questions. will not helpcustomers with individual Also,peoplewill notwantto buy insurance productswithoutfirst speakingto a ca[[centre agent.

PartnerA Youarea salesperson for NoblePaints,an paintcompanywhichsellsmainly American-owned to industrial companies. Youaremeetingwith two production engineers fromHoldermatic Ltd,andyou havejust finisheddiscussing the possibitity of developing a paintfor theirnewrangeof vending machines. In the meetingyou haveagreedto: . arrangea meetingbetweenyou,NoblePaints' headof productdevelopment andthe peoplefrom Holdermatic. Youwilt try to set up the meetingfor two weeksfrom now . startworkon developing the newpaint . drawup a timetablefor testingthe newpaint. Oncethe meetinghasfinished,writean emailto yourcontactsat Holdermatic thankingthemfor the meetingandconfirming the actionyouwi[[take.

PartnerFiles | 59

PartnerA

PartnerA

Youneedto arrangea meetingwith two colleagues. youareall having Youwantto discussthe problems with the newcustomer servicesoftwareyour companyhasinvestedin. Finda timethatsuitsyou a[[to meet.Donotshowyourdiaryto eitherofyour partners,

You'rethe manager of the publicrelations teamat a petfoodmanufacturer. Yourleadingbrandofdog you'vejust heard food is Friskeee. Unfortunately, that Friskeee containssmallquantities of 244T.This is a chemical whichis not dangerous for animalsto eat.lt can,however, causesickness in humansif theyeata lot of it. Foodsafetyguidelines do not provideclearrulesaboutZ44Tandthereis no legal reasonwhyyoushouldwithdrawthe productfrom shops.Thisis strictlya potentialpublicrelations problem.

Monday

10-12.30Meet StephzvtStory

Tuesday

1.00-G.00 Interwew for teotn auktaw job

Wednesday Iw

Harwbwryowbwtness

Thursday q$4.15

lvteeftry h ducws nrxt qunrteri targett with C4wrge Cox 11.3012.30Alalt FwvlatuIorcNab to dkcwt nftware problevw

Friday

butld tvg workshtp AII-day te,ovw-

Youaregoingto chaira meetingof the PRteam whereyouwittdecidewhatto do.Themeetingcould be ratherstressful. Participants will probablyhave somestrongviewson the subjectandinterrupt eachothera tot.Tryto be fairin the wayyou handle interruptions. Youraimis to a[[owa discussion in whicheveryone cantakepart.

PartnerD Youarea memberof the customer care management of a British teamat the subsidiary insurance companyin yourcountry. Youaremeeting with threeothermanagers to discusspossible changes in the wayyouoffercustomer care. Thecompanyhasa ca[]centrewith 65 agents.z5 of theseagentsspendtheirtimemakingcallsto potentiaIcustomers. Theother40 agentsanswer ca[[sfrompotentialandexistingcustomers.

PartnerB Youworkfor Burotech Ltd,an officeequipment with branches Thefirmhas company acrossEurope. recentlybeentakenoverby a UScompany which its qualitycontrolmethodsat wantsto implement Burotech. Thecompanyhasselectedstafffromall levelsof the business to actas QualityWorkersand is hotdinga seriesof meetings to launchthe project. Thechairperson Youareoneof the QualityWorkers. yourselfandyourworkfor will askyouto introduce Usethe followingdetails: the company. Name:Useyourown nome Logistics Manager Jobtitte:Regional Basedin: Useyourown town Joinedcompany:7997

Thecompanyhasbeenlookingat web-based customer carefor severalyears.Somepeopleare sayingthat ca[[centreagentsshouldno longer answercallsfromcustomers. theythink Instead, thereshouldbe a customer carewebsitewherenew customers canbuyinsurance andexisting customers canfindanswers to theirquestions. Yourjob is to chairthe meeting. Youareuncertain whereyou standon the issue.Listencarefully to yourco[leagues'arguments andaskthemto clarifu whattheyaresaying.Bythe endofthe meeting, decidetogetherwhatto do.

3O I PartnerFiles

PartnerC

PartnerD

Youarea memberof the customercare management teamat the subsidiary of a British insurance companyin yourcountry. Youaremeeting with threeothermanagers to discusspossible changesin the wayyou offercustomercare.

You'rea memberof the pubticrelationsteamat a petfoodmanufacturer. Yourleadingbrandofdog you'veiust heard food is Friskeee. Unfortunately, that Friskeee containssma[[quantitiesof 244T.This is a chemicalwhich is not dangerous for animalsto eat.lt can,however, causesickness in humansif theyeat a lot of it. Foodsafetyguidelines do not provideclearrulesaboutZ44Tandthereis no legal reasonwhyyou shouldwithdrawthe productfrom shops.Thisis strictlya potentialpublicrelations problem.

Thecompanyhasa caltcentrewith 65 agents.z5 of theseagentsspendtheirtime makingca[[sto potentiatcustomers. Theother40 agentsanswer callsfrompotentialandexistingcustomers. Thecompanyhasbeenlookingat web-based customer carefor severalyears. Somepeopleare sayingthat ca[[centreagentsshouldno longer answerca[[sfromcustomers. Instead, theythink thereshouldbe a customercarewebsitewherenew customers canbuy insurance andexisting customers canfindanswersto theirquestions. Youdisagree with the idea.Youthinkthat: r Makingandmaintaining a websitewill costas muchas the caltcentreagents. o A websiteis essential for goodcustomercare. However, customerswant humancontactas well, so callcentreagentsareimportanttoo.

Youaregoingto havea meetingwith other membersof the PRteamto decidewhatto do. Here areyournotesfor the meeting.

-lhe

couldbe very badfor

lLLr cowpntvlytrw4ge. We shtuJd be covnpldely htnzrt abaut thz prablerw. Othzrwke, there vwgW be d scqndal tf the rneda ftnds aut.

We , tell tht publir. tyny,roedwtdy!Honzsty k thz best poh.cy

PartnerB Youarea production engineerat Holdermatic Ltd,a companywhichspecializes in the manufacture of vendingmachines. Youaremeetingwith a salesperson fromNoblePaints,an American-owned companywhichproduces industrialpaints,andyou havejustfinisheddiscussing the possibitity of the companydeveloping a newpaintfor you. In the meetingyou haveagreedto: . makesamplesof the metaland plasticsurfaces whichyou needthe paintfor r sendthe samplesto yourcontactat NoblePaints . drawup the technicalrequirements for the new paint. Afterthe meetinghasfinished,writean emailto yourcontactat NoblePaintsthankinghim/herfor the meetingandconfirming the actionyouwill take.

. revntveFrisku*,fram all shtps . eJtvmtnate ZW from Frirksi, and avtwuwe the chavgesta the yn&dtt

Duringthe meeting,as well as offeringyouropinion, youshouldinterruptthe otherparticipants andask themto clarifywhattheyaresaying.

PartnerFiles | 61

PartnerC Youneedto arrangea meetingwith two colleagues. youareall having Youwantto discussthe problems with the new customerservicesoftwareyour companyhasinvestedin. Finda timethat suitsyou all to meet.Donotshowyourdiaryto eitherof your partners.

1.50-10.5 0 Angela Stevenr E B

c o

5.00'G.00Brainslormingm eeling

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PartnerB Youarethe financemanager at Genexsis Ltd.You wantto buy softwarelicencesfromAccountSoft. You wantyourentireteamof 5o peopleto havelicences. Eachlicensecosts€ 5o.Youthinkthatthe licences aretoo expensive andwanta discountof about zoo/ofor 5o licences.lf you can'tget AccountSoft Ltd youwill order to agreeto a high-enough discount, fewerlicencesto be usedby keystaff members. Negotiatethe numberof softwarelicencesyou will buyandthe priceyouwill payfor them.

GI

Answer key be hetdin myofficeonWednesday, zgthJuneat 10.20 a.m.

Page5 1e 2C

4f 5a 6b

3o

r (modelanswers) Dialoguer a somechangesto a contractwith a customer b Mondayat 2 p.m. c no specifiedtime - meetingwill be open-ended Dialoguez a a iob offer b Mondaynextweekat 7.3o c aboutan hourand a half

page6 z Cal[r 1 schedute 2 about 3 make 4 about 5 pr an 6 open 7 see d

8 9 ro rr 12 13

Perhaps, in person do,have suit afraid on,at forward

1,8

b 5' 6

2,4,9, 7 0

o 3' 17 e 7, 72, 7 3 32

Whenwouldyoutiketo meet? HowaboutThursday morning at 11.30? HowwouldnextTuesday befor you? Yes,thatwouldbefine. youthen. I lookforward to meeting pase7 3 4 5 6

TheemaiIfromMarkPeters is informal; theemail fromCarotine is formal. Jones pegc8 z Thanks foragreeing to meetwithme. thedateandtimeof 3 | woutdatsotiketo confirm ourmeeting: youhaveanyquestions in advance ofour 4 Shoutd please meeting, do nothesitate to getin touch withme. forwardto seeingyouon Monday. 5 Looking 6 Regards, (modeIanswers) HiDavid to Justa quicknoteto letyouknowthatthemeeting discuss theproblems withthecleaning contract will

youthen. Looking forward to seeing Regards DearMrsFranks It wasa pleasure to speakto youtoday.I'dliketo takethisopportunity to thankyouforagreeing to meetme. I wouldalsoliketo confirm thedateandtimeof our meeting: 12September at your 3.oop.m.on Friday, headofficein Bristol. youhaveanyquestions in advance Shoutd of our please meeting, do nothesitate to getin touchwith me. youon I verymuchlookforward to meeting 12SeDtember. Yourssincerely pageI 7 (modetanswer) Caroline is catting to change thetimeof her Jones meeting withCharles Armitage. Theydecideto movetheirmeeting to thefoltowing Wednesday at halfpastsevenin theevening. r z 3 4 5

terribty afraid reschedule come out

6 mi nd 7 postpone 8 suit 9 inconvenience 10 hetped

lt coutdn't behelped, I'mafraid. you. Sorryto inconvenience I'mterribtysorry. Doyouhaveanother timein mind? Something hascomeup. p8t3 1(, b c d e f 9 r z 3 4

book emai l circulate reserve

5 order 6 attend Z take

PrtBtr 11 2 3 4 5 6

arrange cancel postpone chair attend

1 postpone 2 arrange 3 cancel

a4 c2 d5 e3 J6 4 attend 5 hotd 6 chair

Answerkey | 63

pege 18

page12 12 ACTOSS

4 6 7 ro

cancel suggest suit agenda

Down r brainstorming z take 3 postpone 5 circulate 8 te a m 9 chair

13 1 Coutdwe schedulea time to meetnextweek? 2 Perhapswe couldmeetand go overthe detailsin person? 3 | tookforwardto meetingyou then. 4 Giveme a catlif you haveany questionsbefore the meeting. 5 I'mafraidI haveanotherappointmentat that time.

ptgc 14 11C

zb 3a page15 z r 2 3 4

see,How F ine verywell Have, met

4D 5a

5 6 7 8

Pleased meet,too Let,introduce do you

r: work,sport,famity 3 Dialogue Dialogue z: weather Dialogue 3: work page16 4r b- G 2g- c 3 a -D 4t - B 5 d -F 5 e -A 7 c -E Pagery 6r / 2 X. He'sfromthecompany's advertising agency. andhassenther 3 I. Shecan'tattendthemeeting apologies. 4/ 5/ problems in theexisting 5 ,x.She'llanalyse sales strategy. r z 3 4 5 6

nice,everyone begin,introduce sent,apologies makeit discussing agenda, business

participants - 3, 5 7 Wetcoming - b,4, 5 Introducing someone Repor t ing apo l o g i e- sc ,d , z ,9 Stating theaims- e, 7 - f, 8, ro Starting themeeting

8rd zf 3b

4e 5 a 6c

910 2a 3e 4c 5b

r looking, about z finishing 3 talking 4 going,over,about 5 at,about p88e19 ro (modelanswers) A Right. Wetcome, everyone. Niceto seeyouatl.Before wegetgoingthismorning, let meiusttellyouthatJim Hendry he'sitl. won'tbejoiningustoday:unfortunatety Now.Doeseveryone knowMargaret Hart?Margaret is joiningusforthefirsttimethismorning. Thanks for coming, Margaret. OK.Wetehereto talkaboutourlastadvertising campaign today.We'vegot lotsto getthroughso tet's getdownto business. B He[[o, everyone. Thanks forcomingatongthisafternoon.We'regoingto finalize ourplansfor nextyear's satesconference today,Butbeforewe begin,canI just introduce HarryFinchfromoureventmanagement agency? Thanks Harry. forcoming in thisafternoon, OK.Nowunfortunatety can't andBobCulbert Jil[Cooper andBob'son a training course. ioinus.Jilt'son hotiday Right. That'senough fromme.Let'sgetstarted. ur

d 2c 3e 4,5,6 b 7a pege20

A 5 Br c7 D2 E3

rz r sales 4 Key 2 three 5 feedback 6 catalogues 3 members pa8e21 r3 (suggested answers) Formal: AGM.sharehotder Informat: brainstorming, kick-off, team,progress r5 r Letmeintroduce mycolleague. z lsthisthefirsttimeyou'vecomeherefora meeting? knowMsMargaret Smith? 3 Doeseveryone 4 | hopeyouhada pleasant lourney. 5 Tettus a bit aboutyourself. 5 Let'sgetdownto business. 7 lt'sniceto meetyouin person. 8 Saltycan'tbewithustoday.

64 | Answerkey

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Whatdo youthinkaboutthat? Yes,that'sa verygoodsuggestion. l'mnotsosureaboutthat,to behonest. | agreeupto a point. l'mafraidI don'tagreewiththatat att. Howaboutif wevisitthecompany in person?

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3 r S eeTra n s c rip p.Tt z fo ra n s w e rs page50 g (Modetanswer) Minutes of meeting to discuss takingon morecall centrestaff Paul Apologies: Vanessa, Themeeting decided byfivevotesto twoin favourof takingon moreca[[centrestaff. Resources Sheilato contact Human to informthem of thedecision to hirenewcal[centrestaff forthecallcentre Susieto writenewiobdescription staff Davidto writea draftof thejobadvertisement for Human Resources Sheila to bookthetraining centreforthenewstaff Nextmeeting: Wednesday, zothMayat u.oo in Sheilab office. 4b 5a

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5-6 points

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lez

Tlanscripts $ 2

Catlr lon Mork lon Mark lon Mork

lan Mark

lan Mork

lan Mork

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lanSweeney, Hello,lan.MarkPetersfromthe legal here. department Oh,hello,Mark.Howareyou? Fine,thanks.Howaboutyou? Nottoo bad.Busyasever. Haveyougota minute, lan?I'mcallingabout we'regoingto maketo the somechanges withGBT. Therearea fewclausesI'd contract liketo discusswithyouandyourteambefore youstartto negotiate the contract. Couldwe schedule a timeto meetnextweek? at nine? 0K.Mmm.HowaboutMonday Sorry| can'tmakeit then.I'mat the Brighton Howabout officeon Mondaymorning. sometime afterlunch...abouttwo? Yes,I canmanage that.OK,I'll gettheteam togetherfortwo.Shouldwe planforthe wholeafternoon? Wemaybeableto getthroughthe new quitequickty. But versionof theagreement thenagain...Let'sleavethe tengthofthe meetingopenfor now. Thatsounds sensible. So,I'llseeyouon Mondayat two. Thanks,lan.I'll havemyassistant sendyoua quickemailto let youknowwherewe're meetingandgiveyouanoutlineof whatl'd [iketo discuss. Seeyouon Monday, then.

Caltz Chartes Armitage. ChorlesGoodmorning. Mr Armitage. Thisis Caroline CorolineGoodmorning, fromRainbow Search. Jones CharlesAsin headhunters? CarolineThat'sright. CharlesAha...AndwhatcanI do foryou? I Carolinel'll comestraightto the point,Mr Armitage. havea clientwho'slookingfor someone to European headuptheircentral andeastern team.We'dliketo talkto you consulting abouttheiob. CharlesThankyouforyourinterestin mebut I'mnot planning onchanging companies rightnow. I'veinvested a lot in mycareerhereat Fisher a partner in a Group...I hopeto become coupleof years. myclientis veryseriousabout CarolineMr Armitage, yourcurrent thisoffer.Theywittincrease salarydramaticalty if youacceptthejob.And youcouldexpectto be madea partnerbythe middteof nextyearat the latest. Butlook...lt'sdifficultfor CharlesThat'sinteresting. meto discuss thiswithyouon the phone. wecouldmeetandgo overthe CarolinePerhaps in person? detaits to heara bit ChorlesYes...OK.lt wouldbe interesting more,

CarolineRight.Wouldit be possiblefor usto meeton Mondayeveningnextweek? ChorlesWhattimedo youhavein mind? CarolineWouldhalfpastfivesuityou? CharlesI'mafraidI haveanotherappointment then. Howabout7.3oinstead? CorolineYes...Yes,thatwouldbefine. CharlesAndhowlongshouldwe planon meetingfor? CarolineLet'ssayaboutan houranda half.ls thatatt rightfor you? Chorles Yes,that'sfine. CarolineGood.ThencanI suggestwemeetat our will Londonoffices? Myassistant, Joanna, alsobejoiningus.We'rein GreatRussell n. Street, neartheBritishMuseum. Number Chorles Right... at OK.Welt,I'llseeyouon Monday 7.3o,then. CarolineWonderful. I lookforwardto meetingyou then.

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CorolineHelto.ls thatCharles Armitage? Charles Yes,that'sright. CarolineHello,Mr Armitage, it'sCaroline Joneshere. CharlesOh,hetlo. CarolineMr Armitage, I'mterriblysorry.l'mafraidI haveto askyouifwe canreschedule our meetingnextweek.Something hascomeup, Unfortunately I can'tgetoutof it. ChorlesThat'salt right.Doyouhaveanothertimein mind? CarolineWetl...Couldwe postpone the meetinguntil Wednesday at thesametime?Woutdthatsuit you? CharlesLetmesee...Yes,thatwouldbefine. CarolineGreat.Thankyou,Mr Armitage. Sorryto you.lt couldn't I'm inconvenience behelped, afraid. CharlesDon'tworryCaroline, thatbfine.Oh,do you mindif I callyouCaroline? CarolineNo,notat alt.Wett,I'll seeyouon Wednesday, Charles. ChorlesSeeyouthen...Byefor now.

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0K,..noteaboutDresden contract andlanSweeney, EmailAnnaaskingherto arrange forthemeeting with lanandhisguys.Attthe usualstuff: roomandaskherto emailtheroom ,..booka meeting number to meandlan ...circulate theagendato lanandtheconsultants ...reserve audio-visual equipment... we'llneeda data proiector andanOHP ...ordersomerefreshments ...andshe'tlneedto attendthe meetingandtakethe minutes Right,nowthenextthingis...

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Weneedto makesomeimportantdecisions today,So,[et'shavesomeclear,constructive thinking,everybody. Right.Now,letb getdownto business.

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Steve Hi,George. Howarethingsdownin logistics? George Oh,you knowhowit is Steve...overworked, underpaid, theusual. Steve Tel[meaboutit! Thanksfor beinghere Attright,everyone. George HowareMandyandthekids? @ Sam to Steve Keeping mebusy,I cantell you.Didyousee today.So,lett getgoing.Doeseveryone Youtwo knowPeterThomson? No?Nicola? the footbalton Saturday? haven'tmet?Oh,OK...Peter,whydon'tyou George Oh,awful,wasn'tit? yourselfto everyone. Tellus a bit introduce Steve Terrible.Look,we'llbe latefor this kick-off meeting. We'dbetterhurryup ... aboutyourself. Peter OK.Hieveryone. My name'sPeterThomson <-' 2 manager. I've andI'mthe newpartnership George Hello,Paula.Niceto seeyouagain.Howare you? beenwithBrentlonessincezooz.I wasthe manager for theWest Paula Fine,thanks.Andyou? business development for two years,but nowI'vecometo joinyou George I'mverywel[,thankyou.Gladyoucouldmake it to our kick-offmeetingtoday.Didyoufinda all at the headoffice. parkingspacealt right? Well,welcometo the centreof the universe, 5om Peter.Right.Thisis NicolaSullivan.She'sour Poula Yes,no problemat all. Buttheweather's pressofficer.Andthis,this is FrankArnold. terrible,so it tookus longerthanusualto Frankioinedustwo monthsagoas our head drivedown. of PR.Right,so ... George I'mafraidyou'vebroughtthe rainwith you fromthe north.ltb usuallywarmandsunny here. haveyoumetmy Poulo Oh,I hopenot!George, r: (-' A colleague, JulietStrauss? hasbeentookingin detailat Ouradvertising agency to meetyou. Oeorge He[[o,I'mGeorgeFrank.Pleased re-branding our options andthey'vecomeup withthree to meetyoutoo. luliet JulietStrauss.Pleased image.Nowif you alternatives for our newcorporate J-i lookat this slide,youcansee... (.'' 3 8 Paulo Goodto seeyouagain,Steve. B Steve Hello,Paula.Goodto seeyoutoo. Now,Charlotte Fieldcan'tbe with ustoday.Our job? Paulo Howareyousettlingintoyournew bankershavesomemorequestions that shehadto go Steve Wetl,itb a lot of workbut I'mreallyenioying postponediscussing offand answer. She's asked me to it. thispaperabout... Paula That'sgreat!0h, Steve.Letmeintroducemy colleague, AndreJacob. c Andre Hello,Steve.I'mAndre.Howdo youdo? Yes.Thereis oneissueI'd likeusto discusswhich Steve Howdo youdo,Andre?| thinkI'vespokento didn'tfindits wayontothe agendatoday.Weheard youa fewtimeson the phone. yesterday thatAbrediaLtdhavestarteddiscussing a Andre That'sright.lt's niceto meetyouin person! possiblemergerwith Borafed. Wehaveto ...

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Carla

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Tim Carla

here?...Ah,we'restill OK.ls everybody waitingfor Nigel.Oh,herehe is. Morning, Nigel.Takea seat. Now.,.lt's niceto seeeveryone. Beforewe TimMcCarthy begin,canI introduce to you al[.Forthoseof youwhodon'talreadyknow, Timis fromouradvertising agencyandhe's goingto giveus an overviewof his plansfor Welcome, Tim. our newadvertising campaign. Hello,niceto meetyouall. Right...NoWSallyloneshassenther apologies. Shecan'tbe with ustoday because shehadto go to a meetingin Brussels. can'tmakeit AndPierreKaufmann either. OK.As I saidin the agendaI emailedlast for week,we'llbe discussing ourstrategies increasing sales.Youall knowthat oursales havebeenslowerrecentlyandwe needto do something to changethis.JohnLawsonfrom marketing will be givingus an overview of whatour competitors aredoing.Afterthat, AlisonKingwill presentan analysisof some of the problems with oursalesstrategyat the moment.

D Welt,in the lastmeeting,I didn'tactualtysaythat we shoulddefinitelycancelour initialpublicoffering.What I did saywasthat we shouldput it backif the stock marketremainsweak.Couldwe pleasechangethe minutesto accurately reflectwhatI said? E OK.Asyoucanseefromthe minutes,weagreedat the lastmeetingthat HRwouldadvertise for a Shareholder Relations Manager. howareyougettingon with James, yet? that?Anystrongcandidates

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polly

Ralf Polly Rolf Polly

RalfSchmidt here. Hi,Ralf.Poltyhere.Jackhasaskedmeto draw up a quickagendafor nextweekt regional salesmeeting. Arethereanypointsthatyou wantto seeon it? Nextweek?| thoughtit wasthe weekafter next. No,remember? lackcouldn'tcomeandwe movedit. Ohyeah.That'sright.Wel[,whenis it exactly then? Thursday. At 9.3o. That'sthe r3th of February. Inthemainmeeting room.

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Ralf Polly Rolf Polly

Ralf

Polly RoA

Polly Ralf Polly

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OK.Right. Well?Haveyougotanythingfor theagenda? Oneor twothingsmaybe. Whatpointshave yougotatready? Well,tetmesee.Francesca wantsusto discuss thesatestargetsfor the nextthreemonths. AndI'vealsogota notefromMichaetWarner sayingthat hewantsto reviewwhichteam members areresponsible for keyaccounts. OK.Wett,I thinkweshouldlookat the feedback frommarketing aboutthe research thatthey'veiustfinished. Right. AndI'vegotsomecopiesof themostrecent fromourcompetitors catalogues weshould discuss. ls thatatt? Yeah,that'sit. Thanks,Potly. OK.I'tlemaittheagenda to everyone this afternoon.

Karen Right.I thinkthatdealswithaltthe preliminaries ...So,let'sgetdownto business. OK.lt'stimeforusto hearfromGeorge Finch. George is goingto reviewourrecentsales performance, Overto you,George. George Thanks,Karen.Right.Overatl, oursales performed wellin thelastquarter. I thinkthis wasdueto excellent workbyourproduction team.Oneor twoof ourteamsarereatly marketing theirconferences wetl.Butwhen you'llsee welookat ourindividualsectors, thatsomedidbetterthanothers.Here's a quickoverview ofthesituation. Let'slookat telecoms first.Themarketis stilL because a bit depressed ofdebtandlower Despite this,thetelecom shareprices. sector's saleswerereallygood- muchbetter thanwehadexpected. Andactuatty, this madeouroveraltfiguresbetterthanthey wouldhavebeen.Saleswereup here,for the reasonthatthetelecoms teamoerformed wel[. extremely Karen Greatnews,George. Weshouldthinkabout rewarding thetelecoms teamsomehow. But go on ... George Thanks,Karen.OK.Let'sturnnowto pharmaceuticals. Asyoucansee, pharmaceuticals wasat theotherendof the scale.Salesperformed verypoorlyhere.I thinkthiswasasa resultof somebad planning on ourpart.Twootherconference heldevents organizers aboutthenew regulations advertising beforewedid.Noone cameto ourconference because they'dheard first. it all fromourcomDetitors l'il moveonto the financesectornow.Things werenottoo badhere.Theguyson the financeteamperformed welt,asever. Now,whataboutlT?Well,thelTsector performed poorty,the reasonbeingthatwe madesomemistakes in ourmarketresearch: weiustdidn'tseemto understand whatlT peopte in duringthelast wereinterested OK.Thatwasthat.Now.let meturn ouarter. to oursatesin thecurrent ouarter...

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quitepoorly.lt NormonTheprolectteamperformed wasslowto contactthesub-contractors and process, latein completing thetendering w hi chmeant.., Harry Yes,but I thinkthatthereweren'tenough... Mario Holdon a moment,please,Harry. We'ilcome rightbackto you. NormanAs I wassaying,thetenderingprocess was Thatmeant completed laterthanplanned. thatthefirststageof building workdidn't we beginuntilNovember. Andthenofcourse lostmoretimedueto badwinterweather. Christina CoutdI possiblymakea pointhere? NormanYes,go on. Christina Wel[,weiustdidn'tknowthattheweather wasgoingto beso badandthatworkwoutd bedelayedfor so long. NormanI hearwhatyoule saying.Butlook,it was winterandweshouldalwaysplanfor bad weatherin winter.Well,anyway, atl of this couldhavebeenavoidedif we'dmadea betteriobof theinitialplanning. Wejusthave to dothisbetteron futureproiects. Now,what about... Horry CanI comein here,Norman? NormonYes,ofcourse. Harry Let'snotforgetthatwe hadproblems withour newproject management software. But they'vebeensolvednow,sothesedifficulties withptanning won'thappen again. NormonOK,it'struethatwe'vegotoverthesoftware Butthatdoesn'tmeanthatwe oroblems. don'thaveto concentrate a bit moreon projectplanning is in future.Poorplanning lf wedon'tpaymore iusttoo expensive. attention to thisthen... Claudio Sorryto interruptyou,butcanI makea point here? NormonSure,go ahead. ClaudioWett,whatyou?esayingis mostlytrue.ButI thinkweshouldstoptalkingaboutwhat happened andstartto lookat whatweneed to do.

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Meetingr Ralph lt'sobvious. Outsourcing logisticshasnot reallyworked. Weno longerhavecontroland we'relosingproduction timeeverymonth now.Weshouldbringlogistics backin-house asquicklyaspossible. StephenHoldon,hotdon.CanI makea pointhere? Ralph Sorry,but I haven'tfinishedwhatI was saying. Look,we'renotreaching ouroutput targetsbecause Whydo of theseproblems. wehavetheproblems? Because Buxton ourneeds. Let's Services don'tunderstand bringlogistics backin-house andstop wasting time. StephenYeah,but Ratph, as I wantedto say,we'vecut ourcostsdramatically sincewestarted working withBuxton. Wecan'tiustin-source togistics andlosethesesavings. Sorryto interrupt butI'mafraidI reallydon't Jill followyourargument.

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StephenCoutdI justfinish?I'mnot prepared proiect to see:our teambeforetheprojectplanning is costsrisebecause someof usarenervous completed. Doyouagree?' aboutoutsourcing. NathalieOK.Andfrankly,I thinkthatwe haven'tasked Areyoufinished? questions enough lin aboutteambuilding in the StephenYes,I am. past.Whataboutthis?'The mostimportant Good.We[[,I justwantedto saythatI don't proiectteamis that its factorin a successful liu thinkwearesavingmoney, because outmembers workwelltogether. Telluswhatyou sourcing is slowing downourproduction thinkaboutthis.' process. Weneedto radicallyreviewour Tom Excellent. Herebanother one:'Teams should relationship withBuxton. Wecan'tlust... be madeup of luniorstaffaswellas Meetingz managers, Doesanyone wantto sayanything Beth Right... hasfinattymadeitstakeSo,Faber aboutthat?' overoffer.Thequestionis,do we recommend Gerry Andhowaboutthis:'Basicalty, it's more thatourshareholders accepttheoffer?What important to meeta proiect deadline thanto doweallthink?Robert, guarantee doyouwantto start thequalityoftheproject outcome. us off? Whatdo youthinkaboutthat?' Robert Nevermindtheshareholders. Whataboutthe NathalieAndwhatdo youthinkof thisquestion, Tom? company anditsemployees? Wehave 'Projectobiectives shouldbeftexibte. You absolutely no guarantee that Faberarenot shoutdbeableto change themastheproiect goingto layoff hatfof ourworkforce. progresses. That Doesanyonewantto giveustheir s ho u l d ... viewsonthis?' Gordon Robert,we'vealreadyagreedthatwe .,. Tom Right,right,I'vegotthatatl now Tobe Robert lf I couldjustfinish,please...Yes,it is honest, that'sprobabty atlwe'l[havetimeto important to thinkabouttheworkforce when talkabout.Goodwork,everyone! Hopefulty deciding whether or notto recommend this we'tlfindsomeone in thisroundof interviews offer.Frankly, I wouldbe surprised proiect. if Faber whocantakeoverourAustratian didn'tfiremostofourpeopleandsellour assets. Gordon Robert,canI comein now?OK.Wetl,as I was onthetablehere & oliver OK,sowe havea proposal tryingto say,we'vealreadyagreedthat 1E that we should outsource facitity our shareholder valueis themostimportant management to theWhiteGroup. Craighas factorfor usasa board.Thatmeanswe have madea strongcasefor this,sowe know to recommend thatourshareholders acceot. wherehestands. CanI iustinvitesome Besides, onceourshareholders seethe comments fromtherestof you?Helen, do you detaitsof Faber's offer,they'regoingto accept go agree we that should ahead with the anyway. Nothing wecansaywillchange that. proposed outsourcing? CanI saysomething Sue here?I'mafraidthat I Helen Absolutely. I thinkit'sa fantastic idea.I think don'tunderstand. get that it'll mean a lot more time to onwith Gordon Justa moment. You'tlgeta chanceto speak otherthings.lt'sclearthatit'llaltowusto s o0 n . concentrate moreon ourcorebusiness No,wait,[et'shearwhatSuehasto say.Sue? Beth activities. Thatbgotto bea goodthing. Yousaidyoursetfabout Sue twoweeksagothat OIiver Howdo youfee[,Wiltiam? we havemostof ourshareholders wherewe William I can'tgoalongwiththis,Oliver. In my wantthemandthatthey'lldo whatwetell experience, outsourcing causes toomany themto do.Now... problems. communication InfactI thinkthe GordonYes,butI didn't... whole thing is a terribleidea.I simplydon't Letmefinish,ptease. Sue Thistakeover is not seehowwecangiveup controlof suchan definite. I thinkweshouldstandbackand important aspect withouttherebeing going thinkaboutwhat's to bebestforthe problems. No,l'mafraidI can'tagree. company asa whole...notjustthe AUver Whataboutyou,Ctaire? Wheredo youstand? shareholders. CIoire Hmm...Personally, I supporttheideaupto a point.Therecouldbe bigcostsavingsfor us in this.ButI thinkweshouldspendmoretime Tom OK.Thiswon'ttaketong.I justwantto spend thinkingaboutthepotentiat disadvantages. I a fewminutes brainstorming somequestions mean,wethinkwete goingto savelotsof for the projectmanager groupinterview on timebydoingthis.Butanytimewesavemay Wednesday. Ehm...let'sforgetthe simple beusedmaking surethatWhitesaredoing things.Obviously, we needto thinkof some whatthey?esupposed to do.I thinkthis questions difficutt aboutproiect couldmeana lot of workfor us.Theother management. Whowantsto getthe batl thingis thatcommunication couldbea big rolling? issue.I feelthatthis is something we haveto Gerry Personatly, I thinkweshouldaskabout lookat verycareful[y. projectplanning. Something like:'Wethink AIver I'mnotsurewhether or notI agreewith thatthesuccess of a project depends onthe Craigbproposal. I needsomemoretimeto planning stage. Wouldyoutiketo comment thinkit over.Tobe honest,I wouldprobably on that?' wantto havesomefurtherinformation from Tom Notsofast...I'mwritingthisdown.Good. someof theirothercustomers beforeI could Andhowaboutthis:'ln ourexperience, Gerry it's takethe ideamoreseriously. bestto decidewhichstaffwillbeonthe

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youwereat thatconference RichardRight.So,Larry, aboutInternet telephony tastweek.Why don'tyouteltusaltaboutit. Doyouthinkthat VoiceoverlPis for us?Doyourealtythinkit makessensefor usto useourcomputers to makeall ourphonecalls? Lorry I'vegotto sayI don'tthinkit is. BeforeI went I wasprettyexcited. Youknow- the potential for usin telephoning costsavings overthe lnternet areimpressive. Butthecurrent Voice overlPsolutionsare,frankly,rather unsatisfactory. Really? Howcome? Olivia Larry Thereis stilla basicprobtem withqualityof service. Theyspenta lotof timeat the tryingto convince conference usthatlow qualityof service wouldsoonbea thingof thepast.ButthetechnicaI demonstrations Therearestill thattheygaveweremediocre. lotsof problems with poorvoicequality. Richardlt atlsoundsa bit belowstandard. Lorry Right.Oneof thedemonstrations was actuallyreallyterrible.Metroloop askedfor a number froma member telephone of the andthentriedto callit. Butthey audience couldn't establish thecall.lt wasreally Theytriedaboutfivetimes,but embarrassing. in theendtheysaidthatthecatlprobably couldn't beestablished because ofa firewall at theguy'scompany. Olivia That'sawful. Larry lsn'tit?lt wasalIa tittledisappointing, I must say.I certainly woutdn't recommend switching to VoiceoverlP now.Thetechnotogy is still prettyinadequate.

Andrew

Stephonie

Isobel Stephonie

lsobel

Stephanie

Andrew

Stephanie

lsobel

a Andrew, thankyoubothforcoming Q Stephonielsobel, 20 in today.I wantedto havethismeeting with youto followup onourconversation onthe phonelastweek.AsI mentioned, we're ptanningto expand I wantto ournetwork, explore thepossibitity thatyoucouldhetp uswiththis. lsobel I'msurethatwecanworksomething out for you.Let'stalkaboutthe basic reouirements andthenwecantakeit from there. Stephonie Fine. Andrew OK.Soyou'retalkingaboutbuyingmore personal computers foryourcomputer network, right?HowmanynewPCsarewe [ooking at? on howmuchtheywould Stephanie Thatdepends cost.Butbasicatly weneedbetween 4o and55newPCs.lf thepriceis right,we'tt beabteto buymore. OK.Let'sleavethe issueof priceuntillater. lsobel Ofcourse, thepricewouldalsodepend on youwantfor eachPC. thespecifications That'sright.Obviously, Andrew thehigherthe specifications, themoreit'sgoingto cost you. lf youprepare somedifferent options Stephanie Right. forme,I'tlcompare theprices and thenmakea choice. specifications, lsobel Sure.

2l

Coutdyoudetiverquicklyif wegaveyouthe order? Onceyou'vedecided whatyouwant,we'tl beableto getthemoutto youwithina week. Thatsoundsprettygood.Now,whatabout installing thenewPCs? Wouldyoudo that, or wouldyoucontract out? Wepreferto takecareofthat ourselves. Andwhataboutafter-sales Sotendid. service? Thatbreallyimportant for us.We woutdbe prepared to paymoreif we received a goodlevelof serviceback-up. Whatcanyouofferusthere? There's We'ltgo a rangeof possibitities. backto theofficeanddrawup a detailed quotation foryou.We'ttinctude thefull rangeofservicepackages thatwecanoffer you.Onceyou'vechosen whatyouwant, wecanfigurethatintothecontract. Good.Now,price.I knowyoucan'tgiveme anexactquotation at themoment, butcan yougivemea roughideaof howmuchthis wouldcost? Sorry,butit'shardto sayat thisstage. We'llgetbackto youassoonaswecanon that. I thinkI shouldmention thatwe'dlikea discount ontheprice,sincewe'reptacing sucha bigorder. Woutdthatbea possibitity? I'tthaveto seewhatI cando.I mightbe ableto offeryoua betterprice.Letmeget backto youonthat,too...

- reducing Christian ...Andfor all ofthesereasons g productivity, ourcosts,increasin in central increasing ourpresence and Europe - | propose to theboard eastern thatwe lookat shutting downourplantin production to our Germany andmoving plantin Slovakia. proposal, but Louise Christian, that'sa radical you'vesaidwhatwe'veall beenthinking for sometime.ls anyone willingto second proposat? Christian's Nadine l'[[ secondit. by Nadine. Right. Weneedto Louise Seconded makea decision here.Let'sputthisto a Against? Regina, vote.Altthosein favour? areyouabstaining? Regino That'sright.I abstain. Louise OK.So,Christian's motionis carried: 7 votes'for', none'against', andone abstention. Haveyougota noteofthatfor MsMichaels? Excellent.5o... theminutes. (pause)Right,it'squitelateandwe'rea bit pressed fortime.I propose thatwewindup nowandgetbacktogethernextweek,Does everyone agreewiththat?So,[et'smeet againonThursday nextweek.Inthe meantime, l'il askouradvisors at Strategem to startworkon anactionplan. Wecanlookat thatnexttimeanddecideon howto divideuptheresponsibitities. Right, nowI don'tthinkthatI haveto remindyou notto tellanyone meeting. abouttoday's

72 | Transcripts We'vedecidedthatwete goingto lookat waysof shuttingdownourmainGerman production base.Thatmeans34otostjobs. Wetegoingto be prettyunpopular, so let's keepquietaboutthisforaslongas possible.

/(-r lohn <-/ 22

Mike lohn

Sue lohn

Andy lahn

Steffi lohn

Steffr lohn

Nick lohn

A

27

Ken

Right.Let'swrapthingsup here.Goodwork asalways.Beforeyouatl go,I iustwantto go Now, overwhatwe'vedecidedthisafternoon. we'vedecidedto redesign ourcurrentoffices ratherthanmoving intonewpremises. 5o thatwe'tlcontact threeinterior we'vedecided for designers andaskthemto givequotations redesigning the office.Mike,I thinkwe agreedthatyou'regoingto investigate that for us. Right,John.AndI'lttookforsomeinterior designsoftware whichmighthelpusdo the lob ourselves. OK,butdon'tspendtoo muchtimeon that. Aswe agreed,it'll be betterto leavetheiob to the professionals. Now,we alsotalkedabout employing whowillcoa facilitymanager at ourend.Now,Sue, ordinate theredesign youtegoingto talkto HumanResources in Dundee andaskthemto agreeto this. That'sright,John. Sptendid. Andy,you'llgetin touchwiththe buitding company thatdidsomeworkfor us threeyearsagoto seeif theydliketo submit a quotation forthe building work. Wiltdo,John.Andl'll asktwootherbuilders to putin quotesaswell. Great.AndSteffi,you?egoingto lookfor somenewofficefurniturefor us. Yes,that'sright. AndSteffi,don'tforgetthatweagreedwe don'twantto spendtoo muchon furniture. Tryto findsomething modernandstylishat a pricethatwe canafford. O K J, o h n . Nick,weagreedthatwe needto plancarefully howwe'[ keepthe officerunningsmoothly duringthebuitding andredesigning work. goingtoplanhowwecanbestdo this. You're Yeah,that'sright,lohn. Andthatiustleaves me.I'lttatkto ourbank andseehowtheycanhelpus coverthework. Now,let'sfix a timefor ournextmeeting. Doesthe 8th of Marchat 3.3osuiteveryone? Yes?Sptendid. Wett,thatconcludes our business for today.Thanksfor youractive participation thisafternoon. Werealtygot througha lot of business.

I'vegot to say,I thinkwe'vemadethe right decisionheretoday.We'veneededmore detaited information aboutourcostsfora longtime.I'mcertainthatthisnewmethodis the rightplaceto start.Whatdo youthink, Petra?

I thinkyoute right,Ken.So,canweiust confirmthat everyone knowswhatthey'vegot to do beforethe endof nextweek?Now,Alex andI aregoingto lookat whetherwe need with somehelp.We'l[setup a meeting Modutis andtalkto themaboutthework they'vedoneat ABC. Right.Andl'll takea lookat whatsortof Alex softwaremodulesareout therethat mighttet usdo theiobourselves. Petra Right,Atex.Andthenwe'[[putour heads we reallyneeda together anddecidewhether wecanmanage consultant onthisor whether alonewith software. Edward OK,andl'll setup a meetingwith theteam leaders in dispatching to gettheirsupport. Weneedto Alex That'san importantjob, Edward. guysor it ensurebuy-infromthefrontline isn'tgoingto work. Ken Don'tworry,Alex.Edwardcanhandteit. Petra I'msurehecan!Now,Ken,reminduswhat you'l1 bedoing. Ken Welt,I'll draftan actionplanthatwilttakeus throughto the November boardmeeting. Petra Excetlent. OK,let'sfinishthere,andget startedon ourwork!lf we canmanageto ... Petra

s "4

7

0K,we'reheretodayto Sheila Morningeveryone. talk aboutwhetherwe needto takeon more won'tbe staffin ourcallcentre.Now,Vanessa she'son a training ableto makeit because course. Butshehastoldmethatshesupports the ideaof increasing thesizeof thecall centreteam.Paulcan't bewithuseither:his daughterb itl andhe hasto takeherto the doctor. 2

Sheilo OK.I thinkwe'vetalkedthis overenoughnow. Right.Alt Canweiusthavea showof hands? thosein favourof increasing thesizeof the callcentreteam?OK.Four. Andthen Vanessa's vote...that makesfive.All those Two.Right.Wetl,sorry,youtwo,but against? it lookslikewe'llbe hiringnewpeople. Now, let's... 3 Sheilo Right,canweiust go overwhobgoingto do I'mgoingto getreally what?Otherwise confused. So,I'mgoingto let Human Resources knowthatwewantto hiremore staff.AndSusie,you'regoingto writea job description for the callcentrestaff. Susie Right, Sheita. Sheilo OK.AndDavid,you'regoingto writea draftof for HumanResources. theiobadvertisement David That'sright,Sheila.Andwhataboutbooking thetrainingcentrefor the newstaff?AmI doingthataswell? youwantto Sheilo No,I'mgoingto do that.Unless do it as wel[. youcando it... Dovid No,no,Sheila,

Transcripts| 73

4 Sheila

Right.Thanksfor that everyone.| look

t}B

z6 Mrs Cooper Right,and | look forwardto receiving

fromyounextweek. thesesamples at Yeah.I'ttgetthemto youbyThursday the Iatest. I'ttiustcaltthe tift for MrsCooper Hereweare,Roger. you.Welt,thanksforcoming alongthis afternoon. Mr Marks lt wasa pleasure asalways,Catherine. yourhotiday Enjoy in France. MrsCooper Don'tworry,I will.Youcanthinkof me sampling allthatfoodandwinewhite you'reslavingawayat work.Ah,here's your[ift.Byefor now,Roger. Havea safe tripbackto Birmingham. MrsCooper Bye,andseeyouagainsoon,Catherine. Mr Morks Byenow

forwardto ourcallcentrehavinga decent numberof staff.We'veneededto do thisfor sometime.I'msuretheexisting staffwitl in manpower. Right, welcome the increase nowdon'tforgetthatwe'[[meetagainnext That'sthe zothof Mayat 1o.3o Wednesday. a. m . David A, didn'twesayu.oo?Remember I saidthat

Mr Marks

Sheilo Sorry,that'sright.u.oo a.m. Sheila? Susie Wherearewemeeting, I thinkthe Sheila Thatba goodquestion, actually. meeting roomsarebooked forsalestraining forthewholeof nextweek.Whydon'twejust Susie

meet in my office? Soundsgood.

*A z5 MrsCooper Welt,Mr Marks,thankyouonceagainfor findingthe time to comeand visit us

gc zt MrsCooper OKguys.That'severything. CarlandGary, thanksforjoiningustoday. Mr Morks Don'tmentionit. lt wasveryusefuttobe in onyourmeeting. Matthew

Actually,I think we shoulddo this more

today.lt reallywasa pleasure to meetyou in personat [ast. wasaltmine.Andthankyou Mr Marks Thepleasure fortakingthetimeto showmeroundyour ptant.lt reallywasfascinating. lf MrsCooper l'mgtadthatyoufoundit interesting. wecangetourpeopleto puttheirheads

meetings areall often.InterdepartmentaI verywetl,butyoudon'tgetanideaof what'sreallygoingon in other yougoto theirteam departments unless meetings. MrsCooperThat'sa fantasticidea.I'ttspeakto the

together,hopefutlyyou'lt be able to come backagainsoonand seeyour machine tools beingusedhere. Mr Marks I certainlyhope so. Mrs Cooper Well, Mr Marks,Matthewwill show you

Mr Marks

backdownto reception. I hopethatyou havea safeiourneyhome.Goodbye.

MrsCooper, Goodbye, and| lookforward youagainsoon. to seeing MrsCooper Likewise, Mr Marks. Matthew lf you'tljustcomethisway,I'l[seeyou downto reception. Mr Marks Thanks. Mr Morks

otherheadsand seewhat thevthink. Anyway,I'd better be going. I have anothermeetingin five minutes. Mrs Cooper OK.Seeyou guys later for lunch? Matthew Not today.I'm off for a lunch meetingwith a customer.

I'ttbein thecanteen asusual.Seeyou aboutone? Gary. MrsCooper Seeyouthen.Seeyoutomorrow, Mr Marks

A-Z word list Translation abroad[e'brc:d] to abstain[eb'stern] accident['eksrdant] to accomplish[a'k,rmplrJ] accuracy['ekjaresi] to act [ekt] advancenotice 'neutrs] Ied,vc:ns after-salesservice ssrvrs] ['o:ftaserlz agenda[e'dgenda] aim [erm] airfare ['eefeel to announce[e'nauns] annualgeneralmeeting [,anjual,dgenral'mi:t14] AOB(anyotherbusiness) [,ereu'bir ,eni,rda'brznes] to apologizeIe'polad3arz] apotog;y[a'poled3i] approach[e'preutj] attachedIe'tetJt] to attend [a'tend] to attendto sth [atendta] audience['c:diens] awful ['rfl] bac(groundpapers perpez] ['bekgraund to be aboutsth [bi e'baut] to beat [birt] benchmarking data derte] ['bentJmo:kr4 boardmeeting['bc:dmirrq] branch[bro:ntJ] breah to take a [,terka'brerk] to breakdown [,brerk'daun] to breakthe ice [,brerkdi 'ars] to bridgea gap e'gap] [,brrd3 buy-in ['barrn] to call a meeting [,kc:le'mirtr4] capitalinvestment spending['keprtl rnvestment spendr4l to carrya motion [,kerie'meuJn] to clariff ['klerefar] to clearoneSthroat [,khew,rnz'Oreut] to comestraightto the point [k,rm,strertte 6a'pcrnt]

Translation to comeup with solutions [k,rm,,rpwrd se'lu:Jnz] comfortable, to feel [,fi:l'k^mftebl] common['komen] to complain[kem'plern] complaint[kam'plernt] compliment, to returnthe hr't3inde'komplrment] to conclude[ken'klu:d] confident['konfidant] construction[ken'str,rkjn] contract ['kontrrekt] to contribute[ken'tnbju:t] contribution[,kontrr'bju:Jn] convenient[kan'vi:nient] to copewith sth [keup] core [kc:] cost-cutting['kostk,rtr4] to cough [kofl customeracquisition akwr,zrJn] ['k^steme to cut costs [k,rt'kosts] to cut off [,k,rt'ofl dataprojector pre'd3ekta] [,derte to dealwith sth ['dirlwrdl debt [det] deference['deferens] to develop[dr'velep] disadvantage [,drsed'vo:ntrd3] discount['drskaunt] to discuss[dr'sk,rs] to distributesth to sb te] [dr'strrbju:t to divideup sth [dr'vard.tp] to drawup sth [,dro:'irp] driver ['drarva] to enable [r'nerbl] to encourage[rn'k,rrrd3] to ensureIrn'Iue] environmentIrn'varrenment] to equip [r'kwrp] to expect[rk'spekt] fabrics ['frebnks] facititymanager [fe'srleti,menrd3o] to fai[ [ferl] favour,to be in - of sth [,birn 'ferverev] finishingtouch ['finrJr4t,rtJ] to fix a time [,fiksa 'tarm]

A-Zwordtist I zs

Translation

Translation

to follow up on sth [,folau',tp] former ['frrme] frankly ['frreqkli] frontline ['fr,rntlarn]

meantime,in the Irn da'mi:ntarm] mediocre [,mi:di'euke] to meet up with sb [ , m i t 'n p w r d ] mess,to make a - of sth [,merke'mesev] mind, to have sth in [havrn'marnd] minutes ['mrnrts] meantime,in the I r n 6 e 'm i : n t a r m ] to moveon [,murv'on]

generalization [,d3enrelar'zerJn] to get down to business [,get'daunte 'brznas] to get in touch [get rn 't,rtJ] to get on with [,get'on wrd] to get out of control [get ,autav ken'traul] to get the batl rolting [getdo ,bc:l'reuh4] to go over the detaits [,geueuvede'di:terlz] good manners [gud'mrenaz] good sport, to be a [br e ,god'spc:t]

to negotiate [nr'geuJiert] 'trk] nervoustic [,narves nonsense,to talk [,tc:k'nonsns] notice,at short [at ,Jrrt'neutrs] obiective Ieb'dsektrv] old-fashioned [,auld'fajend] opportunity,to take the Iterkdi opa'tjurnati] outcome f'autk,tm] to outline ['aotlarn] to overcome [,euva'knm] overhead projector pra'd3ekta] [,euvahed overworked [,euve'warkt]

to handle sth ['handl] to headup [,hed'np] heat, to take the - out ofsth [terk 6e 'hit aut ev] to hotd a meeting [haulde'mirr4] honest,to be - lte bi'onrst] how about ... ? [,haue'baut] to hurry up [,hrri ',rp] ill, to be - [bi 'rl] immediately Ir'mirdietli] inadequate Irn'aedrkwat] to inconveniencesb rnians] [,rnken'vi to interrupt [,rnte'r.npt] insutting Irn's,rltr4] interdepartmental Iintadirpo:t'mentl] interior design Irn,treria dr'zarnl IPO(initial public offering) [,arpi: 'eu r,nrJl,p,rbhk 'oferr4l

,

iunior staff ['d3u:niasto:fl

K

keen on sth/sb, to be [bi kirnon] kick-off meeting ['krkof,mi:trn]

participant [po:'trsrpent] to pay attention to sth Iper a'tenJn] to perform [pe'fc:m] performanceIpe'fcrmans] to phrase lfrerz] to pick up the bitt [prk ,np6e 'brl] plant [plornt] pleasantry ['plezntri] point, to make a [merke'pcrnt] to postpone [pe'speun] to predict [prr'drkt] to prefer [prr'f::] to prepareforsth [prr'peafe] to preparesth [pn'pea] to push for agreement [,puJfar a'gri:mant] to put sth to a vote [,pots,tm0r4tu o 'vaut] pre-tax profits [,pri:teks'pmfrts] profit warning ['pmfItwr:nI4] profitability [,pmfrte'brlati] Proposed Ipra'pat-izd] to put sth back [,put'bek]

lack [ek] to last Iqrst] tavishty ['kevrjli] tength [e40] to level off [,levl'ofl M

to makeit ['merkrt] to manage ['mrenrdsl manpower ['menpaue] mattersarising [,meteze'rarzr4]

a

quotation Ikwau'terJn]

7 6 | A Z w ordlist

Translation

Translation

rarely ['reeli] to reacha decision [,rirtJe dr'sr3n] recorded [rr'kc:drd] to redesignsth [,rirdr'zarn]

to splash [splaJ] splendid ['splendrd] to stand back [,stend'bak] to sticktosth ['strkte] stock market confidence [,stokmc:krt'konfrdans] to submit sth [seb'mrt] subsidiary [sab'srdieri] to suit sb ['surts,rmbadi] suitable ['su:tabl] supplier Ise'plara]

refurbishment

Iri'fa:brJmant] to reject [rr'd3ekt] to replace[rr'plers] to request[rr'kwest] to reschedule[,ri:'Jedju:l] to respondto sth te] [rr'spond responsibility Irr,sponse'brleti] to resultin [rr'z,rltrn] re-tooling[,ri:'tu:h4] revenue['revenju:] to review[rr'vju:] to revisesth [n'varz] roomfor manoeuvre [,ru:mfe me'nulve] roughidea [r,rfar'dra]

to take sth over [,rerk'ouve] to talk shop [tcrk 'Jop] tendering process ['tendarr4prauses] tentative ['tentatrv] terrible ['terebl] tied up, to be - [bi ,tard',rp] to tuln to ['ta:nte] unavoidable [,rna'vcrdebl] underpaid [,,rnde'perd] underway, to get [,get,rnde'wer] unemployment [,,rnrm'plcrmant] unfortunately [,rn'fc:tJenetli] UnneCeSSary [,rn'nesesari] unpleasant [,rn'pleznt] to upgrade [',rpgrerd] upset [,^p'set]

salary ['selari] salestargets ['serlzto:grts] to schedule['Jedju:l] to second['sekend] senior ['si:nia] serviceback-up ['ssrvrs,bek,rp] servicepackage ['ssrvrs ,pakrd3] shareholder meeting

video link-up [,vrdieu'hqk,rp]

['Jeeheuldo,mit14]

to shift [Jrfr] silence['sarlans] to stowdown [,slau'daun] slowdown['slaudaun] smoothly['smu:6li] to sounda noteof caution [,saund a naut av 'kctJn]

sotry to say - [ser'sori] to speakup [,spi:k',rp]

w

to waste time ['wersttarm] water-resistant ['wJrterr,zrstent] well-rounded [,wel'raundrd] whether or not [,we6oc: 'not] workforce ['ws:kfc:s] to wrap up [,rap ',rp]

Itt

Useful phrases and Yoeabulary Asking for a meeting Couldwe schedulea time to meetnextweek? I'dliketo schedule a meetingas soonas possible. CouldI suggestthat we meet? Canwe meetandgo overthis together? Perhaps we couldmeetandgo overthe details together? Doyou havetime to meetnextweek? if you mighthavetimeto meeton lwas wondering Thursday. Suggestinga meetingtime HowaboutMondayat nine? HowwouldWednesday at four o'clockbe for you? Howaboutsometime after[unch? Couldwe meetnextweek? Wouldit be possiblefor us to meeton Friday afternoonnextweek? CanI suggest7.3oon Thursdayevening? Couldwe schedulea time to meetnextweek? Wouldhalf pastfivesuit you? Sayingthat you aren't able to attend Sorry,I can'tmakeit then. I'mafraidI haveanotherappointment at thattime. I'mafraidI haveanotherappointment then. I'ma bit tied up then.Howaboutanothertime? Sayingthat you can aftend Soundsgood. Yes,that worksfor me. Yes,that would be fine. Yes,I canmanagethat. Confirmingthe day and time Seeyou on Mondayat seven. So, | look forwardto seeingyou on Tuesdayat four. 5o that'sTuesdayat 3 p.m.in youroffice. Agreelngthe lengthof a meeting Shouldwe planfor the wholeafternoon? Let'sleavethe timingof the meetingopenfor now. Howlongshouldwe planon meetingfor? Themeetingshouldtakeaboutan houranda half. Sayingthat you'relooking forwardto seeing someone It'll be niceto seeyouthen. I'm lookingforwardto it. I look forwardto meetingyou then.

Sayingsorry and reschedulinga meeting I'm callingaboutour meetingnextweek. I'mterriblysorry. I'm afraidI haveto askyou if we canreschedule our meetingnextweek. I'mafraidsomething hascomeup. you. Sorryto inconvenience Couldwe postpone the meetinguntilWednesday at the sametime? Wouldyou be ableto meeton Tuesdayinstead? Wouldit be possibleto meeta bit later/earlier?

Introducingyourself Helto.My name's... Hi everyone. My name's... H el l o,I' m... Pleased to meetyou. Niceto meetyou. Howdo youdo?I'm... Makingintroductions Ms Lai,do you knowMr Weimann? Chris,haveyou met Fionayet? Mr Saramago, I'd likeyou to meetMs Copeland. Delphine, this is Eric.Eric,Delphine. Asking someoneto useyour first name Please, ca[[meChris. By the way,it's Frances. Andyoucancallme... A ndI' m... Askinghow someoneis Howareyou? Howareyou doing? Howarethingsgoing? How'sbusiness? Makingsmatltalk Whichhotelareyoustayingat? Howlonghaveyou workedfor yourcompany? Didyoucomehereby ptane? Whichairportdid youfly into? ls this the first time you'vecomeherefor a meeting? Areyou a colleagueof ...? Doyou knowmycolleague, ...? ls this yourfirst visit to (country/town)?

phrases ?8 | Usefut andvocabulary

Showinginterestin what someoneis saying Right. Oh,rea[[y? Interesting. Thatt absolutety fascinating! I see.

Welcomingparticipantsto a meeting Itb niceto seeeveryone. It's greatto seeeverybody. I'm gladyou couldall makeit today. Thanksfor beingheretoday. Helloeverybody. It's goodto seeyou all. Sayingwho can'tattendthe meeting I haveapologiesfromTinaand Bob. Derekhassenthisapologies. Petercan'tmakeit either. Unfortunately, Timwasn'tableto makeit today. Lauracan'tbe with us today. Laurahassentherapologies. Statingwhat the meeting'sabout We'remeetingtodayto talk about... Ourobiectivetodayis ... We'llbe discussing... Jimwill be examining... Jeremywill presentan analysisof ... Chrisis goingto giveus an overviewof ... Johnwill be givingus an overviewof ... Introducingparticipantsat a meeting Beforewe begin,canI introduceChrisHallto you atl? DoeseveryoneknowMaryNorman? Thisis Christina, oneof our consultants. Letme introduce... Asking participantsto introducethemselves Whydon't you introduceyourselfto everyone? Tellus a bit aboutyourself. Couldyoutell us all whoyou areandsaysomething aboutyourself? Givingdetailsaboutyoursell I'mthe business development manager. I'vebeenwith BurotechPLCsincezooz. l'veworkedfor the companyfor four years. I'm basedin the Madridoffice. I workat our Cambridge branch.

Reportingprogress Ourcustomerbaseincreased in sizelastyear. Oursaleshaveincreased duringthe currentquarter. Overallour salesperformedwell in the last quarter. Thetelecomsproductionteam performedextremely wel[. Thetelecomsector'ssaleswerereallygood. Salesperformedvery poorlyhere. Theguyson the financeteamperformed satisfactorily, as ever. Structuringa progressreport Here'sa quickoverviewof the situation. Let'slook first at ... Let'sturn nowto ... I'l[ moveon nowto.., W hatabout...? Explainingconsequences Thiswasdueto... I thinkthiswasas a resultof ... poorly,the reasonbeing... Heperformed Oursalesperformedsatisfactorilybecauseof ...

Askingfor comments Whatdo youthinkaboutthat? W hatdo w e al l thi nk? Doyou wantto start us off? Doyouwantto comein here? Wouldyou liketo makea pointhere? Doesanyonewantto sayanythingon that? Wouldyou liketo commenton that? Interrupting Sorry,but... Sorryto interrupt,but I feelthat ... CoutdI comein here? I'dliketo makea pointhere,if I could. CanI just saysomething aboutthat? Dealingwith interruptions Holdon, please. We'ilcomebackto you in a moment. Justa second,please.I promisewe'[lcomeright backto you. Asking for ctarification I'mnot sureI understand whatyou'resaying. D oyoumeanthat...? Areyou sayingthat ...? you correctly, youthinkthat... lf I understand

Usefulphrasesandvocabulary| 79

Askingfor opinions Whatdo youthink? Doyou agree? Doyoufeelthat...? Whatdo youthinkabout...? Givinga neutralopinion I thinkthat ... Whydon'twe ...? I t s eem st o m eth a t... In myopinion... Weshould... Givinga tentativeopinion It mightbe the casethat ... Perhaps we should... I t endt o t hinkt h a t... ls it possiblethat ...? Givinga strongopinion I'mconvinced that... It's (absolutely) clearthat ... AndfranklyI thinkthat... There'sno doubtin my mindthat... Strongagreement You'recompletetyright. Absotutely. I thinkit'sa fantasticidea. I totatty/ completely agree. Agreeingin a neutral way I thinkyou'reright. That'sright. I agree. Tentativeor partial agreement Toa certainextentI agree. I partiatty agree,but ... Yes,but... I canagreewith that up to a point. I thinkI canagreeup to a point. I supportthe ideaup to a point. Neutraldisagreement I disagree. I can'tgo alongwith that. I thinkyou mightbe wrongthere. I'mafraidI can'tagreewith youthere.

Offersand conditions lf you buymorePCs,l'11 offeryoua gooddiscount. lf we gavehim moretime,he woutdfinishthe projectsuccessfully. Hewittbe ableto startworkon Mondayif we offer himthe job today. lf we confirmedthe iob offertoday,he'dbe ableto startworkat the beginning of the month. lf theygaveus moretime,we couldlookat it in moredetail. lf you placeyourordertoday,I'l[giveyoua r3% discount. Askingfor time to consider I'dlikea coupleof daysto thinkthisover. CanI get backto you on that? I needsometimeto thinkaboutthis. I needto runthis by my boss. Acceptingan offer I thinkwe'llgo for that. Thatsoundsgoodto me. Thatwouldbe great. I'dliketo takeyouup on that. Rejectingan offer Sorry.I'mnotableto go aheadwiththis. Sorry,but I'm not ableto go alongwith that. Unfortunately, I won'tbe ableto takeyou up on that. I don'tseehowI canagreeto that. I don'tthinkthat wouldbe possible. I'mafraidI can'tagree.

Makinga formalproposal I proposeto the boardthat we ... I wouldliketo proposethat... Supportfor a formalproposal Wouldanyoneliketo secondthat? ls anyonewillingto secondMr Brown'sproposat? I'll secondit. I secondthat.

Strongdisagreement No,I thinkyou'rewrongthere. I completely disagree.

Puftingan issueto a vote Let'sput thisto a vote. Canwe havea voteon this? Canwe havea quickshowof hands? All in favour? Thoseagainst?

Makingpositivesuggestions Howaboutif we ...? Couldn'we t jus t...? Whataboutif you...?

Sayingthat you don't want to take part in a vote I abstain.

7e

8O I Usefulphrasesandvocabulary

Confirmingwhat the meetinghasdecided Justto confirm,we'regoingto ... We[l,it seemsthat we area[[agreedthat we should... We'vedecidedthat... Sayingthat it's time to closea meeting Let'swindthingsup here. Sincetime'swearingon,let'swindup this discussion now. It's quite lateandwe'rea bit pressedfor time. I don'twantto let this discussion runovertime. Let'stry to finishon time.

Thankingsomeonefor a meeting Thanksfor comingin today. Thankyouverymuchfor yourtime. Thankyoufor yourhardwork.I thinkwe'vecomeup with a lot of goodideas. Thankyouverymuchfor meetingwith us today. Sayingyourgoodbyes | lookforwardto seeingyou (alDagainsoon. I hopeyou havea safejourney. Havea safetrip home. | lookforwardto meetingyouagainsoon. I hopethatyou havea safejourneyhome. Havea safetrio backto London.

Translation Sixpeople votedin favour, twoagainst, andoneabstained, I attended a meeting withthe HRmanagers on Friday. Asyouatlknow,thismeeting is aboutthechanges in our department. to bein favourofsth Raj,areyouin favouroftheproposal? to calla meeting Shallwecatta teammeeting to discuss thenewregulations? to clarify I'mafraidI don'tquiteunderstand. youplease Coutd clarifythat? to conclude So,thatconcludes ourmeeting fortoday. to deatwithsth wepossibty Coutd deatwiththatpointat theendof themeeting? to discusssth l'd liketo calla meetingto discussournewmarketing strategy. to distribute sthto sb Couldyoudistribute a copyof theminutes to everyone in theteam? to encourage l'dtiketo encourage sb everybody to participate in thediscussion. to fix a time Let'sfix a timefor ournextmeeting. to followup on sth Shaltwefollowup on someof the pointsfromourlastmeeting? to getthe baltrotling 5o,whowoutdliketo getthebaltrotling? to holda meeting Shallwe hotdthemeeting in Mike'soffice? you,butI havean important to interrupt question. sth/sb Sorryto interrupt justmadea verygoodpoint.Wereallydo needto to makea point I thinkAndrea improveefficiency. to makeit Sorry,Gary.I can'tmakeit thisweek.Canwe meetsome othertime? to outlinesth I'dliketo outlinethemainpointsof myargument. to postpone sth I suggestwe postpone ourdecisionuntilwegetthefull report fromsales. to prepare for sth We'rebusypreparing forthemeeting withourpartners nextmonth. to reacha decision Havewereached a decision then,or doesanybody disagree? to reviewsth I thinkweshouldreview oursalespolicyduringthenextmeeting. to schedule sth Couldweschedute another meeting fornextweek?ls thatOK witheveryone? to speakup please lfyouhaveanyquestions, speakup now.Thisis ourlast chance fordiscussion. to stickto sth Goodpoint,butcanwestickto theagenda anddiscuss that underAOB? to suitsb Whattimewouldsuiteveryone? to taketheopporI'dtiketo takethisopportunity to thankJan forall hishardwork. tunityto do sth to turnto sth Nowlet'sturnto oursalesfigures. to wrap(sth)up Doesanyonehaveanyotherpoints?No?OK,thenlet'swrap thingsup for today. to abstain to attend to beaboutsth

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