Fancy seeing you again. Well, here we are. Another lesson. Let's go. What are we talking
about today? We're looking at the skill of teleconferencing. What on earth is that? It's
a meeting that is not in person. Yeah? It's via the internet. This is not just a video
for business people. Okay? Because you're going to be learning key phrases that you
can use in other contexts. But do bear in mind that the way the economies are shifting
in the world, that people can often work from home more and more. So, hopefully, something
Before you start, you need to make sure you're absolutely prepared for the meeting, knowing
how things are going to work. So, do you know how to enter the program where you're having
the meeting? Have you got your password, your login details all to hand so you can do it
quickly? Very important, you know where the mute button is, because it's good practice
when you're not talking to press mute, because we don't want to hear the cliche of the coffee
machine in the background or your dog barking. Yeah? Make sure you're joining it on time,
you're prepared, and you know who the meeting is with. So, typically, everyone will introduce
themselves. Yeah? We'll say, like, "Hi, everyone. This is Jean-Claude Van Damme from the Corporal
Punishment Department." No, from Sales and Marketing or HR, whatever it is.
"Jemima Bond from R&D, Research and Development, has just joined us. Hi, Jemima." "Hello. Hi,
everyone." She'll say. And the person who is chairing, organizing the meeting might
give an announcement, like, "Sueby will be with us shortly." Yep, in a few moments. So,
think about what you would say if you were introducing yourself. "Hey, this is..." Okay?
I hope we got something good there.
Now, the person who is chairing the meeting needs to get the call, the meeting going,
so they could say, "So, the purpose of this call is... The purpose of this call is to
agree an action plan for..." Whatever it is. "The first item on our agenda is..." Yeah?
So, we've got overall purpose, and hopefully we've got a sort of schedule, the minutes
of the meeting, what we're going to be talking about.
Now, it's good to get other people talking, to ask them what they think, if that's relevant.
So, where I have the dots, you would substitute the person's name. "Samantha, could you talk
us through the sales figure for the second quarter, please?" Quarter meaning quarter
of a financial year. "Samantha, could you talk us through the sales figures?" "Talk
us through" means kind of give us the information. Yeah? Explain it.
"John, I'd be interested in hearing what you think about this." "I'd be interested in hearing
what you think about this." I.e., what do you think? Okay? But it's more formal, because
we're in a formal setting, here.
"Julie, maybe you've got some thoughts on... Julie, maybe you've got some thoughts on this.
Maybe you've got some thoughts on..." Another way of saying, what do you think? How do you
feel about? How do you feel about this idea? Well, I feel that it's da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
"Jane, what do you think about the proposal?" Yeah? Jane answers. "Well, in my opinion,
from what I've seen so far, I would say that..." Okay?
"Mary, what's your view on this?" Your view on this. Yeah? Looking, but it means what
do you think? Okay? Let's clear the slate, we've got some more for you. Okay, let's carry
on.
You'll want to be able to give an opinion in this context, so simple ideas like "I think
that's a good idea", "I think that's a good", here's the emphasis, "a good idea". Or, "In
my opinion, we need to diversify, implement, choose a specific verb." "As far as I'm concerned,
I think the main problem is that..." Or, "As far as I'm concerned, this doesn't seem to
be a particularly good idea." Okay?
What about checking understanding? This is also a way of summarizing what's been said.
"Am I right in thinking that the general opinion is..." i.e., are we all agreed on this? "Am
I right in thinking that the general opinion..." i.e., everybody thinks, da-da-da-da. Or a
simple question, so you're saying that, and then you paraphrase what that person has said.
So you're saying that bananas are red. Really? Come on, we know.
Can I just check, are we all up to speed? Are we all up to speed on? Do we all know
about? Let's write that phrase down. "Up to speed". "Up to speed" means we're all at the
same place. "Don't agree". Now, this is a sort of formal construction, here.
With respect to what you were just saying about the blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, I'd
like to point out that. So, with respect to, and then whatever topic you're going to be
talking about. I've still got some reservations about that, so this is not a dinner reservation.
That sounds quite nice now, I'd quite like to go for dinner, so any tips to the engVid,
and then I can go and have a nice meal after this? Excellent. Here, "reservation" means
a doubt or a concern about whatever the other person has been talking about.
What if we want someone to... Okay, that's enough, you can stop talking now. Well, you
might say, "Sorry, could you just let..." So, bear in mind, this is a teleconference,
so we're going to need to use names. "Sorry, Ahmed, could you just let Juliana finish what
she was saying?" Or, "Okay, I think we're digressing. We are leaving the agenda and
we're going off and talking about something else." Digress, to go off topic a bit, here.
Could we just come back to the agenda, folks? "Folks" meaning people, yep, everyone. Could
we just come back to the agenda, folks? And then, because I've said that, I would need
to go on. Right, whatever the second point on the agenda is, the chickens in the farm
are being eaten by the fox. What are we going to do about the fox problem? If it was a farm
Now, towards the end, we need to clarify who has responsibility for doing what. So, I might
say, "Let's summarize what's been agreed." Yeah? Perfect tense. What has been agreed?
Can I just check who's doing what and by when? And then, I might say, "So, Tom, can you remember
what you need to do? Can you remember what you need to do? Philippa, you've agreed to
do that. Is that okay? Great. And you're going to do that by... Excellent." Yeah? So, just
making sure people are being accountable for their responsibilities. Yep. You're going
to do that, you're going to do that, and it's all going to get done. Hurrah. And you're
going to do your quiz, aren't you? So, you're taking careful note. Excellent.
Now, we need to end it. So, something like... Okay, we seem to have some sort of consensus
here. Consensus, meaning an agreement. Yeah? We're all on the same page. Yeah? We're going
to need to draw things to a close. We're not drawing a picture. Yeah? Kind of imagine yourself
shutting the curtains. We're going to draw the curtains, we're going to draw things to
Very much hope that has been useful to you. If you do want any more help from me on a
one-to-one basis, I do offer Skype tuition via my website, honeyourenglish.com. Thanks