Unit 9: Running a face-to-face meeting

Useful tips

Go through the agenda at the start of the meeting and check no items are missing.
Ensure good timekeeping during the meeting, making sure that participants stick to the agenda and don't get sidetracked.
Control the discussion, making sure all participants contribute where relevant and that no one person dominates the whole meeting.
Summarize key decisions at the end of each agenda point.


Conversation

Janette: Everybody is here now. So, let's get started. Now, we're here to discuss the rollout of the new SAP customer relationship program. You are the people who'll have to implement it and we need to decide what you need for the rollout. So, let's look at point number one on the agenda: resources. Fabian, would you like to start?
Fabian: Right, at the moment there's a shortage of human resources to...
Janette: ...so by the time everyone has finished the training course, we should be OK. So, to sum up point number one, we've agreed that Lucy will arrange training sessions for the rollout team together SAP and I'll talk to Human Resources about finding more SAP specialists.
Lucy: Thanks.
Janette: Good. Let's move onto the next point: budget. Tony, that's your field.
Tony: Well, I'm afraid that we have a very limited budget for this project, which means that we really h to be imaginative about how we allocate resources...
Fabian: ...Does that mean training will be cut? Because look at the problems we had last year with the database. I spoke to Billy West in the data centre and he said that there was a problem with the —
Janette: Can I stop you there, Fabian? Let's not get sidetracked. Let Tony tell us what exactly is planned and then we can...
Janette: ...the meeting has been very useful. We all have our action points to deal with and we know the next steps. How does everybody feel about that?
T, L, and F: Fine. OK. Good.
Janette: Great! So, that wraps up everything for today. Thanks very much for all your ideas. Anybody want to go to lunch?

Understanding
Look again at the approaches outlined in Useful tips. Which tips does Janette follow? Underline the relevant parts of the dialogue and note the tips she uses in the margin. Which tip does Janette not follow?


Saying it accurately
Complete the sentences with words from the box. Note that in some sentences. more than one word is possible.

aim / welcome / down / make / started / start / fix / points / kick / sidetracked / begin / see / coming sight / on / agree / point / thoughts / think / sum / agenda / agreed / up / look

Getting the meeting started
1.Thank you all for………. . Let’s get ……… to business.
2.I‘m glad you could all………it. Perhaps we could make a……… .
3.I’d like to……… you all here today. Let's get……… .

Setting out the aims of the meeting/going through the agenda
4.The………of this meeting today is to ……… next year's budget.
5.On the ……… today are the following ……… for discussion.
6.Looking at the agenda, you'll ……… that there are five things to discuss today.

Introducing the first point for discussion
7.So, let's ……… at ……… number one.
8.John, would you like to……… ?
9.Lynn, would you like to ……… things off?

Sticking to the agenda
10.Can you stop there, Paul? Let's not get……… .
11.Let's not lose ……… of the main objective here.
12.Shall we move ……… to the next point?

Asking for contributions from others
13.Any ……… on this, Janine?
14.Do we all ……… on this?
15.What do you ……… , Simon?

Summarizing and concluding
16.OK, that wraps ……… everything for today.
17.So, let's just summarize the main things we've ……… .
18.So, to ……… up, we've agreed the budget for next year.