Meetings

Open, contribute, interrupt politely, steer and close a meeting. Lesson 38 of 58: Professional, CEFR C1.

Opening and setting the agenda

Start on time, thank people, state the purpose and the outcome you want: “Thanks for joining. The aim today is to agree on the launch date. We have three items, and we should finish by eleven.”
Shall we get started?
The main aim of today’s meeting is to…
There are three things on the agenda.

To come in: “Could I just add something?” “If I could just come in here…” To interrupt politely: “Sorry to interrupt, but…” When interrupted: “If I could just finish my point…” To bring somebody in: “Priya, what’s your view?”
Sorry to interrupt, but I think that’s important.
Could I just come in on that?
If I could just finish… (Holding the floor)

Keep it on track: “I think we’re getting off topic.” “Let’s park that for now.” “Can we come back to the main point?” Close with decisions and actions: “So, to sum up, we’ve agreed to… Raj will… by Friday. Is everyone clear on next steps?”
Let’s take that offline. (Discuss it later, separately)
To sum up, we’ve agreed to launch in May.
Who’s going to take care of that? (Assigning an action)
Tip: Every meeting should end with who does what by when. Say it out loud; it prevents most misunderstandings.

Run a two-minute mock meeting: open it with a purpose, invite an opinion, politely interrupt once, park a side topic, and close with who does what by when.
I stated the purpose at the start
I invited somebody in by name
I parked a side topic
I closed with actions and deadlines

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