The purpose of business meetings is a discussion of a particular topic, issue or problem with the intent of sharing information and finding possible solutions.
There are 3 reasons to speak on this meeting:
- ask a question
- express your opinion
- make a request for explanation or clarification of the discussed
Asking a question
With regard to the type of meeting we can ask questions anytime during discussion, after taking the floor or in conclusion of the discussion.
- I have a question…
- This begs the question…
- Let me ask you a question.
- The questions is,…
- Can I ask a question?
- There is some question as to what is the best strategy.
Expressing your opinion
- Can I make a suggestion?
- I am afraid we could only accept this on one condition.
- I’afraid this really doesn’t solve our problem.
- Another option would be…
- Alternatively, we could…
- Couldn’t we… ?
- The answer could be…
- Why don’t we… ?
- The way I see things,…
Request for explanation or clarification of the discussed
- Let me get this quite clear.
- Could you give us an idea of what you’re looking for?
- What sort of figure are we talking about?
- Let me get this quite clear.
- I’m having a problem understanding you.
- Can you clarify… ?
- I didn’t catch that.
- I don’t quite follow you.
Michael: I’d like to welcome you to our meeting, thanks for coming.. Let’s keep this meeting fairly brief. Who’s going to keep the minutes today?
Sarah: Me
Michael: OK. If we are all here, let’s get started. First of all, I’d like to introduce Margaret Peterson who recently joined our team.
Margret Peterson: Thank you for having me, I’m looking forward to today’s meeting.
Michael: Let’s get started. The subject for our meeting is sales improvement in Slovak market areas. Paul has kindly agreed to give us a report on this matter. Paul?
Paul Lancaster: Before I begin the report, I’d like to get some ideas from you all. How do you feel about Slovak sales in your sales areas? I suggest we go round the table first to get all of your input.
Sam: In my opinion, we have been focusing too much on western countries. The way I see things, we need to use the same advertising campaign we use in western countries.
Anna: I’m afraid I can’t agree with you. I think Slovak customers want to feel important. I suggest we make new advertising campaign focused on their particular needs. Let’s give our Slovak sales teams more help with advanced customer information reporting.
Danny: Excuse me, I didn’t catch that. Could you repeat that, please?
Anna: I just stated that we need to give our Slovak sales teams better customer information reporting.
Sam: I don’t quite follow you. What exactly do you mean?
Anna: Well, we provide our sales staff in western area with database information on all of our larger clients. We should be providing the same sort of knowledge on our Slovak customers to our sales staff there.
Jack Peterson: Would you like to add anything, Thomas?
Thomas: I must admit I never thought about Slovak sales that way before. I have to agree with Anna.
Michael: Unfortunately, we’re running short of time. We’ll be having another meeting, but there are a couple of conflicts in the diary so I think the best thing is if I email the date of the next meeting.
Sarah: Me
Michael: OK. If we are all here, let’s get started. First of all, I’d like to introduce Margaret Peterson who recently joined our team.
Margret Peterson: Thank you for having me, I’m looking forward to today’s meeting.
Michael: Let’s get started. The subject for our meeting is sales improvement in Slovak market areas. Paul has kindly agreed to give us a report on this matter. Paul?
Paul Lancaster: Before I begin the report, I’d like to get some ideas from you all. How do you feel about Slovak sales in your sales areas? I suggest we go round the table first to get all of your input.
Sam: In my opinion, we have been focusing too much on western countries. The way I see things, we need to use the same advertising campaign we use in western countries.
Anna: I’m afraid I can’t agree with you. I think Slovak customers want to feel important. I suggest we make new advertising campaign focused on their particular needs. Let’s give our Slovak sales teams more help with advanced customer information reporting.
Danny: Excuse me, I didn’t catch that. Could you repeat that, please?
Anna: I just stated that we need to give our Slovak sales teams better customer information reporting.
Sam: I don’t quite follow you. What exactly do you mean?
Anna: Well, we provide our sales staff in western area with database information on all of our larger clients. We should be providing the same sort of knowledge on our Slovak customers to our sales staff there.
Jack Peterson: Would you like to add anything, Thomas?
Thomas: I must admit I never thought about Slovak sales that way before. I have to agree with Anna.
Michael: Unfortunately, we’re running short of time. We’ll be having another meeting, but there are a couple of conflicts in the diary so I think the best thing is if I email the date of the next meeting.
