English Phrases for Participating in Meetings

Taking part in meetings is a normal part of business. If you are an English learner and work in a company where your meetings are sometimes in English, this is the right place for you. In this post, your going to learn the right English phrases to participate in business meetings.

You can watch the video below on YouTube or just scroll past the video if you prefer to keep reading instead.

Why we have meetings

Everyone in the organization has different skills knowledge, skills, or a different perspective that they bring to the table [idiom: see below graphic for meaning]. The meeting is the forum (place) where we bring everyone to the table to present, discuss, suggest, debate, and in the end – decide.

Participating in Discussions

When it comes to participating in Discussions Individually, there are 4 main functions you need to be able to do:

Make Suggestions
Give Opinions
Agree
Disagree

Let’s take a closer look at the useful English phrases for participating in meetings and discussions.

Making Suggestions

Giving Opinions

Agreeing

Disagreeing

Roundup

These are some of the basic Business English Phrases for participating in meetings and discussions. These starter phrases will help you say what you think in a meeting.

Additional Practice and Resources

As the saying always goes, practice makes perfect. Some of my favorite Business English Resources and their descriptions can be found below.

Market leader pre-intermediate 3rd

Direct practice on Business English Skills for Meetings can be found in this series of books.

The Coursebook is one of my favorites to use, as it does an excellent job of teaching the vocabulary and follows it up with Listening and Reading Skills. Each unit also teaches an important piece of Grammar and finishes the unit with Business Skills and a Case Study.

What I like about the Workbook is that it is an excellent companion or stand alone self-study book. It focuses mainly on the Vocabulary, Writing, Business Skills, and Pronunciation for each unit of the coursebook.

FREE CHEAT SHEET & EXERCISE

I’ve created a free cheat sheet and exercise for you to download and practice. You can get that right here!

Other Social English Posts You Might be Interested In

At Native 1, I try and teach you natural English so that you sound like a native speaker when you’re communicating in English. Here are some other social English posts you might try to learn more English!

This next lesson continues with the business English focus, but the phrases you learn can be used in any conversational environment. Learn and practice the best phrases for suggestions, opinions, agreeing, and disagreeing.

You know how to deal with meetings, now it’s time to improve your ability to make small talk and conversation. Learn how to start a conversation in English with anyone. This post contains a 2-part video series and is your complete guide to English conversation starters.

Another social English lesson you may be interested in revolves around Reported Speech. This lesson has a business English focus as the case follows a gentleman who is looking to buy a set of golf clubs, so he can play golf with his business clients. The video lesson teaches how to form reported speech and indirect questions.

Jon

Jon Williams is a graduate of UCLA with a degree in Economics. While doing his undergraduate studies at UCLA, he also tutored microeconomics for other students in the AAP program. After graduation, he went on to become a financial advisor where he learned financial sales and management training. In 2003, he decided to take a gap year, going to teach English in Poland which eventually stretched into 3 years. Upon returning to Los Angeles in 2006, he worked in West Los Angeles for an investment management firm where he spent another 4 years in a financial and investment environment. Ultimately, though, his love for teaching led him to move back to Poland where he founded his business Native 1 English Learning. Now he operates a private teaching practice, posts articles and lessons on his blog, creates online courses, and publishes YouTube video English lessons.

Business English: Phrases for Participating in Meetings