Meetings are an everyday part of work. Learn some essential phrases for meetings to excel in workplace.
Get down to business: when you transition from welcoming everyone and making some general conversation and start to focus on the agenda, you can say that you are “getting down to business.”
Have a meeting: the most common way to tell people that you need to participate in a meeting is to say that you “have a meeting”. For example, if someone wants to meet you tomorrow at 2pm, you can say: “Oh sorry, I can’t. I have a meeting.”
Attend a meeting: when you participate in a meeting, the most common verb is “attend”, which is a transitive verb, so there is no preposition with it (it’s incorrect to say “attend to a meeting”).
Chair a meeting: this has the same meaning as “lead a meeting”, so if the Director of Sales is leading the meeting, you can say that he or she “is chairing the meeting”.
Follow-up meeting: a meeting that is scheduled to happen later that is related to a meeting that has already happened. For example, at the end of a meeting about a new strategy, you can plan a follow-up meeting to discuss the progress of the strategy one month later.
Take minutes: when someone records notes about what people say during a meeting, it is called “taking minutes”. After the meeting you can send “the minutes” to participants so they can remember what was discussed.
Put off a meeting: to postpone a meeting until another time. For example, if you cannot have the meeting today at 2pm, you can say: “let’s put off the meeting until tomorrow.”
Keep time: when someone is responsible for focusing on the clock and making sure that the meeting stays on schedule, you can say that this person is “keeping time”.
Items on the agenda: each topic that is discussed at an agenda is called an “item” so when you are transitioning to the next topic, you can say: “let’s look at the next item on the agenda”.
Stick to the agenda: this expression means that you stay focused on the items on the agenda and do not get distracted by unrelated points.
Reach a consensus: when everyone accepts an option or a decision, you can say that you reached a consensus as a group.
Any other business: this is a term that is used at the end of a meeting when there is extra time available to discuss other topics that people might want to mention.
Practice
chair the meeting / any other business / follow-up meeting / stick to the agenda
get down to business / put off the meeting / attending the meeting
1. So, we’ve covered everything on the agenda. Is there ________________________ to discuss?
2. We only have twenty minutes for this meeting today, so let’s _____________________.
3. The CFO is the highest-level executive participating, so she will __________________ tomorrow.
4. It’s a good question, but we need to ___________________, so can we discuss that later?
5. I think it’s a good idea to plan a __________________ to check on the progress that we’re making.
6. How many people are _______________________ tomorrow?
7. A problem has come up, so we’ll have to ____________________. Can we change it to Friday?
Answers
1. Any other business
2. Get down to business
3. Chair the meeting
4. Stick to the agenda
5. Follow-up meeting
6. Attending the meeting
7. Put off the meeting