Meeting to practise en english

Meetings

MEETINGS (reuniones)

A

Sean:   The office move, as you know, the plans have been up by the main exit for a week now. I just wanted to see what kind of feedback you’ve got.

Tim:      Yeah, Sean, I’m sorry, but I really strongly disagree with the new floor plan. I think it's divisive to separate the secretaries and the assistants out from the editors and managers. I’d be much happier if we could be located in teams.

Carrie:  Actually, I think Sean is right. I’ve been chatting to some of the secretaries and they’re quite keep to all be sitting in the same area, and, speaking as an editor, I think I’d like to be with other editors so that we can bounce ideas off each other and things. So I think Sean’s floor plan is right.

B

If you are interrupting or disagreeing with people, it is even more important to be polite: your views are more likely to be respected if you present them in a professional and non-confrontational (non-argumentative) way.

There are several ways to make what you say sound more polite and less confrontational:

Use 'can' or 'could'.  
In unit 4, John says; 'Sean, can I just ask you…?'
In Unit 1, Alex says 'If you could go through them in order…'
Both expressions above are more polite than simply saying 'I want to know…' or 'Go through them in order…'

Use 'would like'
In unit 2, Tim says '…I'd like to be with other editors…'
In unit 3, Will says 'I would like to be able to show her drawings…'
This sounds are much more polite than 'I want…'

Say 'sorry'
In unit 2, Tim says: 'I'm sorry, but I really strongly disagree…'
In unit 4, John says: 'Sorry to hold the meeting up'

This is a very common way to 'soften' what you say. Tim and John are not really apologising for what they say - using 'sorry' is telling the listener: 'I'm going to say or do something you might not like, so please don’t get upset'.

Use 'just'
In unit 2, Sean says: 'I just wanted to see…' 
In unit 4, John says; 'Sean, can I just ask you…?'
The word 'just' gives the listener a message that you are not asking them to deal with something difficult or time-consuming; that it is not going to be a problem.  

Use 'I think' or 'I feel'
In unit 4, John says: 'I do feel quite strongly that we're bringing this out too soon…'
and Carrie says 'I don’t think we’ve got any choice…'
These phrases have the effect of softening what they are saying, by presenting their ideas as opinions, not orders or instructions.

Sean:   First of all, the book re-launch. I just wanted to remind everybody that we will be re-launching the fairy-tales range with new modern covers, and that this is going to happen at the beginning of next month. It's important that we get this right and there have been quite a few…

John:    Actually Sean, can I just ask you – sorry to hold the meeting up – can I ask you about those dates, because I thought that this was going to be published the month after next, and I understand that everybody has got their dates, but I do feel quite strongly that we’re bringing this out too soon.

Sean:   Well, any other thoughts before I comment on that?

Carrie:  I don’t think we’ve got any choice at all about it. If the radio programmes are going out at the beginning of next month, we’ve got to launch the book at the same time if we’re going to have any sales impact.