Business English: Holding meetings in English 用英语(论坛)主持会议
The Structure of a Meeting会议的结构
One of the most common requirements of business English is holding meetings in English. The following sections provide useful language and phrases for conducting meetings and making contributions to a meeting。
Meetings generally follow a more or less similar structure and can be divided into the following parts:
I - Introductions
Opening the Meeting
Welcoming and Introducing Participants
Stating the Principal Objectives of a Meeting
Giving Apologies for Someone Who is Absent
II - Reviewing Past Business
Reading the Minutes (notes) of the Last Meeting
Dealing with Recent Developments
III - Beginning the Meeting
Introducing the Agenda
Allocating Roles (secretary, participants)
Agreeing on the Ground Rules for the Meeting (contributions, timing, decision-making, etc。)
IV - Discussing Items
Introducing the First Item on the Agenda
Closing an Item
Next Item
Giving Control to the Next Participant
V - Finishing the Meeting
Summarizing
Finishing Up
Suggesting and Agreeing on Time, Date and Place for the Next Meeting
Thanking Participants for Attending
Closing the Meeting
The following pages focus on each part of the meeting and the appropriate language for each situation。
Running a Meeting主持会议
The following phrases are used to conduct a meeting. These phrases are useful if you are called on to conduct a meeting。
Opening宣布会议开始
Good morning/afternoon, everyone。
If we are all here, let's get started / start the meeting / start。
Welcoming and Introducing欢迎和介绍出席人员
Please join me in welcoming (name of participant)
We're pleased to welcome (name of participant)
I'd like to extend a warm welcome to (name of participant)
It's a pleasure to welcome (name of participant)
I'd like to introduce (name of participant)
Stating the Principal Objectives阐明会议主要议题
We're here today to ..。
I'd like to make sure that we ..。
Our main aim today is to ..。
I've called this meeting in order to ..。
Giving Apologies for Someone Who is Absent对缺席者表示遗憾
I'm afraid.., (name of participant) can't be with us today. She is in..。
Unfortunately, (name of participant) ... will not be with us to day because he ..。
I have received apologies for absence from (name of participant)，who is in (place)。
Reading the Minutes (notes) of the Last Meeting
