Business English: the language of 'business meetings'

'What time does the meeting commence?'

People take Business English courses because English is the language of the International business community.

Business people love meetings. As a business person you will attend (go to) many meetings. Here is some useful Business English you should know.

Business Meeting Verbs

to adjourn a meeting (formal) = to end a meeting for a short time. To take a break.

'Let’s adjourn this meeting. We'll arrange to meet again next week.'

to attend a meeting = to go to a meeting

'I'll be attending a meeting today between 2 and 3pm.'

to brainstorm = working in a group to think of some new fresh ideas.

'Take a few minutes to brainstorm some ideas on a new name for this product.'

to cancel meeting = to decide that a planned meeting will not happen. The date is not changed.

'The boss has decided to cancel the meeting as he is no longer interested in the project.'

to commence = to begin/start a meeting.

'The meeting commences at 9:30. Please don’t be late.'

to hold a meeting = to be in charge of the meeting. It's your meeting, you are the chairperson.

'I'm holding a meeting on the effects of the increase in shipping costs.'

to over-run = to take longer than expected or was scheduled for.

'Sorry I'm late. My meeting over-ran by 15 minutes.'

to postpone a meeting= to hold a meeting at a later time or date than was originally planned.

'Let’s postpone the meeting until the report has been finished.'

to reschedule a meeting = to change the time of a meeting for a reason. It can be before or after the originally planned time.

'Did you hear? There's no meeting today. It's been rescheduled to tomorrow at 12.'

to wrap up a meeting (phrasal verb/informal) = to end a meeting.

'Let's wrap up this meeting. We're out of time.'

Business Meeting Nouns

agenda = the topics to be covered in the meeting.

'Today's agenda covers our new policy on over-time pay.'

minutes = Notes taken about what is said and covered in a meeting.

'Mr. Khan. Can you take the minutes for today's meeting and then email them on to anyone who is not here?'

objectives = the goals of the meeting.

'The objective of this afternoons meeting is to agree on employees working hours.'

strategy = the business plan for success.

'Our strategy is to focus on our Asian market.'

• Simon is away on a business trip, so let's ___ until he comes back.
  
  commence
  postpone
  hold
  
  
• Are you all here? Yes.Good. Let's ___ . Thanks for joining today's meeting...
  
  agenda
  commence
  wrap up
  
  
• My sales team have ___ a few ideas on how we can improve our sales figures.
  
  brainstorming
  brainstormed
  brainstorm
  
  
• I've asked my secretary to take the ___ for tomorrow's meeting.
  
  brainstorm
  minutes
  adjourn
  
  
• Our main ___ is to double last year's exports
  
  attend
  minutes
  objective
  
  
• Last year's ___ was a failure. We need to re-think our business plan.
  
  commence
  strategy
  agenda
  
  
• The meeting ___ will cover our marketing budget and no other topics.
  
  strategy
  agenda
  postpone