Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TAN: Well, I'm not convinced that the work is as urgent as this report suggests, so perhaps we
should.
DENISE: So, to sum up - I think we are all aware that some urgent work does need to be
done, and we will need to work on a longer term plan for a major refit.
Well, if there's no more discussion - we'll put it to a vote. We're recommending that tenders be
called for the urgent work needed. All those in favour?
Bài giảng:
Để xem phần lời dịch của bài giảng - bạn hãy click vào nút "Xem Bài Dịch" ở phía trên. Rồi đưa
chuột vào đoạn text cần dịch. Chỉ thành viên VIP mới có thể xem được lời dịch.
Meetings. We love them or hate them – but we have to have them. Of course there are many
different kinds of meetings –from an informal chat, to a Board meeting,or even an Annual
General Meeting – and some are more formal than others – and so the language used in them
changes.
Today we’re looking at a more formal meeting – and in particular at the role of the chairperson –
or the person who runs the meeting.
Our Chairperson is Denise. Let’s look at how she starts things off.
Denise first makes sure everyone has an agenda – or a list of the items to be discussed at the
meeting.
Then she asks someone to take minutes – or keep a record of the meeting. Then she announces
the start of the meeting – she officially begins it.
First of all, thank you everyone for attending at short notice.As you know, we needed to convene
this meeting of the Capital Works committee to discuss a proposal for some urgent building
work at our Southside plant. As we’ve got to reach a decision which may involve spending, we’ll
run it as a formal meeting.
Now, you’ve all read the proposal, so without further ado, I’d like to open it up for discussion.
Did you notice the different parts of that introduction by the chairperson?
First, she thanked people for attending the meeting. Even though it may be their job – it’s good
practice to thank people for attending.
Next, Denise states the objective of the meeting. Of course a meeting may have more than one
objective, but often meetings have one main objective, or aim.
The Chair should state the objective of the meeting. In this case it is to discuss a proposal, and to
reach a decision. A proposal is simply a more formal word for a suggestion – but it is usually a
detailed suggestion, in a written form.
Now, you’ve all read the proposal, so without further ado, I’d like to open it up for discussion.
Perhaps if we can start with you Tan – what’s your view?
‘Without further ado’ just means without any more procedure. We’re going to discuss it
straight away. Then she says‘I’d like to open it up for discussion.’ ‘it’ refers to the proposal she
has just outlined.
Okay – now, you can open a topic for general discussion – which means anyone can have a
say. The Chairperson controls the discussion. Or, the Chairperson may invite particular people to
speak. This is what Denise does – watch again…
Denise invites Tan to start the discussion. Let’s practice a few phrases for asking someone to
speak…
Another job for the Chair is to summarise the discussion – that is, concisely state the main points
made during the meeting.
So, to sum up – I think we are all aware that some urgent work does need to be done, and we
will need to work on a longer term plan for a major refit.
Denise summarizes the main points from the discussion. To introduce this she could use various
phrases – practice these:
To sum up…
In summary…
So the main points are…
Anyone against?
Then we’ll close the meeting. Thank you everyone. The next meeting will be in two weeks, at the
same time.
Notice how Denise controls the meeting – she doesn’t say ‘Is there any more discussion?’ She
says ‘If there’s no more discussion we’ll put it to a vote.’She is controlling the meeting by
moving on. She then reiterates, or re-states the recommendation and calls for votes by
saying ‘All those in favor’ – that is those who agree, and ‘All those against’.
Votes are only taken in a formal meeting procedure – in a less formal procedure, a decision can
be taken by consensus – by everyone agreeing during the discussion.
Notice that after the vote, Denise says ‘Then that’s agreed.’ A meeting agrees, or doesn’t agree
to a recommendation.If it’s a more formal motion – we say the motion is ‘carried’ or ‘not
carried’.
Often at the end of the meeting a chairperson will call for ‘any other business’, before they
officially announce the meeting is closed, and announce the time for the next meeting.