Professional Documents
Culture Documents
120 Useful English phrases for business meetings
120 Useful English phrases for business meetings
You’ve scheduled a call, invited your team members, and now you have just enough time to sit on pins
and needles while waiting for the meeting to start.
Maybe you plan to let your team know about an upcoming change, and you already know that the
meeting might go downhill. Sometimes, the call is all about sharing updates, but there’s so much to say
that it becomes impossible to get your mind around all the details you need to share.
If you tremble to think where to go from now, we are here to throw you a lifeline. From opening a
meeting to waving your teammates goodbye, we’ve listed all there is to say in a business meeting.
Let’s go over all the phrases that can come in handy in the first couple of minutes of your call — from
welcoming and introducing the participants to sharing the agenda and goals of your meeting.
Regardless of the purpose of your business meeting, here are some phrases you should have in mind
when gathering your team.
Even if you have scheduled the call weeks before or it’s a regular weekly updates meeting, it’s still
necessary for your motives not to remain ulterior.
When people are familiar with the main goals even before a meeting starts, it helps prevent meeting
amnesia from taking over. Without a clue on what is the point of an event, people might brush aside
everything that was said as soon as the meeting ends.
Let’s take a look at some useful phrases to help you ensure everyone stays on the same page.
To prevent your teammates from running out of patience, we’ve compiled a list of practical phrases you
can use to spread the word about the main points of your business meeting.
All of a sudden, people start breaking in and talking over each other. Some of them have, perhaps, even
turned their cameras off or started scrolling through their phones.
Although it might seem like your attendees’ attention is all done and dusted, there are still ways to
manage this situation. Let’s examine the phrases that can help you remain in control during a meeting
— from expressions for discussing updates, moving on, keeping the discussion on track, to phrases for
handing the word over to other meeting participants.
Even when the goal of your meeting goes beyond pointing out the company’s news, it’s still necessary to
touch upon the current situation in your company.
The following phrases can help you out in remaining as brief as possible.
# Since we’ve covered this issue, now we can go to the next one.
Try using some of the following phrases to prevent the babble from going on from here to eternity.
# We can continue talking about this later. Now, let’s go back to our previous subject.
In case your team is still eager to talk, you can always refer them to continue the conversation in the
random channel of your team chat app.
The #random channel in Pumble team chat app gives your team a chance to discuss casual topics
outside of business meetings
The #random channel in Pumble team chat app gives your team a chance to discuss casual topics
outside of business meetings
💡If you need a helping hand in preventing the unnecessary small talk from getting the best of your
team’s workflow, make sure to check out our blog post: How to balance work communication and chit-
chat in remote work
For an uninterrupted meeting flow, you need to consider a proper transition when allowing another
person to talk so that you can hold your listeners’ attention. This is when the following phrases can be of
use.
# I would like to hand it over to Ted, who can share more on this topic.
# I’d like to hand you over to Ted who will talk you through…
However, before you hastily reach for the End the call button or leap to your feet, eager to leave the
conference room, there are still a couple of things to be done. Let’s go over all you need to cover before
you bid the participants farewell — from summarizing and closing the meeting to thanking everyone for
their time.
Therefore, instead of relying on people’s ability to take mental notes of your speech, it’s always better
to sum everything up, especially when discussing critical topics.
Here are some phrases to help you ensure everyone bears the crucial information in mind.
🔶 Phrases for summarizing in a meeting
# We will have to finish here, but our next meeting will be scheduled for…
# I would like to thank you all for sharing your time today.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_
Chances are, you are invited to attend a meeting for a reason. Most of the time, you will need to voice
your opinion or help your team members reach a decision.
However, you don’t have to wear yourself to a shadow in preparation for attending a meeting. Just
make sure to go through all the phrases we’ve put together, and you’ll come prepared to conquer
whatever comes your way.
Perhaps you think that it’s better to be safe than sorry when sharing your opinion in a meeting. When
this happens, you put at risk both the transparency of your team’s communication and your own career
growth.
To prevent the fear of speaking out from getting in the way of anyone’s progress, we’ve gathered all the
necessary phrases you could use to express your thoughts in meetings. Whether you need to share your
opinion, agree or disagree, offer advice or provide clarification, we’ve got you covered.
In a business meeting, however, saying yes to a suggestion requires you to put your opinion into words.
Here are some expressions you can put to use whenever you wish to support your team.
Don’t let the scare stop you from helping your team reach the right decision. Think of using the
following phrases instead.
That’s a great point, but maybe we should consider all the options.
Great job for noticing that, but have you considered…?
I see where your idea is coming from, but maybe we should change the direction a little bit.
I see where you’re coming from, but…
I’m sorry but I have to disagree on this because…
While I agree with you on…have you considered…?
✋ Phrases for advising and suggesting
Whether the meeting you are attending is mainly focused on solving a problem or the team gathering is
a perfect chance for you to propose a new idea, suggesting in a room full of people can put the
frighteners on everyone.
Regardless of whether you are making a suggestion in a group call or presenting an idea by sitting
opposite your coworkers, try devising your speech before the meeting. The following phrases can put
your mind at ease when presenting in a meeting.
Here’s how you can rephrase and sum up your ideas so that everyone gets a clear picture.
Apart from showing interest in their ideas, when you ask for more details on a topic you demonstrate a
willingness to learn, grow and collaborate with your team members.
Sometimes, you need to ask for repetition or clarification. Other times you might wish to hear your team
members’ opinions or you have to ask them to provide you with specific information. Whichever the
situation that opens a window on question asking during a meeting, we are here to back you up with
plenty of useful phrases.
Whenever you are in two minds about something that was mentioned in a meeting, here’s how you can
ask your team to circle back to a topic.
You can’t be too careful when an important decision is at stake, so a bit of clarification won’t do any
harm. Let’s go over some useful phrases to help you understand the direction of any discussion in a
meeting.
Sorry, I’m not sure what you were aiming at. Could you explain it a bit?
Could you go into a little more detail?
Could you please tell me what you mean by…?
Let me check if I understood you correctly. Did you say that…?
Could you be a little bit more precise, please?
Can you expand on that?
Phrases for asking for opinions
Not everyone enjoys speaking in front of a large crowd, and this trait usually leads people to try to
remain silent as long as possible when attending a meeting. Sometimes, however, it’s necessary to hear
everybody out, especially when discussing a vital issue relevant to several departments. This is when the
following phrases can be of use.
However simple it may seem to hide your presence, keeping a list of useful phrases for business
meetings at your fingertips could do you a bigger favor than laying low.
Just give yourself a bit of time to practice and prepare, and you’ll definitely make a grand performance.