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This article covers essential communication skills for a business meeting
This article covers essential communication skills for a business meeting
This article covers essential communication skills for a business meeting
This article covers essential communication skills for a business meeting, including useful
phrases, vocabulary and terminology. You’ll improve your ability to lead meetings and deliver
workplace presentations.
When leading a meeting, it’s important you ask everyone to introduce themselves and provide a
brief meeting agenda. A formal business meeting could start in the following ways:
Introducing yourself
You’ll want to start the meeting by welcoming your attendees and introducing yourself. You can
start with a simple a. greeting, using phrases such as:
“Let’s begin”
“I’m [your name]. I’ll keep this meeting brief as I know you’re all busy people”
For effective discussion during the meeting, it’s essential that individuals attending the meeting
are well-acquainted with each other. The person leading the meeting could c. ask everyone to
introduce themselves in the following ways:
“Let’s go around the table and introduce ourselves, [name] do you want to start?”
“Let’s introduce ourselves quickly - please state your name, job title and why you are here”
You ideally want people to say their name, position in the company and reason for being at the
meeting. This will help guide any discussions during the meeting.
d. Setting the agenda
Likewise, it is important to start the meeting by outlining the agenda clearly and the key
objectives of the meeting. The objectives can be stated with the following phrases:
When the meeting has finished, give an overview of what needs to be completed before the
next meeting. Use the following phrases:
“[Name], can you have these action points finished by next week’s meeting?”
“Before the next meeting, I want [action point] completed so we can discuss the results”
Active participation in the meeting is reflected by asking questions and interrupting the
presenter politely if you do not understand what is being said, or if there is agreement /
disagreement. It is a good idea to show that you are actively involved in the meeting.

If you accidentally speak over someone or have something to add to what is being said, you can
interrupt with the following phrases:
“That’s an excellent point [person’s name], what about doing [action point] as well?”
“From our departments perspective, it’s a little more complicated. Let me explain”
“I've never thought about it that way before. How does it affect [this point]”
*Asking questions
There are many different ways to ask questions during the meeting. The following phrases are
suitable when asking for someone to repeat what they have said:
“I don't fully understand what you mean. Could you explain it from a different angle?”
“Just to be clear, do you mean this [repeat the explained point in the way you understand it]”
The person leading the meeting or giving the presentation can also ask:
“Are there any areas of this project we are not thinking about?”
2. Presenting at a meeting
During the presentation, it’s important to engage your audience and clearly set out the structure
of your presentation. You can use the following expressions to achieve this:

The presentation should begin by introducing its purpose with phrases such as:
“Thank you for getting here on time. Today we’re here to discuss”
“Due to issues identified in [project name], we’re here to come up with a quick resolution”
The presenter can also outline the presentation procedure to ensure clarity, with the phrases
such as:
The presentation should end by briefly going over the key messages and action points again. The
conclusion should ensure that the individuals present in the meeting leave with a clear idea
about the next steps. It’s also polite to thank the audience for attending.
The concluding phrases could be:
“To summarize then, let me just run through what we’ve agreed here”
Answering questions
The presentation can also end by requesting input or feedback from the participants
and answering their questions, if any. The following phrases will be useful for such situations:
“If you have further questions or want to discuss any of it in more detail, we can meet privately
or you can send me an email [have email address on the final presentation slide]”
“I’d like to thank everyone for sharing their time today and any feedback would be valuable”
Aside from the typical benefits, clear communication is required to hold off an interruption,
delegate tasks, confirm decisions, apologise for being late, or excuse you early from a meeting.
The following phrases will prove useful for such situations and will help ensure a productive
meeting.
When holding off an interruption, you can say:
“Can we come back to that point later? Let me just finish what I was saying”
“I hear what you’re saying, however our senior manager is very clear on this one”
“I understand that we can’t do that, but can we discuss some other alternatives?”
“I agree with what you are saying, however have you considered [different method]?”
If you want to leave a meeting early, gather your stuff quietly and politely excuse yourself by
saying:
“Excuse me, unfortunately I have to leave early. I need to be [briefly explain where you need to
be]”
“Sorry I’m going to have to leave now, [reason for leaving early]“
“I’d like to set up a meeting with you at your earliest convenience. When are you free?”
“I’d love to continue this conversation at a second meeting, when are you next free?”
“We haven’t covered everything we needed to, shall we set up another meeting?”
When the meeting is on a tight schedule and the discussion is dragging on, you can use these
phrases:
“We’ve gone slightly off topic, let us get back to [main agenda]”