Business Meetings in English part I

This blog has been divided into a set of two blog series. The first part is about Starting a Meeting or Discussion and the language used to manage the meeting or discussion. The 2nd part is about closing and summarizing the meeting or discussion. Link to part 2 can be found below.

Let’s have a look below at some useful language:

Opening

Good morning/afternoon, everyone. (Small talk optional)
If we are all ready, let’s get started.

Stating the principal objectives

We’re here today to …
I’d like to make sure that we …
Our main aim today is to…

Introducing the first topic for discussion

So, let’s start with …
I’d like to start with…
Why don’t we begin with…
So, the first thing on the agenda is
Shall we begin the discussion with…

Moving forward (transitions)

So, if there is nothing more we need to talk about, let’s go on to …
Shall we get right down to it?
I’d like to go on to the next topic.

Let’s move to the next item.
Now that we’ve talked about X, let’s move to …
The next point on tonight’s agenda is…
Now we arrive at the question of…

Your thoughts

Please feel free to add a comment or a question in our comment box if you have some other useful tips or language.

Want to learn more?

If this was useful to you, you may also be interested in our Business Course which has classes on meetings, negotiations, telephone language and many other popular topics. We also invite you to try a free trial class with ETO today and start learning English now!

In the meantime, please stay subscribed to our Facebook, YouTube & Twitter pages.

By: Luke 

ETO American English teacher

Business Meetings in English part II