Planning meetings Networking before a meeting

1. IEN 312 ENGLISH FOR
BUSINESS MEETINGS
A.Warisa Suksomboon
Week 4

2. Planning Meetings
• Key things you need to plan…
• Face-to-face, videoconference, teleconference
• Formal or informal meeting
• Number of participants
• Date and time
• Length
• Venue
• Facilities and equipment
• Paperwork

3. Saying that something is important
• It’s essential to…
• It’s important to…
• It’s crucial to…
• It’s vital to…
Getting participants involved
• Can we start with you, Jerry?
• So who’d like to go next?
• OK, so who’s going to go next?
• Can we brink you in now, Paul.

4. Commenting positively on what people
say
• That’s really interesting.
• That’s extremely interesting.
• That was very useful.
• You’ve made some very good points.

5. Practice
• Think of a real or imaginary meeting you are arranging.
Write the details of the meetings in the table. Use some of
the following ideas if you wish:
• Type of meeting:
brainstorming, progress, project, appraisal, training
• Venue: your office, company seminar room, meeting room in
hotel, training centre
• Subject: salaries and expenses, company logo, move to new office
accommodation

6. Networking
• Networking is about meeting new people and developing
positive business relationships. It’s not about forcing other
people to notice you or trying to agree on a deal as soon
as you meet someone. It’s about having good
conversations which might lead to a business relationship
in the future.
• Is networking important to your job? Why / why not?
• What topics do you talk about?

7. Networking
• There are three things to remember when you network.
• Be interested
• Be positive
• Be interesting

8. Be interested
• Why is it important to show interest?
• How do we show that we are interested?
• What will happen in most cases if we show interest?

9. Be interested
• If feels good if someone is interested in us so it’s
important to show interest in the person you are talking to.
The main way to do this is to ask questions. Ask the
other person about their job and their area of business.
When they answer, respond to the information they give in
an interested manner, and when appropriate, ask further
questions. When they give their answer, listen carefully for
any further questions you can ask. If you are interested in
them, they will usually become more interested in you and
the conversation will start to flow.

10. Be positive
• What should you talk about? What shouldn’t‘ you talk
about?
• What kinds of positive comment can you make to the
other person?
• What should you do when you say goodbye?

11. Be positive
• It’s important to be positive at the first meeting. Talk
about what you like, not what you dislike. Look for
opportunities to make positive comments to the other
person, for example you might have heard something
good about their company. When you say goodbye, say
how much you’ve enjoyed talking to them and encourage
them to stay in touch. Avoid being negative as this will
leave a negative memory of you in the mind of other
person.

12. Be interesting
• How much information should we give about ourselves
when we meet someone new?
• Why is it important to give a bit more information than
usual?

13. Be interesting
• To make it easier for the other person to be interested, it’s
important that you allow yourself to be ‘interesting’. In
other words, instead of giving short answer or the
minimum amount of information, try to give extra
information. For example, if someone asks you what do
you, don’t just tell them your job title, also explain what
your responsibilities are. By giving the other person more
information, you create more material for conversation
and also more opportunity for you both to discover
connections and similarities with each other.
Successful networking is a two-way process which allows
two people to discover what they have in common.

14. Starting the conversation
• Is this seat free?
• I don’t think we’ve met. I’m…
• How are you finding the trade fair / the conference, …etc?

15. Making conversation
• Why are you at…? What brings you to…?
• Tell me more about….
• What do you think about…?
• I imagine that…
• What about you?
Showing interest
• Really? How interesting.
• Right. / I see. / I can imagine.
• That’s interesting / fascinating / amazing!
• Sounds fascinating.

16. Introducing others
• Do you know Sabine?
• Have you met Sabine?
• I think you should meet…
• Matt, this is….
• Let me introduce you to….
• I was just telling Sabine about…

17. Leaving the conversation
• Sorry, I have to go…
• It was really interesting talking to / meeting you.
• It was good to meet you.
• It was nice meeting you.
• Maybe we can meet again later
• Let’s keep in touch.

18. Practice
• Imagine you are all attending a trade fair on future technologies
in business. Work on your own. Prepare notes about
yourself, or create a new role for yourself.
• Start networking and talking with one other person for a
maximum of three minutes. Try to find out something about
their job or business and establish a connection between both
of your jobs and companies.
• At the end of the three minutes, end the conversation and meet
someone new.
• Continue this process and try to meet everyone in the room. As
the networking develops, introduce people you met earlier to
new people you are talking to. Suggest possible business
connections between them.
• At the end, tell the rest of the group about anyone you think
would be good business contact in the future.