This document is a toolkit of common phrases to help you communicate more effectively in meetings in English. A practical guide produced by the British Council and ORSYS.
Save these expressions somewhere easily accessible (copy and paste them into a Word document on your Desktop, write them out in a notebook to keep to hand, etc.). To make this document even more useful, add to it regularly as you go along: make a note of useful phrases, or jot down the key words and expressions you hear in meetings.
N.B. The expressions below are neutral/formal and suitable for professional communication. More informal expressions (which are still appropriate for work) are indicated by [inf.]
1. Start the meeting
- Shall we get started?
→ Shall we get started? - Thanks for joining us – let’s get started. [inf.]
→ Thank you for coming; we can begin. - Can we have a quick run-through of the agenda?
→ Can we quickly go through the agenda?
2. Technical issues
- I can’t hear or see you.
→ I can’t hear / see you. - You’re on mute.
→ Your microphone is muted. - Your video has frozen.
→ Your image is frozen. - You’re cutting out.
→ Your voice is choppy. - We lost track of you for a moment, but you’re back now.
→ We lost track of you for a moment, but you’ve come back. - There’s some background noise.
→ There is some background noise. - Could you share your screen again?
→ Could you share your screen again? - Let me reconnect / check my settings
→ I’m going to log in again / check my settings. - It looks as though we’ve lost Bob. Let’s wait a moment for him to reconnect.
→ We’ve lost Bob. Let’s wait a moment for him to reconnect. - My [camera, microphone, laptop, internet connection] isn’t working.
→ My [camera, microphone, computer, internet connection] isn’t working.
3. Talking about the project
- We need to define the scope clearly.
→ We need to clearly define the scope. - The key stakeholders are...
→ The main stakeholders are… - We may need to extend the deadline.
→ We may need to extend the deadlines.
4. Give your opinion
- From my point of view, this could work well.
→ As far as I’m concerned, it could well work. - I believe this approach is more efficient.
→ I think this approach is more effective. - Personally, I’d suggest trying a different approach.
→ Personally, I suggest trying a different method.
5. Ask for clarification
- Could you explain what you mean by that?
→ Could you explain what you mean by that? - Just to be sure, are we saying that…?
→ Just to be clear, are we saying that…? - Would you mind explaining that a bit more?
→ Could you give us a bit more detail?
6. Expressing agreement
- I completely agree with that.
→ I completely agree with that. - That makes perfect sense.
→ That makes perfect sense. - I’m all for this idea. [inf.]
→ I agree with that idea.
7. Expressing disagreement diplomatically
- I see your point, but I’m not sure I agree.
→ I understand your point of view, but I don’t entirely agree. - That’s an interesting point of view, though I see things differently.
→ That’s an interesting point of view, but I see things differently. - I’m not convinced this is the best option.
→ I’m not sure if that’s the best option.
8. Moving the discussion forward
- Let’s move on to the next item.
→ Let’s move on to the next point. - Let’s keep things moving.
→ Let’s keep moving forward. - Can we put this topic to one side and come back to it later?
→ Can we put this topic aside for now and come back to it later?
9. Summarise and conclude
- Thanks everyone, that was some great input today.
→ Thank you all – there have been lots of interesting contributions today. - Let’s go over the key points before we finish.
→ Let’s recap the key points before we finish. - To sum up, here’s what we’ve agreed on…
→ To summarise, here is what we agreed on… - I’ll send you the (meeting) minutes by the end of the week.
→ I’ll send you the minutes of the meeting by the end of the week.
