Business English Pod (9to5English) / Communication / Page 11

BEP 189 – Getting Your Ideas Across in Meetings (1)

Business English, Communication, Meeting English /

English Meeting Phrases

This is the first in a three-part Business English Pod series on getting your ideas across in meetings in english.

Meetings are an important part of most people’s jobs. And doing well in meetings requires very effective communication skills. You need to make sure you are getting your ideas across clearly with the right amount of subtlety and tact. If you do this well, then you will be able to influence people and the direction of the organization you work with.

So, how can you get your ideas across with tact and clarity? That’s what we will look at in this lesson. We’ll cover some important ways of giving opinions of differing strength. And we’ll learn about supporting and contradicting other people’s opinions.

In today’s dialogue, four managers are meeting to discuss ways of saving money on travel expenses. The chair of the meeting is Alison. The other participants are Stewart from sales, Pat from HR, and Nate from marketing. We’ll hear the group express a variety of opinions as they discuss how to cut 15% from the travel budget.

Listening Questions

1. What are three things that Pat mentions could be cut?
2. What does Pat think they should focus on?
3. Why does Stewart disagree with Pat?

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Skills 360 – Selling your Ideas (Part 2)

Business English, Business English Skills 360, Communication, Persuasion /

Welcome back to the Business Skills 360 podcast. In this lesson, we’ll look at some more tips and techniques for selling your ideas.

Now, you know your ideas are good, but how do others? You need to make them think or even just feel that they are good. Last week, we looked at some techniques you can use. In this show, we’ll look at attitudes that you can adopt. This isn’t exactly about what you say, it’s about how you say it and the feelings or impressions your delivery creates.

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Skills 360 – Selling your Ideas (Part 1)

Business English, Business English Skills 360, Communication, Persuasion /

Welcome back to the Business Skills 360 podcast. In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at how to ”˜sell’ your ideas and be persuasive.

You may be full of great ideas, but exactly how do you get people to buy into them? How do you get people on board with your brilliant plans? Well, today I want to share a few tools and techniques that will help you do just that.

These tools and techniques have two important effects: they build connections and they build credibility. The connections can be between you and your listeners, but they can also be between your listeners and your idea. Those connections will generate buy-in. And that credibility can be your credibility and your idea’s credibility. You, and your idea, have to be believable and trustworthy.

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BEP 182 – Handling a Crisis 4: Moving Forward

Business English, Communication, Management English /

This Business English Pod lesson is the final part in our series on handling a crisis. We’ll see how to start moving forward after the first phase of a crisis has passed.

A crisis is a stressful situation. People are under pressure and meetings or conversations can be tense. But if everyone maintains the same goal, and a good leader gives direction to a group, a crisis can be overcome. And overcoming a crisis means talking about how to move forward.

In our last episode, we heard a conference call, as the team of Frank, Mike, Sandy, Monika, and Simone re-evaluated the situation and tried to gain some perspective. They talked about how the crisis has been handled, and things became a little tense, especially between Simone and Mike.

In this episode, we’ll continue with that conference call. Mike and Simone continue to disagree, while Sandy and Monika try to support Mike, and Frank tries to take control of the situation. Let’s listen as they figure out how to move forward at this stage of the crisis.

Listening Questions

1. What does Sandy say about the company’s history?
2. According to Monika, what are the local people worried about?
3. What does Frank think about the group of people?

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BEP 181 – Handling a Crisis 3: Gaining Perspective

Business English, Communication, Management English, Teleconference English /

This is the third in our Business English Pod series on handling a crisis. In the first part of a crisis, there may be a lot of confusion and activity. But if you make it through that part okay, what comes next?

At a certain point after the critical phase, people will come together to re-evaluate the situation. Team work is important. People need to be working together to handle the crisis. If they don’t, if they disagree and try to go in different directions, it won’t be good for the company. Unity is absolutely essential. It takes good leadership to establish that unity early on, but it takes good team work to maintain it.

In our last lesson, we heard Mike the production engineer talking with the VP of Communications in Singapore, Monika. She was getting some information from Mike about an accident and creating a communication plan. That was still the critical phase of the crisis.

In this episode, we’ll hear a teleconference meeting after that critical phase. It’s time to think about what has happened and re-evaluate the situation. We’ll hear Mike and Monika, as well as Frank the American boss, Sandy the plant manager, and a lawyer named Simone. Let’s listen as they try to gain perspective on the crisis and figure out how well they’ve handled the situation so far.

Listening Questions

1. Why does Mike say “sorry” to Simone?
2. What does Monika want to focus on in the discussion?
3. What does Sandy think about Simone’s concerns?

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