This is the first in a series of Business English Practice Pods that review and extend the language that is covered in the regular podcast. Practice pod dialogs will revise key language but in different situations. Also, they give you more opportunities to practice what you’ve learned.
– to play ball
– to stall for time
– to keep/have one’s eye on the ball
– to step up to the plate
We’ll see how these idioms are useful in a different context, a business meeting. After the dialog, we’ll hear some further example phrases and then have a chance to practice using these idioms. Jen, Ken and Ryan of Ambient are in a marketing meeting discussing Accent’s recent buyout of Telstar.
Welcome to the second in this three-part Business English Pod series on presenting your ideas presuasively.
Last time we heard a bad example and a good example of persuasion. Then we covered the first step of the Monroe Sequence: We learned that to be persuasive, you first need to get the audience’s attention by establishing the relevance of the topic. We also talked about how it’s extremely important to relate your proposal directly to your audience’s needs.
In today’s show, we will be continuing on that theme by looking in detail at the second step in the Monroe Sequence, the need step. This is where you demonstrate to the audience that there is a serious problem with the current situation. This prepares them psychologically to accept your solution.
Let’s continue listening to the good example of persuasion that we started last time. Remember, Steve has just gotten his audience’s attention by pointing out the amount of money that Swift loses every year due to turnover. He has also posed a problem: How can we reverse the trend and turn the situation around?
Listening Questions
1. What’s the highest temperature in the welding room?
2. What does Steve present first – the problem or the solution?
3. What kind of strategies does Steve use to paint a vivid picture of the need for his solution?
Do you ever need to persuade or convince someone of your point of view? Do you need to win support for a proposal, or get backing for a project? Of course you do. Persuasion – convincing someone of something – is an essential part of almost everything we do, from informal discussions to formal negotiations. To be successful, you need to be persuasive. You need to get people to accept a different point view, to see things your way. How can you be more persuasive? In this three-part series, we’ll be giving you some answers.
Throughout the years, many talented speakers and researchers have been developing ways to persuade people effectively. One of the most widely used methods is Alan H. Monroe’s. In the mid-1930s, Monroe created a persuasive process called the “Monroe sequence” that has become a standard in business, media and politics. Once you know it, you’ll recognize it everywhere – in speeches, statements, proposals, advertisements. It’s popular because it is logical and effective.
So, over the next three Business English Pod episodes, we’ll be studying language and strategies for persuasion based on the Monroe Sequence.
This lesson will focus on the first step, getting the audience’s attention.
The listening takes place at Swift, a bicycle manufacturer whose major market is the U.S. We’ll be listening to a good example and a bad example of persuasion. First let’s examine the bad example.
Listening Questions
Bad example
1. Whose needs does Franz focus on? That is, whose needs is he taking into consideration when he makes the proposal?
2. Why is Franz’s proposal so ineffective?
Good example
1) What does Steve do at the beginning of his presentation?
2) Whose needs does Steve focus on – the workers’ or the management’s?
Sports Idioms 2, is part of a series that focuses on informal conversation or small talk – water cooler chitchat. We’re continuing where we left off last time in BEP 57. Jan and Jen, employees of major American telecommunications company Ambient, are chatting about a recent event in the industry: Accent, a European telecom company, has taken over TelStar, one of Ambient’s American competitors.
Last time, Jen had just discussed how she was surprised that TelStar decided to play ball, that is cooperate, with Accent because the shareholders had been “stalling for time,” or delaying, for months. How does Jan respond?
Listening Questions
1) Who is McConnel and what do Jan and Jen think of him?
2) What do Jen and Jan say about Accent’s future in American market?
This Business English Podcast lesson is the first in an ongoing series where we’ll listen in on some typical chitchat around the office water cooler. You’ll find a water cooler in offices around the world – usually in the break room where employees gather to drink a cup of coffee or tea and take a rest from work.
And during these breaks, you might meet with a colleague and exchange words about life, your jobs, your company, sports, politics or whatever. So “water cooler chichat” has come to refer to all types of informal communication that take place at the office.
We’ll be listening in on Jan and Jen, who work in the same office of Ambient, an American telecoms company, gossiping around the water cooler. They are discussing the latest industry news: Accent, a major European player in the market, has just announced the takeover or buy out of Ambient’s main competitor,TelStar.
Listening Questions
1) Do Jan and Jen think Accent’s takeover of TelStar was a good idea?
2) Why was there a delay in the takeover?
