Practice 1. Internet Research.

Search for the keywords «effective meetings» to find out more about what you need to do to run successful meetings.

Practice 2. Internet Research.

What are the essentials of a successful meeting? Search for the keywords «golden rules of meetings» to find out.

Practice 3. Below are a series of topics. Ask colleagues for their views and note if their opinions are weak, strong or neutral. If asked, give your views on the subjects either strongly or fairly weakly.

a) Arms trade

b) Testing cosmetic products on animals.

c) The quality of television broadcasting.

d) Nuclear power.

Practice 4. You work in the professional section of a large bank. Discuss how to deal with the problems below. Use expressions from Useful Language to help you.

1. Staff often arrives at work late and leave early.

2. Abuse of the telephone and e-mail systems. Staff often uses them for personal matters rather than for company business

3. High staff turnover of front-desk cashiers in all the bank’s branches.

Useful Language

Practice 5. The head of your department is leaving the company in a month’s time. Your department plans to hold a farewell party. Discuss these questions with other members of the department.

1. When and where will the party be? At work, in a restaurant or at another location?

2. How much should each member of staff contribute towards the cost of the party?

3. What sort of gift should you get? Who will present it?

4. Will there be a speech? If so, who will make it? Should it be serious or humorous? How long will it be?

5. What kind of entertainment will you have at the party?

6. What else do you need to plan?

Useful Language.

Practice 6. Prepare a short talk for the other members of your group. Be prepared to answer any questions when they interrupt.

Student A. Prepare a short talk on an organization that you would like to work for. Make some notes. Think about what the organization do, why you would like to work for them and what you imagine working there would be like.

When you are ready give your talk to the other members of your group. Be prepared to answer any questions that might they might have.

When the others give their talks try to ask a question and interrupt once or twice.

Student B. Prepare a short talk on a company that is successful all over the world. Make some notes. Think about what the company does, why you think they are successful and who their main rivals are.

When you are ready give your talk to the other members of the group. Be prepared to answer any questions that they might have.

When the others give their talks try to ask them a question and interrupt once or twice.

Student C. Prepare a short talk on the kind of company you would like to set up. Make notes. Think about what your company would specialize in, why you want to set up this kind of company and what you would do to make sure it is successful.

When you are ready give your talk to the other members of the group.

Be prepared to answer any questions that they might have.

When the others give their talks try to ask a question and interrupt once or twice.

Useful Language.

Practice 7. Choose a topic and follow the framework below. Each person should give their viewpoint and speak for about one minute.

Topics:

1. We should boycott tourism to countries which have oppressive regimes.

2. We should ban TV advertising which is aimed specifically at children.

3. If we want to reduce traffic, we should make people pay to drive in the city centre.

4. It isn’t right to claim against a food company because its products are fattening.

5. It is better to buy local products that products imported from other countries.

Framework.

Role A: Present your viewpoint on the topic (you can agree or disagree with the topic).

Role B: Interrupt A (politely) and ask a question or agree and add a new argument or correct something which you thin

Role C: Interrupt B (politely) and put an alternative viewpoint.

Role D: Interrupt C (politely) and ask a question or agree and add a new argument or correct something which you think is wrong.

Practice 8. For each situation below, appoint a different person as leader. Hold a mini meeting and try to reach a decision.

1. You work in an international team which meets once a month. It means travelling between Sweden, Singapore and the USA. Discuss whether it would be better to use video conferencing for meetings.

2. Your team works very well together, but you are not so good at communicating with other people in the company. You need to be better at keeping others informed of what you are doing. You also need to be more aware of what other teams are doing. Hold a meeting to discuss how you can improve the flow of information.

3. You all work for Noll Edge Ltd, a small consulting company. Long-serving Staff have a great deal of expertise and experience. New staff joining Noll Edge have excellent qualifications but don’t know the business or its customers. How can you encourage the experienced staff to share their knowledge with the newcomers?

Practice 9. You are managers of a retail fashion chain called Space, which has clothes stores in most major European cities. You are holding your regular management meeting. Use the Managing Director’s notes below as an agenda for your discussion.

A different person should chair each item.

Useful Language.

Practice 10. Questions for discussion:

1. What sort of meetings do you go in your organization? Are they useful?

2. What do you think are the most important skills for someone chairing a meeting?

3. How freely can people express their feelings in your organization?

Are people at all levels encouraged to say what they think?

Are new employees asked for their opinions?

4. What are you like in meetings?

Do you often disagree with other people?

Or do you prefer to avoid arguments?

5. Are compromises always possible? In your organization, are decisions based on compromise and consensus or they imposed by the management?

SKILLS CHECKLIST