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CHAIRING MEETINGS : OPENING THE MEETING

First impressions are very important. If you have to chair (or facilitate) a meeting it is essential that you open the meeting effectively. This means establishing your authority as the chairman of the meeting, ensuring that the purpose of the meeting is clear to all, making sure that everyone has a copy of the agenda and going through the various points of the agenda, before 'getting down to business'. The following transcript of the opening of a meeting contains some useful expressions :

"Okay everyone, let's get started. John sends his apologies - he's tied up with some of our Bangalore team.
Well, as you know, we're here today to look into ways of streamlining all our IT operations and to come up with some cost-cutting solutions. Did everyone receive a copy of the agenda ? Good. Well, as you can see, there are 3 items to discuss : the recent technical problems that we've been having; the various outsourcing options that are on offer and, finally, the cost-cutting solutions that Singapore have sent us. Would anyone like to add anything to the agenda ? .........
I'm sorry Mike, but I don't think that really comes under the scope of today's meeting. We'll come back to that at later date, if you don't mind.
Okay, at this point, I'd like to hand over to Pete, who's going to kick off with a review of the recent technical issues that have been dogging us and the solutions that he's come up with. Pete ?"

BUSINESS IDIOM OF THE WEEK

TO TURN A COMPANY AROUND

The expression 'to turn a company around' means to take the company from a state of severe difficulty in which it is loss-making, on the verge of bankruptcy, going to the wall to a situation in which it is once again a thriving, profit-making, successful company.

KEY VOCABULARY - STOCK MARKET TRENDS

While you watch this analysis of the US stock markets, listen out for the key lexical structures below:

to tell the whole story
a sharp sell-off
a slight rally
late in the day
courtesy of
to push the market higher
unable to hold there
oversold (market)
a bounce
stabilisation
that proved not to be the case
nothing bullish about...
it's pretty obvious
to come close to
it's likely
bear markets are tricky
to keep an eye on
the volume retreated
a level of resistance
to test the lows (or highs)
to pierce down into
irrelevant
the pattern
that adds further significance to...
it's not going to turn
paying attention to
to be alert (to)
the buyers came back in
a choppy environment
the benefit of the doubt
the prior level of support
that's still 4 points away
I don't know what it's going to take
it seems to me that...
no sign of reversal
to look for bottoms in the market
to grind lower
an ascending trend-line
to lead to
the bottom line is...

EXPRESSION OF THE WEEK

To take a point

I take your point, but... = I understand, but I disagree

This is particularly useful if you wish to disagree with what someone says whilst also wishing to sound reasonable and understanding. It is, for example, far more diplomatic than "I totally disagree".

Example : "I take your point about the costs involved, but I still think that we need to inject more money into this operation."