You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello, and welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin, and I'll be your host for today's lesson on English for video conference meetings.
The business world has seen an explosion in video conferencing.
With tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, more and more people are working from home and more and more meetings are happening virtually instead of in person.
Staff meetings, client meetings, project meetings, even social functions are happening online.
This shift in how we work in virtual teams brings many new challenges.
And if you're leading a team or managing a group or facilitating a meeting, you need a new set of skills in addition to the ones you already have.
You have to manage the group in different ways and manage the technology effectively.
This all begins with establishing ground rules at the start of a meeting.
You'll also want to provide clear advice on how to use different meeting software, and you might also have to interrupt the meeting to deal with sound or video problems.
Interacting in virtual meetings feels different.
It doesn't flow the same as a face-to-face meeting, so you might find yourself asking people to take turns or trying to facilitate open discussion.
In today's dialogue, we'll listen to a weekly check-in meeting at a business consulting firm.
The meeting is being led by Heather, a skilled and experienced manager.
We'll also hear Dave, Kathy, and Adam, three members of her team.
During the check-in, Heather has to juggle the technology and the people.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to answer the following questions.
1.
What ground rules does Heather establish at the beginning of the meeting?
2.
What does Heather do when there is some background noise?
3.
How does Heather get an open discussion going at the end of the conversation?
Okay.
Hi, everyone.
I think we're ready to get going now.
First off, can I get everyone to turn their video on?
It's good to actually be able to see you all.
And just remember, when you're not talking, please mute your mic.
Um, question.
Can you guys see me?
Not sure my video's on.
Hey, Dave.
Look at the bottom left of your screen.
There's like a video icon.
If it has a red line through it, then your video is off.
Just click it to turn it on.
Bottom left.
Oh, yeah.
You guys can see me now?
All good.
All right, then.
Let's just get some individual updates here.
Let us know how you're doing and what you're working on this week.
Try to keep it brief as we've got quite a bit to cover.
Adam, could you lead us off?
Right.
Okay.
Happy Monday, everyone.
All things considered, everything's going pretty much as expected.
Really focused on prepping for the meeting with HealthWise later this week.
But I've also got to check in with the team over at Connor Enterprises.
Just see what they need there.
So yeah, that's what's going on with me.
Everything's good anyway.
If i can get some help on this, that'd be great.
I think all i need is for someone to have a look at it and give me some feedback.
Okay okay okay, just a sec there, kathy.
Can everyone check?
They're muted.
Getting a lot of background noise from someone.
Okay, great.
So what were you saying, Kathy?
Yeah, just saying all I need is someone to look at what I've done so far and make some suggestions.
Some input from someone who's familiar with this type of thing.
But that's all for me.
Okay, thanks.
When we're done here, I'll connect you with Josie in marketing.
She'll have some good ideas for you.
Great work, by the way.
So, at this point, I'd love it if we could talk a bit more about our ideas around community support.
Everyone seems to like the idea of giving back in some way, and we just need to decide how to do that.
So let's just throw it open to discussion.
Maybe we can start with Dave.
I know you had some ideas.
Yeah, well, I have been in touch with the local United Way.
They mentioned a couple of projects that could use some extra hands.
One was called Mealtrain.
They've got people making meals for the elderly, and they need some help to deliver them.
So I thought that was something we could get involved with.
Now let's go through the dialogue again and look at the language and techniques Heather used to run the video conference.
Okay.
Hi, everyone.
I think we're ready to get going now.
First off, can I get everyone to turn their video on?
It's good to actually be able to see you all.
And just remember, when you're not talking, please mute your mic.
When you're running a virtual meeting, it's important to get everyone using the technology in the same way.
That's why Heather is establishing ground rules about the technology right at the start.
Ground rules serve a couple of purposes.
Asking people to mute their mics or turn them off when they're not speaking helps to avoid background noise or interference.
So ground rules can help prevent problems, but they can also create a sense of togetherness.
By asking people to turn their video on Heather is helping people feel connected, which is really important if you're not meeting in person.
What are some other ways of establishing ground rules around technology?
Let's run through some more examples.
Can I get everyone to turn off their mic unless they're speaking, please?
If you have a question, just click the raised hand icon.
If you have a message for just one person, please use the private chat.
Of course, even if you establish some ground rules, you can still face some technical challenges.
Let's listen.
Um, question.
Can you guys see me?
Not sure my video's on.
Hey Dave, look at the bottom left of your screen.
There's like a video icon.
If it has a red line through it, then your video is off.
Just click it to turn it on.
It's very common to have one or more people in a virtual meeting who aren't very comfortable or familiar with the technology.
In these situations, you need to be very clear and direct about how to solve the problem.
Heather doesn't um and ah or say maybe this and maybe that.
She just tells Dave exactly what he should do.
Technical problems can really disrupt a meeting, so you need to be able to give clear advice on how to solve them.
Let's practice some other ways of giving clear and direct instructions on technical issues.
There's a button at the top right that says Gallery View.
Just click that.
From the menu, select Audio input, then select Headset.
Hover over your name in the participants list, then click change name.
To send a file, click the document icon in the dashboard.
So, is Dave able to follow Heather's instructions?
Bottom left.
Oh, yeah.
You guys can see me now?
All good.
All right, then.
Let's just get some individual updates here.
Let us know how you're doing and what you're working on this week.
Try to keep it brief as we've got quite a bit to cover.
Adam, could you lead us off?
Now that everyone's got their video working, Heather begins the meeting.
A common way to engage everyone on a team is to have people take turns speaking.
This is especially common in video conferences since it's harder to have a free-flowing discussion.
Heather asks for individual updates or information about how each person's work is going.
Notice that she asks people to keep it brief or short.
That's an important reminder, because the danger of turn-taking is that someone will go on for too long.
One way to prevent that is to ask someone to go first who you know won't talk too much, as Heather does by choosing Adam.
There are several other ways of asking people to take turns and of calling on people to start.
Let's run through some more examples.
How about a round of introductions?
Let's start with you, Jamie.
I'd like to hear what each of you are doing this week.
Who would like to go first?
Let's just take turns stating our preferred colors for the new site.
Alright, quick updates everyone.
Marketing team can go first.
Now, let's hear how Adam gives his update.
Right.
Okay.
Happy Monday, everyone.
All things considered, everything's going pretty much as expected.
Really focused on prepping for the meeting with HealthWise later this week.
But I've also got to check in with the team over at Connor Enterprises.
Just see what they need there.
So, yeah, that's what's going on with me.
Everything's good.
We just heard that Adam is prepping or preparing for a meeting with a company called Healthwise later in the week.
I wanted to call attention to that because you're going to hear more from Adam and how he runs a meeting with Healthwise in later lessons.
For now, however, let's rejoin this meeting as the last person is finishing her update.
Anyway, if I can get some help on this, that'd be great.
I think all I need is for someone to have a look at it and give me some feedback.
Okay, okay.
Okay, just a sec there, Kathy.
Can everyone check they're muted?
Getting a lot of background noise from someone.
Okay, great.
So, what were you saying, Kathy?
Kathy?
As you heard, Kathy's update gets interrupted by some noise.
We call this background noise, which could be anything from a dog barking to a loud computer fan.
It's Heather's job to solve this problem.
Instead of letting the sound continue and distract everyone from Kathy's update, she stops the meeting.
As she shows, it's important to deal with sound problems or technical issues right away.
Besides the expression background noise, we have several other common ways of talking about sound and video problems.
Sometimes the sound breaks up or cuts in and out.
Sometimes you get an echo, so you hear everything twice.
And sometimes the video freezes or gets stuck on one image.
Let's try some of these expressions for interrupting a meeting to solve sound or video problems.
Hang on a sec.
Your sound is breaking up.
Sorry, Glenn.
Hearing a lot of echo.
Could you put your headset on?
Excuse me.
Looks like Evan's video has frozen again.
Just a moment, Brianna.
Looks like we've lost a couple of people.
Now that the sound problem has been solved, Kathy can continue her update.
Yeah, just saying all I need is someone to look at what I've done so far and make some suggestions.
Some input from someone who's familiar with this type of thing.
But that's all for me.
Okay, thanks.
When we're done here, I'll connect you with Josie in marketing.
She'll have some good ideas for you.
Great work, by the way.
So, at this point, I'd love it if we could talk a bit more about our ideas around community support.
Everyone seems to like the idea of giving back in some way, and we just need to decide how to do that.
So let's just throw it open to discussion.
Maybe we can start with Dave.
I know you had some ideas.
So everyone has finished their individual updates and Heather has thanked the last speaker and commended her on her work.
At this point, Heather wants a more free-flowing or open discussion.
In particular, she wants the group to talk about the idea of giving back.
When a person or company gives back, they make some contribution of money or time to the community.
To encourage discussion, Heather says, let's just throw it open.
That's just another way of saying open up the discussion.
In this case, she follows up by asking Dave to start, just to get the conversation going.
How else can we facilitate open discussion in a virtual meeting?
Let's try some more examples.
Sounds like there's some different options on this, so let's hear what everyone thinks.
You can all unmute your mics now and jump in if you've got any ideas to share.
Great point, Nick.
Anyone have anything else to add to that?
Let's hear how the discussion gets going.
Yeah, well, I have been in touch with the local United Way.
They mentioned a couple of projects that could use some extra hands.
One was called Mealtrain.
They've got people making meals for the elderly, and they need some help to deliver them.
So, I thought that was something we could get involved with.
Alright, it sounds like Dave has some ideas for giving back to the community by helping feed its elderly residents.
And with that, Heather has successfully steered the meeting toward a more open discussion.
Good facilitation is necessary for good meetings, and Heather has shown us clearly what that involves.
Now let's practice some of the language we learned in today's lesson.
Imagine you work as a manager in the marketing department of a big company.
You're running a weekly check-in meeting with your staff.
You'll hear a cue from an employee.
Then I'll give you a suggestion for what you can say in response.
We'll guide you through each step in the practice and provide an example answer for each response.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
Begin by saying you'd like to start by asking everyone to turn on their video.
Answer.
Okay, let's get going.
Can everyone make sure your video is on, please?
Sorry, but I'm not quite sure how to do that.
Now tell the person to click on the camera icon at the top of their screen.
Answer.
Just click on the camera icon at the top of your screen.
Ah, right.
I see.
She'd be on now.
Sorry about that.
Next, say it's no problem and ask for everyone to give a short update on their work.
Answer.
No problem.
So, could I get everyone to give me a short update on their work for this week?
Okay.
Well, if I can start, I've been working on the new website and would love to get some input on our draft.
Now interrupt to say you can hear some noise in the background.
Answer Hold on a sec.
Hearing some loud noise in the background.
Yeah, let me see what I can do.
There.
Should be fine now.
Now say thanks and open things up for input on the website draft.
Answer.
Great, thanks.
So, let's open this up for input on the website draft.
Now let's practice some of the vocabulary we've covered in this lesson.
In a moment, you'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat each sentence, including the missing word.
For example, if you hear Okay, I just want to give everyone a quick on the project, you can say okay, I just want to give everyone a quick update on the project.
After each response will provide the correct answer.
Let's begin.
Sally, have you been in with finance about this problem?
Answer Sally, have you been in touch with finance about this problem?
Can we do something to get rid of all that background on the call?
Answer Can we do something to get rid of all that background noise on the call?
So let's just throw it to the whole group for feedback.
Answer.
So let's just throw it open to the whole group for feedback.
I'd like everyone to please their microphones when you're not talking.
Answer.
I'd like everyone to please mute their microphones when you're not talking.
We've also looked at how to interrupt the meeting, to solve problems and how to facilitate open discussion.
Thanks for listening, and see you again soon.
