Welcome to ESLPod.com's Business Meetings course.
Lesson 10 I'm your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
In the 9th lesson of Business Meetings, we learned Business vocabulary for ending a topic and planning for the future at formal and informal business meetings.
In this 10th and final or last lesson, we're going to learn how to end formal and informal meetings.
To begin, let's listen to how Alex ends the formal meeting.
Sean? On behalf of all the attendees, I want to thank you for leading such an interesting and productive meeting.
I think we have all learned something here today, and we have a clear action plan for the next steps.
Our secretary will type up the minutes for today's meeting, and we'll distribute them via email for comments.
She will also reserve a conference room for next Tuesday's meeting, and you'll be apprised of the location as soon as we know it.
Please sign your names on this sheet of paper before leaving today, so that we'll have a record of who was at today's meeting.
Your secretary will type up a list with your contact information, and we'll disseminate the participant list to all of you.
For now, I'm adjourning this meeting.
We will see each other again next Tuesday.
Thank you to all of you for your participation.
Alex begins by saying, Sean, on behalf of all the attendees, I want to thank you.
The expression on the behalf, B-E-H-A-L-F, of someone, means that you are speaking for another person or another group, that you're expressing someone else's opinion or thoughts.
In this case, Alex is thanking Sean, and he's also expressing the thanks of everyone else in the room, on behalf of everyone in the room.
If you are a team leader, for example, and your team receives an award, you might say, on behalf of all my team, I want to thank you for this award.
Alex is thanking Sean for leading an interesting and productive meeting.
If something is productive, P-R-O-D-U-C-T-I-V-E, it's effective in getting work done well and quickly.
For example, if you type 100 words per minute, you're probably more productive than someone who types 20 words per minute, because you can type more quickly.
A productive meeting then is a meeting where the people are able to get a lot of work done, and they feel it was a good use of their time.
Alex says, I think we have all learned something here today, and we have a clear action plan for the next steps.
An action plan is a plan or a list of what you are going to do that tells you each part of what you need to do.
We would say that gives you a step by step for doing a project over a certain amount of time.
First, you do this, then you do that, then you do this.
It tells you what you are going to do in the future.
That's an action plan. The action plan for vision corporation is to work in two committees or small groups on the marketing campaign and on the product changes.
A next step is the next thing that you need to do or that you will do.
Your next step after listening to this lesson, for example, may be to read the transcript over again.
Alex says that the secretary will type up the minutes for today's meeting.
In this context, minutes are a written, detailed description of what was discussed during a meeting.
It's used as a record of the meeting to tell you what happened in the meeting.
We call those the minutes.
It's always plural. Only someone is assigned or asked to take minutes, note the use of the verb to take with this noun minutes.
To take minutes for a business meeting, because then later on, people can remember what happened at the meeting by looking at the minutes.
The minutes are not usually a transcript, that is, they don't have every word that everyone said.
It's like a summary of the main things, the main ideas of the meeting.
Alex says that the secretary will distribute the minutes via email for comments.
The word via VA, sometimes pronounced VA, means through, by or by way of.
So in the expression, distribute the minutes via email.
We mean to send the minutes, the document, that has the summary of the meeting, to people by email, probably as an email attachment.
Alex says that the secretary will distribute the minutes via email for comments.
A comment is, in this case, an opinion about something or a statement about whether one likes or agrees with something.
The minutes will be distributed for comments so that people can say whether they agree with the minutes or if they think something needs to be changed or added.
So perhaps you said something that you thought was important and it is not in the minutes.
You can ask to have the minutes changed by giving your comments.
Alex says that the secretary will reserve a conference room for next Tuesday's meeting.
To reserve RESERVE means to arrange for something to be available, usually for a future date and time.
You might need to reserve a hotel room so that you know there will be a place for you to sleep.
To reserve means to call or to contact someone and say, I want to use this in the future on this day and at this time.
In this case, the conference room is being reserved for next Tuesday.
A conference room is a small room in an office building, usually with a large table and many chairs that you sit next to for your meeting.
We would actually use the expression you sit around the table, everyone is sitting next to the table and that would be a conference room or in a conference room.
When Alex says that the secretary will reserve a conference room then, he means that the secretary will arrange to have their meeting in a large room next Tuesday.
Alex says that everyone will be apprised of the location as soon as it is known.
To apprised APPRISE means to explain or to tell.
It could also mean to describe something so that you understand it.
To give someone information is another possibility here.
I will apprise you of the time.
Means I will tell you the time.
Once the secretary knows which conference room the meeting will be in, she will apprise or tell everyone.
Alex asks everyone to sign their names on a sheet of paper before leaving.
To sign one's name means to write your name on a piece of paper to show that you have read or agreed to something.
We typically sign checks from the bank, for example, or letters or maybe contracts.
In this case, the people at the meeting are going to sign a piece of paper.
We call that piece of paper a sheet, SHET.
A sheet of paper is one piece of paper in most American offices.
It is 8.5 x 11 inches. That's the size of the paper.
But a sheet of paper can be any size.
Alex says that the signed sheet of paper will give them a record of who was at the meeting.
In this case, a record is something that is written down so that you can remember it later.
The sheet of paper that Alex is talking about will provide a record or a way of remembering who was at the meeting.
Next Alex says that the secretary will type up a list.
To type up something means to take information that someone has written on a piece of paper and put it on a computer to type it in or to enter it in to a computer.
Sometimes it is difficult to type up other people's notes and comments because it is difficult to read their handwriting.
Hand writing is what you put on a piece of paper with your hand, letters and numbers and so forth.
The secretary is going to type up a list of everyone's contact information.
Your contact C-O-N-T-A-C-T information is your address, your email, your telephone number, perhaps your fax number.
Any information that can be used to communicate with you, to get in touch with, to communicate with you, to get in touch with you.
Many websites, for example, ask you to provide your contact information.
Alex in the meeting is asking people for their contact information so that he will know how to communicate with them and they can communicate with each other.
Alex says that the secretary will disseminate the participant list to everyone.
To disseminate D-I-S-S-E-M-I-N-A-T-E means to distribute or to circulate, to give something to many different people.
For example, if you want to disseminate information about your party, you might put up posters, signs, send emails or make telephone calls to let people know about your party.
To give information out to people is to disseminate the information.
The secretary is going to disseminate or send the list of the people who are at the meeting.
We call this the participant list.
A participant, P-A-R-T-I-C-I-P-A-N-T, is someone who is part of something, someone who participates in something.
Alex officially ends the meeting by saying, for now, I'm adjourning this meeting.
To adjourn ADJOUR-N is a formal verb that means to end or stop something, usually a meeting.
After someone adjourns a meeting, you might stay in the room for a while talking to other people who are there.
But when the meeting is adjourned, it is over.
It is officially finished.
Alex says, we will see each other again next Tuesday, reminding people that the next meeting will be on Tuesday.
Finally, he thanks everyone for their participation.
Now that we understand the new words, let's listen to how Alex ends the formal meeting again.
This time, he will speak more quickly.
Sean? On behalf of all the attendees, I want to thank you for leading such an interesting and productive meeting.
I think we have all learned something here today and we have a clear action plan for the next steps.
Our secretary will type up the minutes for today's meeting and we'll distribute them via email for comments.
She will also reserve a conference room for next Tuesday's meeting and you'll be apprised of the location as soon as we know it.
Please sign your names on this sheet of paper before leaving today so that we'll have a record of who is at today's meeting.
Our secretary will type up a list with your contact information and will disseminate the participant list to all of you.
For now, I'm adjourning this meeting.
We will see each other again next Tuesday.
Thank you to all of you for your participation.
And so our formal meeting has ended.
Now let's listen to how Alex ends the informal meeting.
Sean? Thank you for organizing this meeting.
We all appreciate you telling us about the work that your team has done.
The new committees have a lot on their plate over the coming weeks and months.
Our secretary will send an email with the minutes for today's meeting.
Please read them and let us know if you have any corrections or additions.
You'll also try to find us a meeting space for next Tuesday and she'll send a reminder with that info a few days before the meeting.
Before you leave, I'm passing around this list with contact information for all of you.
Please check off your name once you've double checked that it's correct.
We'll get a copy of this list within a few days so that we can all keep in touch between meetings.
Okay, everybody, that's a wrap.
Thanks for your attention.
See you on Tuesday. In the informal meeting, Alex first thanks Sean for organizing the meeting.
He says, we all appreciate you telling us about the work that your team has done.
To appreciate APPRECIATE means to feel grateful or thankful for something.
I appreciate you coming here means I want to thank you for coming here.
Alex then says that the new committees have a lot on their plate PLAT over the coming weeks and months.
To have a lot on your plate means to be very busy, to have a lot of work to do or to have many responsibilities.
If you say, I have a lot on my plate right now, you mean you have a lot to do.
You have perhaps too much to do.
And Alex says the committees have a lot on their plate over the coming weeks and months.
He means the committees have a lot of work to do.
The word coming here means something that will happen in the near future.
The coming weeks and months means the weeks and months that are near to us in the future.
The coming weeks and months then are the ones that are coming soon.
Alex says that the secretary will send an email with the minutes or written notes for the meeting.
Alex asks people to read the minutes and let him know if they have any corrections or additions.
The additions are changes that are needed to fix a problem.
Usually something that is in a written document.
I have some corrections to your letter.
I have some changes. There are some things that are wrong that you need to fix.
An addition is something that is added to something else.
You might make an addition to the minutes by saying that I said something that was not in the minutes so I want to add it.
Alex wants people to make corrections to the minutes if they read anything that is wrong, that is incorrect, and additions if they think that something is missing.
Alex also says that the secretary will try to find a meeting space or place to meet for next Tuesday.
He says that the secretary will send everyone a reminder with that info.
A few days before the meeting, a reminder RIMID is something that helps you remember something else.
A reminder could be on your calendar or it could be someone sending you an email saying I am reminding you I am asking you to remember our appointment for example.
Info INFO is short for information.
It's a more informal way of saying information.
Next Alex says that he is passing around a list with contact information, names, telephone numbers and email addresses for everyone.
To pass around means to give to people who are usually sitting in a group.
They might even be sitting in a circle but not necessarily.
To pass something around means to give it to one person and then give it to the next person and so forth in a group.
Alex is going to pass around something that has contact information for everyone.
He asks people to check off their names once they have double checked that the information is correct.
To check CHEC off something means to put a check symbol next to something on a list, a little mark on the paper.
To double check as a verb means to look at something again to make sure that it is correct or to confirm something.
Alex is asking people to read the list and if their information is correct to put a check symbol or a check mark next to their name.
Alex says that everyone will get a copy of the list within a few days so that they can keep in touch between meetings.
To keep in touch means to remain in contact, to continue to communicate with someone.
At the end of the meeting, Alex says that's a wrap, WRAP.
WRAP is a very informal expression used to end a presentation or a meeting.
It's actually an expression that is used when someone is making a movie and when they are finished with a particular part of the movie that they are filming, the person who is the leader, the director of the movie may say that's a wrap meaning we're done for now.
Everyone can relax. Finally Alex thanks everyone for their attention and says see you on Tuesday which is an informal way of saying I will see everyone here next Tuesday.
Let's listen to the informal meeting again, this time with Alex speaking at a native rate of speech.
Sean thank you for organizing this meeting, we all appreciate you telling us about the work that your team has done.
The new committees have a lot on their plate over the coming weeks and months.
Our secretary will send an email with the minutes for today's meeting.
Please read them and let us know if you have any corrections or additions.
We'll also try to find us a meeting space for next Tuesday and she'll send a reminder with that info a few days before the meeting.
Before you leave I'm passing around this list with contact information for all of you.
Please check off your name once you've double checked that it's correct.
You'll get a copy of this list within a few days so that we can all keep in touch between meetings.
Okay everybody that's a wrap.
Thanks for your attention.
See you on Tuesday. And that's a wrap for our 10th and final lesson in this business meetings course.
I hope you have all enjoyed these 10 lessons and that they've helped you become more familiar with the vocabulary used at formal and informal business meetings.
Be sure to visit our website at ESLPOD.com for more useful courses to help you improve your personal and professional English.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuilland.
Thanks for listening. This course has been a production of the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at ESLPOD.com.
This course was produced by Dr.
Jeff McQuilland and Dr.
Lucy Saye. Copyright 2007.
