This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 236, Basketball in English Part 2, How to Socialize in the Company Box.
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Hi, Lindsay. How are you? Hey, Michelle.
I'm doing fantastic. How are you? What's going on?
Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. I'm excited about today's episode.
Lindsay, have you ever been in a suite at a sports game or a concert?
I have recently in the last year with my partner, we, you know, getting corporate tickets, there's a lottery and we end up in the box sometimes, which is cool.
And yeah, it's kind of interesting who ends up in the box at the same time.
Right. Which is kind of what we're talking about today.
Yeah, that's exactly what we're talking about.
Lindsay, what does that mean, in the box?
In the box. Because that doesn't sound like a good thing.
It doesn't sound good. Am I on the stage of a magic show or something?
Am I going to be cut in half? What's going on?
No. So we're talking about basically companies, corporations will buy box seats.
And usually it's more of a set of seats.
It's like maybe 10 or 20 seats that are self-contained.
Usually there's a bar behind those seats.
In this case, there's a bathroom, a private bathroom, food set up, beers in the fridge, and it's supposed to be a benefit for employees.
And so I'm sure that corporations get tax deductions for this kind of thing. if they make a certain amount of money, it makes sense as a company to invest in these things for corporate benefits.
So, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, this, I mean, my friend's husband was just talking to me about how he gets to go to a lot of the games.
I know he gets benefit. So that's very, that's very cool, but it's pretty common, especially at a big company, as you were saying.
And it's important because it can be also a bonding experience.
It's not, it's, necessarily just about enjoying the game enjoying whatever it is um it might be about networking or just bonding with a co-worker but it would be weird it would be weird to go and not interact with others don't you think Lindsay oh for sure and like I said before sometimes it's a surprise who's going to be in the box we went for my partner's birthday we got tickets And so we show up thinking, oh, it's the birthday.
We're going to celebrate. We're with my mother-in-law and my father-in-law.
This is great. And guess who ends up being in the box?
The boss. The boss and the boss's family is in the box with us.
So that changes the dynamic, obviously. right?
It's fine. It was great. The boss is a great guy.
It's fine. But um, so that's what today's episode is about who's with you in the box or next to you.
And how do you get that conversation going?
But this is part of a series of episodes.
Yes. Yeah. Yes. So this is the second episode in our three part series.
Guys, the first episode in the series was on the all ears English podcast guys that if you don't know about the all ears English podcast, that is one of our other podcasts that is quite popular.
If you haven't started listening, please get on that.
It's about all things for teaching English, learning English, fluency, culture, so much going on over there.
So go on over and listen to part one if you missed it.
It's Basketball and English Part One, Vocabulary for the Game.
And when was that out, Lindsay? That was out on March 23rd on a Saturday.
If you notice, guys, we are now publishing on Saturdays, right?
So you get to come back to All Ears English on the weekend.
We know you love All Ears English during the week.
And so now if you have some time to fill, just 15 minutes on a Saturday, you can keep your learning going with us.
Good stuff. But yeah, that episode is really part one and it does contain some vocabulary that you're going to need when you're here in the box, in the box seats, in this episode today.
When you're in the box. Exactly. So we were talking about basketball last time.
Lindsay, when you were in the box, was it for a basketball game?
It was actually basketball. Yeah. Nice. Denver Nuggets.
Yeah. Very neat. Okay. So guys, again, this is super important for connection and getting ahead at work.
So networking, building relationships. So today we are going to go over what to do in this scenario.
So The scenario in this situation is you get tickets to the company box for a basketball game.
And there are other employees who also got tickets.
And you're with your partners or families.
And there was a ticket lottery. And Lindsay, what happens then?
So basically, in this episode today, you end up sitting next to someone from another department.
Let's say you work for a Fortune 500 company.
You don't know everyone in that company.
So maybe you've met them once before at the barbecue, the summer company barbecue, the retreat, but you don't work with them.
So you don't have a ton to talk about immediately, but we're going to show you what you can talk about at the game.
OK, yes, we're going to really break this down for you to make you feel confident.
So the first step is ask questions, ask these questions.
So there are a number of questions you can ask, and we're gonna give you three that are super helpful.
Lindsay, what's the first one? All right, so the first one is, so what do you do at, let's say Pepsi, for example, you work for, I'm not sure if it's PepsiCo or whatever that company name is, insert company name, what do you do at Nike, right?
So what do you do at Verizon? Very very broad and I think this makes sense to start here because we know that they work for the company But maybe you don't know exactly what their position is and this will help us understand the connection Yeah, right exactly.
Yeah, right exactly and the second question is so you're in the X department So for example, so you're in the marketing department, right?
So we're getting a little bit more specific we're finding out things right this person and Right.
And so are we saying that maybe they've said, oh, my answer to what do you do at Verizon is I do...
I do the unpaid billing. I do the billing stuff.
And so you're in accounts payable. Is that right?
Or accounts billable? Is that what you're saying, Michelle?
So you're kind of broadening it out. Okay.
Got it. Right. Love it. And then finding out some more history, Lindsay, what could you ask?
How long have you been at Verizon? Right?
So how long have you been at Capital One, whatever the company is?
Right. Cause again, that's going to open.
These are very broad, strategically broad questions.
Right? Yeah, exactly. To get a little bit, they're not very deep questions, but they're trying to get you to the next step.
And they're also leaving an opening for the person to say more.
Like if I say, how long have you been at All Ears English?
You might say nine years. Before I was at All Ears English, I was at XYZ company and then I moved to New York.
And yeah, they can add more details, which you want to encourage them to talk about themselves.
That is- Yeah. source of a great conversationalist, right?
Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Valid in stores and online through August 11th, 2025 in US and Canada.
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Exclusions apply, see details online. All right, Michelle, we need step two.
What is it? Okay. Well, step two is this is kind of a choose your own adventure.
Depending on their answer, so we you know we really have to listen i think that is going to be the biggest key takeaway for today is listen right so you got to pay attention do they respond with details and ask you and ask you questions right then if they do that ask more about work talk more about work but if you're looking over and they're kind of yeah yeah and they're looking at the game Don't just keep on talking about work.
They want to enjoy the game. Sometimes people are there just for fun.
Hey, I won these seats. And sometimes people really might want to watch.
So then you want to talk about the game.
So. what if they want to talk more about work?
So now we're going to get more specific, right?
The first one, we were asking these basic questions, but now we're going to get a bit more specific.
So Lindsay, what's that one thing you could do?
Yeah, we're branching into these two, again, these two categories.
You see that they want to talk about work because they're answering your questions quickly, or you see that their eyes are coming back to the game floor and they just seem to want to talk about the game.
So we need tools for both. So here we go.
If it is work, We want to get a bit more specific, like you said.
So go to common people. So, for example, oh, so do you work with Emily?
Right. Or oh, so do you work? Actually, I wouldn't use just the first name, right, because it's a big company.
Oh, so do you work with Bill Stevens? Right.
The full name of the person. OK, what else?
Yep. Or something about next ventures at work.
Right. So you could say something like, so what do you think of the blank?
So, so what do you think about the new partnership with time?
Perfect. Love that. Yeah. That's again, very benign, very broad.
It lets them express their opinions. We're just not getting super specific, but a little bit more, right?
So busy season or project, right? So for example, how's the X going for you?
Like how's the project with the new client going for you?
Maybe you know that we're in the middle of a big project and this person has a different angle on that project, but you're both kind of working on it in a way, right?
So checking in on how it's going for them.
Exactly. Exactly. So these are some things that you can ask if they seem like they're up for the work discussion.
But if you are looking over and they're staring at the court, these are probably not things they want to talk about.
So they want to talk about the game. So here we have a few things you can ask that are really good at a game.
And as I read down these bullet points, just don't say them all at once.
Are you a big fan? Who's your favorite player?
No, no, no. Don't be that person that hits them with 10 questions.
First of all, go back to the first episode in this series and get the terminology you need.
If the person really gets into the technicalities of the game, you'll need that episode, guys.
But we could start even more broad. So are you a big fan of the Denver Nuggets?
Are you a big fan of the Nuggets? Michelle, who's your favorite basketball team?
I know you love the... New York Knicks. Of course, we know.
It's a very emotional thing for you. Exactly.
And then actually, you know what's funny?
I was planning an episode earlier and I had to listen to an old episode to make sure I wasn't doing too much crossover.
And this was from probably a 1500 episodes ago or something and even then you said oh michelle we know you're a big knicks fan okay i'm legit i'm legit i've been talking about this for years anyway yeah you're not just like uh what would you say yeah a fair weather fan no no you're not a fair weather fan you're in it for life you're in it for a minute uh yeah for good for better or for worse all right so the next yeah i was gonna say michelle and Just the fact that that's why this is a great question, because if the person is a big fan, they're probably going to want you to know that.
And they're going to show you that. Oh, yeah.
They're going to say, yeah, I took all my kids to the game on their birthdays and they all have jerseys.
They're really into it. Right. So give them a chance to express that.
OK, good. Exactly. And then another one is who's your favorite player?
I mean, that's so much fun to talk about, to to share that with someone.
Exactly. if they are a sports fan they're watching the court this will really light them up oh for sure people love to talk about the players so fun they identify with players in different ways and critique their games and talk about how they were last season and all these things so who's your favorite player what would be the last one and the last one is let's say you you really don't know you know you could just say how'd they do last season I didn't know the Kansas City Chiefs just won the Super Bowl, but I didn't know they won it the year before that too.
I didn't know it either. I don't know anything about football.
Yeah. So maybe we'll do another series another day on football because it's a very uniquely American sport.
American football is very... I don't know if it's played anywhere else around the world actually.
Rugby is, but I don't know about football in the same way we play it with the big pads.
I'm not sure. Anyways, this is good stuff today, Michelle.
What's the most important takeaway? Like we said, the most important thing is to show you're listening or that you listened before, right?
Maybe if you already met them to bring up something from the past or whatever it is.
But also just being able to read body language.
Really understand where are they looking?
How are they sitting? Yeah. Are they with other people?
Do they want to talk? Hopefully they do.
Right, right, right. And they want to build that relationship.
But if you are talking to someone who is clearly not into it, you don't push it.
That's what I was saying. Don't don't come to them with these questions.
And who's your favorite player? Who's if they're just not into it?
It's OK. Also, you know, you hope you hope that you'll go and build some relationships and maybe meet a new person from work.
But if they're with their family, you don't put so much pressure on it.
Don't overdo it. Yeah. We gave you the tools, but listen, read their body language and use what we gave you here today.
I love that, Michelle. That's so true. Why don't we do a quick role play, right, to just finish off the episode.
So here, we vaguely know each other, and I guess we're in the company box, something like that.
There we go. Yeah. Oh, hi. I think we've met before.
I'm Lindsay. Hi. Yes, I'm Michelle. Hi.
So what do you do at EduGuess? Oh, I work building systems for customer service.
Oh, so are you a big fan? Yeah, I'm so excited for this game.
You? Oh, yeah, I'm excited too. How'd they do last season?
Oh, not too well. Hoping they can turn it around this season.
Yeah, I love that. So clearly in the middle of that conversation, our heads turned to the game, our attention turned to the game.
And that's where are you a big fan or there would have been some kind of gesture to say it was a quick turn.
Right. In terms of what we're talking about.
Yeah. So you can imagine maybe maybe somebody just made a big basket.
Right. I'm just staring right at the game and you can just tell you can just tell that's where it's going.
The crowd erupts and you can't ignore how loud the crowd just got.
And so the attention goes over. It's all about listening and sensing that person what they really want to talk about.
Right. Yeah, exactly. That's that's the key.
So let's go through it. Um, we introduce ourselves and then you said, so we didn't do all of the, we couldn't do everything today, but so what you said was, so what do you do at edugas?
Nice. And then, and then I asked you about the game.
So are you a big fan? Very natural by the way.
Very natural phrase. Yeah. And then I immediately perked up and you said, uh, how did they do last season?
Okay. So clearly you seem more interested in talking about the game. right then our company and what what you do right pretty much so we go in that direction yeah that's what we do and that's fine so but just you know the takeaway for today is just listen listen with your not just with your ears with what the person is saying but with your eyes with the feeling of their body language this is super important and guys we have a surprise this is a three-part series as we mentioned the third part is going to be talking about if you're not into sports But even if you are a sports fan, this is going to be a good one to listen to because we're going to be talking all about sports on over there.
And Lindsay, is this going to be on the Business English podcast?
It will not, Michelle. It'll be over on All Ears English.
So the first thing you guys should do right now is open up All Ears English podcast and hit the follow button.
All right. So that you don't miss that. When is that one coming out, Michelle?
I believe it's coming out in a couple weeks.
Yes, in a couple weeks. I love these series, these little series we do once in a while to show you guys how skills connect.
And I actually really like the scenario of the basketball game.
We often talk about on All Ears English the happy hour, but this is different.
It's a little bit different, but you use a lot of the same skills, but it's a little different.
Good stuff, Michelle. Yeah, this was fun.
All right, guys. Well, I hope you get to enjoy a game soon and definitely hit follow on the All Ears English podcast. to listen to the third episode coming up all right take care michelle bye bye Thank you. tap the link in the show notes.
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