Speaking at Workplace
Chairing a meeting
Section A: Definition
Chairing a meeting means controlling a meeting in a way to allow all the participating members to understand the issues being discussed, providing them with a chance to voice their opinions and giving suitable guidance for the ideal flow of the discussion.
The chairperson should follow the order of the items listed in the agenda for the members’ discussions.
Section B: Purpose
The purpose of chairing a meeting is to enable the smooth running of the meeting, which is a great way of collaborating, sharing information and giving opinions.
In order for the meeting to be held effectively, the chairperson should show his fairness in allowing every member to have the opportunity to express his/her ideas and resolve any problem or argument which has arisen in an unbiased manner.
Section C: Before the meeting
1. Agenda
The chairperson should prepare the agenda of the meeting. How many and which items should be discussed? It is always preferable to send the agenda to the members of the meeting beforehand so that they can be prepared before the meeting.
2. Members
Who should be present at the meeting? Is there anyone who should speak and introduce each item in the agenda?
3. Venue
The chairperson should also book the venue of the meeting or ensure that the venue is booked (if there is a secretary or assistant to help).
4. Reminder
Before the actual date of the meeting, usually two or three days, the chairperson should remind the members of the meeting.
Section D: During the meeting
1. At the start of the meeting
The chairperson needs to announce the start of the meeting and welcome all the members.
Useful expressions:
- Thank you very much for coming to the meeting today.
- Thanks a lot for being here.
- Thank you all for your valuable presence in the meeting.
- Thank you for taking your precious time to attend this meeting.
- Let’s start the meeting now.
- Without further ado, let’s start the meeting.
- This is the start of today’s meeting.
2. The procedure of the meeting
The chairperson needs to follow the order listed for the items in the agenda and discuss them one by one.
Usually, the first item is to pass the minutes of the last meeting if this is not the first meeting, while the last item should be A.O.B. (any other business) if there are any issues not listed in the agenda raised by the members at that time.
Useful expressions:
- The first item in the agenda is …
- Let’s start by …
- Today, we are going to …
- Firstly, let’s discuss …
- After that, we will be discussing …
- Next, let us consider …
- Then, we will go through …
- We are going to talk about …
- The last item in the agenda is …
- Finally, let us discuss …
3. Other situations in the meeting
In the course of the meeting, there may be different situations which the chairperson needs to face.
Useful expressions for asking someone to speak:
- Let’s start with George. George, please update us with your information on this item.
- Emily, how is the progress of the project?
- Now let’s listen to Charlie’s ideas.
- Bernard, what do you think about this issue?
- Janet, have you got anything to say about this item?
- I’d like to hand over to Joanna.
- Mandy, can you please tell us about …?
Useful expressions for moving to the next point:
- We have finished with this item. Let’s move on to the next one.
- So far we have discussed the first item on the agenda. Now let us begin to discuss the second item.
- I think that’s it for this issue. Let’s consider the next item on the agenda.
- We have covered the information in this item. Please voice your opinions on the next issue.
- The next topic we are going to talk about is …
- If you don’t have any more ideas about this item, then let’s move to the next issue.
- We have successfully found a solution to this problem. Therefore, let’s start to discuss the next item on the agenda.
Useful expressions for stopping a dominant participant:
- I’m sorry, Fred. Please let us hear the other members’ ideas about this issue.
- Thank you very much, Amelia. Let’s hear what the others think about this item.
- Very sorry, Katie. I think Wendy would like to talk about her opinions on this problem.
- Thank you, Jeffrey. What do others think?
- We appreciate your suggestion, Alan. What do other people think about this?
Useful expressions for keeping the discussion on track:
- That’s very nice of you to say that, Teresa, but we are now discussing the issue of …
- Thank you very much for your idea. However, the topic of this item is …
- Thank you, Roger, but we should focus on …
- I’m sorry that we are getting off the track. Shall we return to the issue of …
- Returning to the topic of …
- Since there’s not much time now, shall we go back to the problem of …
- Sorry, we should continue our discussion on …
4. Ending the meeting
If there is not any other business, the chairperson needs to announce the end of the meeting and thank everyone for being present.
Useful expressions:
- If you have nothing more to discuss, then this is the end of today’s meeting.
- We have covered everything on the agenda. If there is no more to discuss, let’s end the meeting now.
- We have come to the end of the meeting. Thank you very much for coming today.
- Since we have finished all the items on the agenda, this is the end of the meeting today.
- Thank you very much for attending today’s meeting. Wish all of you a good day!
- Thanks a lot for your valuable time today.
- Your valuable suggestions are really appreciated.
- This has been a very fruitful meeting. Thank you very much for your participation.
Section E: After the meeting
1. Minutes of the meeting
The chairperson has to ensure that the minutes of the meeting are completed by the secretary of the meeting within a certain period of time such as one or two weeks. If the minutes are finished after a long time, the members of the meeting may forget about what was discussed.
When the draft of the minutes is completed, the chairperson needs to pass it to all members to see if there are any amendments until the final version is agreed by everyone in the meeting.
2. Follow-up action
The chairperson needs to see whether the decision made about each of the items is carried out properly. If there is a certain person responsible for the follow-up action, the chairperson has to contact him/her to find out whether there is any problem in the implementation of the action.
Exercise
Watch the video below and answer the questions which follow.
Managing Director of Grand Green Firm
Providing office equipment and furniture to offices in the Greater Bay Area
Environmental issues
Finance Department
The “go-green” policy
Replacing old photocopying machines and scanners with new ones since it will reduce the maintenance costs
To make a list of all those machines and send David the list by the end of the month
Replacing the old rubbish bins in the office with those that separate different types of trash
Replacing the lights they are using now with LED lights
To adorn the office with desk plants
To pack the things on the desks more systematically
The ones that are made of sustainable materials
Further References
1. How to chair a meeting effectively
This webpage gives information on how to chair a meeting in an effective manner with useful tips and suggestions.
https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-chair-meeting
2. How to Chair a Meeting
This website provides information on the role of a chairperson before, during and after a meeting, and the role of participating members.
https://careeremployer.com/working/how-to-chair-a-meeting/
3. Chair a Meeting in English – Useful English Phrases for Meetings
This video teaches how to chair a meeting and provides a lot of useful words and phrases in different situations for the chairperson to use during a meeting.