Business English - Contributing with Confidence to Virtual and Face-to-face Meetings

B1 or above in the CEFR levels.

The course is designed for professionals who are looking to improve their vocabulary/techniques in English meetings. To access the course effectively it is helpful but not essential to have professional experience of participating and/or managing meetings in English.

Participants will be able to apply their English language skills to more effectively manage, participate and take notes in virtual and face to face meetings in English. Participants will improve both their confidence, fluency and accuracy in contributing to meetings when using the English language. They will enhance their wider professional skills by using the appropriate level of formality, clarity and cultural awareness in ensuring success in meetings.
Particular focus is given to writing powerfully across the virtual platforms that have become central to how we work.

In the framework of the English language development and upon successful completion of this course, the participant should be able to:

• Use a wide range of expressions in participating in professional meetings both virtually and face to face
• Use a wide range of expressions in managing professional meetings both virtually and face to face
• Deploy vocabulary needed to make suggestions, proposals, highlight support or disagreement and manage questions in a professional manner
• Understand a wide range of common phrasal verbs, acronyms and business idioms used in meetings
• Use a range of language structures in producing clear next steps and actions
• Use a range of language structures in giving open and coherent updates.  In the framework of the professional skills development, the participant should be able to:
• More effectively differentiate between formal and semi-formal styles when communicating in meetings, this will include utilizing messenger/chat functionality in virtual meetings
• Develop a wider range of strategies in ensuring the success of meetings, overcoming challenges and resolving conflict
• Develop their spoken confidence and fluency in contributing to meetings
• Develop an awareness on how meeting conventions can vary across cultures
• More effectively manage and respond to difficult questions
• Improve business writing skills in producing actions and next steps and in utilizing messenger/chat functiona

An interactive case study approach The course is based on a set of interactive case studies. These case studies are designed around realistic scenarios at work which develop the professional skills and English language skills of participants.
Course structure: Part 1 The first part of the course focuses on the key vocabulary, expressions, techniques and conventions used in participating and managing meetings. Key themes are highlighted below.

• Exchanging ideas and best practice
• Key expressions to use in both contributing to and in managing meetings
• Using examples to explore how professional meetings can vary across different cultures
• Acceptable and unacceptable ‘jargon’, acronyms and abbreviations in professional meetings
• Working in teams to identify best practice in managing meetings Course structure: Part 2
• The second part of the course focuses on a professional case study in which you need to deploy the vocabulary and techniques developed in part 1. The case study focuses on both an internal team meeting and externally focused meeting with a customer or supplier. In the case study, you write and structure both an agenda and minutes and actions.

At the end of thetraining, the participants will receive a certificate of attendance deliveredby the House of Training.