PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES IN MEETINGS


Meetings


ITASK Comple the opening and ending of a meeting  with the most suitable words of your choice (one
word per gap, phrasal verbs seen as one word)


[ Opening a meeting

I think we should start (indicate beginning). I´d like to welcome all of you to our main office
here in Paris for the meeting of the human resources managers of our different subsidiaries in
Europe (welcome).  For those of you who don´t know me, I am Roger Coach, head of our logistics
division, which, 1. among other things, is responsible for the larger strategic planning that 2.
affects human resources management in our different companies (name and function of moderator). We
have a few new 3. faces here so I´d like to quickly go 4. around the room and introduce everybody.
To my right is Miryam Rose, our new HR manager at the Austrian plant…. (introducing members).
Before we get into the subject of today´s meeting, let me just make sure you all got the materials
I´ve sent you (materials). John, my assistant, has 5. kindly agreed to take the 6. minutes. As you
all know, the reason we are here today is to exchange ideas concerning the 7. pending merger with
Mulinin, one of our major competitors (goal). I don´t have to remind you how important this meeting
is, since the outcome of our discussion will have a 8. major impact on the decision making process
here at headquarters and will therefore, to a considerable 9. extent, determine the 10. fate of all
of us (relevance of topic). In order to tackle this complex issue of human resources management in
the event of a merger, I 11. ´ve drawn up an agenda with four major points. The first item on the
agenda deals with the current situation. I´ve asked each of you to 12. summarize in three-minute
13. statements what you consider to be the most important project in your individual HR-department.
This should give us a rough overview of what our 14. respective aims and strategies are at the
moment. Secondly, I´ve asked each of you to think about possible benefits for your departments in
the 15. event of the merger. Thirdly, I´d like to provide an opportunity for you to 16. voice your
fears and to point out possible 17. pitfalls in this scenario. The fourth and last point on the
agenda is connected to this; namely, to think of constructive solutions to some of the problems
that you´ve anticipated (agenda). Each of these items covers enough problematic areas to keep us
busy an entire day. However, in order to make this meeting as effective as possible, I have 18.
allotted 20 minutes for each point, which means that we should be done in about 2 hours. That way,
those of you who have to catch flights should have ample time to pick up your luggage at the hotel
(time and rapport).



[ Closing a meeting

This brings us to the end of our meeting. Some of you who have to catch flights have asked me to
end the meeting on time (indicating end and rapport). We´ve covered a lot of ground in these 2
hours. Before we all leave, I´d like to summarize once more the results of our discussion. The
first item on our agenda was the question concerning the individual projects we, as HR managers in
different companies all over Europe, are currently 1. pursuing as top priority issues. As 2.
diverse as our individual national and company backgrounds are, we all seem to 3. converge in our
attempt to improve the training and well-being of our staff. The second item we discussed 4.
revolved around positive effects of synergies for our departments in the event of a merger. The
common 5. denominator of this discussion was definitely centralized training facilities, as well as
the prospect of drawing on a larger 6. pool of qualified staff from more companies that will be
part of our group. The third point seemed to be a tricky one but turned out to be no problem at
all. The fears that you voiced appeared to be rather 7. minute and were 8. resolved easily in our
final 9. round in which we were looking for solutions to these problems (summary of points). 10. To
my mind, the outcome of this meeting will actually provide our board with very strong arguments to
go 11. ahead with the planned merger. With very few concerns from the HR divisions and a number of
highly 12. constructive solutions to potential problems, I´m confident they´ll give a 13. green
light on the merger; the other reason 14. being, of course, that the production divisions have
basically come up with a similar estimation of the situation and favor possible collaboration with
Mulinin (outlook). If there are no more questions, I´d like to bring our meeting to an official
close. I want to thank you all for your cooperation and the time you´ve spent here at headquarters.
I wish those of you who flew in for the meeting a safe journey home and I hope to see you back here
for our next meeting in March (questions, thanking, rapport).