Useful expressions in English for business meetings

Useful expressions in English for business meetings

When people first arrive

  • It´s so nice to finally see you face to face…
  • It’s great to put a face to the name!
  • You must be Diego.
  • Welcome to Santiago!
  • I hope you found us easily.
  • (If it’s remote) I’m sorry I can’t really hear you. Are you on mute?
  • Great. We can hear you perfectly now.

Opening a meeting

  • Good morning/good afternoon everyone. Thank you for coming.
  • Okay, let’s get started.
  • Are we waiting for anyone else?
  • I think Sebastian may be a little late because he’s just finishing another meeting.

Introductions

  • I would like to introduce Andrew Morton. He’s a new colleague who has recently come over to us from Ashfields.

Introducing the topic

  • The purpose of today’s meeting is to reach a decision on…
  • I’ve called this meeting in order to talk about…
  • What’s your opinion on…?
  • I would like to get your views on…

Agreeing

  • I agree.
  • You’re absolutely right.
  • Good point!
  • I’m totally with you on this.

Disagreeing

  • I’m sorry but I disagree.
  • I’m afraid I can’t agree with you on that.
  • I’m no expert, but I cannot imagine this is right.

Agree with some but not all

  • I agree with you up to a point, but…

When you haven’t understood everything

  • Sorry, could you repeat that please?
  • I’m not sure I completely understand your point about …..

When you want to interrupt politely

  • Could I add something here?
  • Would you mind if I just mention something here?

When you want to move to another topic

  • Can we move on to another subject? We haven’t got that much time.
  • If there’s nothing further to say, let’s move on to the next item.

When you want to summarize

  • Before we close the meeting, can I just summarise what we’ve covered?
  • Okay, great, we have decided to…

Finishing

  • Thank you so much for coming here. It’s been really constructive.
  • The next meeting is on… I’ll send you all the agenda nearer the time.