meetings

Business meetings 商务会议

• agenda 议事日程
  • There are five items on today's agenda. 
• merger 合并
  • The merger of our two companies is still going ahead. 
• aware 意识到的
  • I was not aware how serious the situation was. 
• resigned 辞职
  • Their CEO resigned last week. 
• executives 执行总监
  • John is our new marketing executive. 
• figuring out 想出，弄明白
  • We have to figure out a solution to this problem. 
• accurate 准确的
  • The figures in the report were not accurate. 

• The final decision will be made by the CEO. 
• The CFO is responsible for reporting all company income. CFO负责汇报公司营收。
• Our biggest challenge is to increase our market share. 我们最大的挑战是增加市场份额。
• They just fired their marketing executive. 

Arranging meetings 安排会议

• It's crucial that we find a solution. 我们务必找到解决方法。
• It's urgent the company find a buyer. 
• It's essential that he attend the meeting. 他必须出席会议
• It's vital no one discuss this information. 任何人不得谈论此信息。
• It's critical that we meet the deadline. 我们必须按时按成。 
• It's imperative all staff understand the situation. 所有员工必须明白这一形势。 
• We need to meet as soon as possible. 

• When are you available for a meeting?
• What day would suit you for a meeting?
• Would Tuesday or Thursday work for you?
• Can you do noon on wednesday?
• Let me check my calendar. 
• That day doean't work for me. 
• I'm sorry. I'm not available on Thursday. 
• I'll be there. 
• I look forward to seeing you. 

Starting a meeting

• OK, everyone. If I could have your attention, please. Let's get started. 
• Do you all have the agenda? As you can see, we have three items to discuss today. 
• Thanks you all for coming today. I know how busy you all are. 
• The purpose of this meeting is to ...
• The five of us are here because ...
• The first item on the agenda is ...
• Ok. Let's begin with item number one, ...

Discuss company problem

Stating problems 问题陈述

• The biggest problem is a difference in management style. / Could you be more specific? 可以说得具体一点吗？
• The main problem is that we are receiving complaints about our service. 
• The biggest challenge we face is growing competition.  
• For instance, they don't return our phone calls. 比如，他们不回我们的电话。
• The best example I can give is our decreasing market share. 我能想到的最好的例子就是我们的市场份额正在下降。

Discuss proposals

• evaluate - evaluation
• negotiate - negotiation
• resign - resignation
• solve - solution
• propose - proposal

间接或礼貌的提议

• How could we take the idea one step further? 我们怎么可以让这个问题的讨论更进一步？
• What do you think about team building? Would that solve the problem? 
• We need to do something to improve employee morale. 
• One way to solve the problem might be to increase the training budget. 增加培训预算可以是解决问题的一个办法。
• At least let's talk about increasing the training budget. 至少要讨论一下增加培训预算的问题。
• How difficult would it be to increase the training budget? 

正式或直接的提议

• I'd like to propose that we increase the training budget. 
• I propose that we increase the training budget. 
• Let's take that one step further and increase the training budget. 让我们在进一步，增加培训预算。

• One option is to lay off workers with low seniority. 一个选择是解雇工龄短的工人。
• We have to make some hard choices. 我们不得不做一些艰难的选择。
• One alternative is to use attrition. We just don't replace workers who leave. 一个选择是使用损耗。员工离开后我们不会再招人填补职位。
• Another possibility is to offer older workers a large retirement bonus. 
• We may have to consider more drastic options. 我们可能不得不考虑更极端的选择。

• Ok, so our priority is to avoid layoffs. 那么，我们的首要任务是避免裁员。
• First we push retirement bonuses, then reduce everyone's hours. 首先我们推行退休奖金，然后减少每个人的时间。
• Only as a last resort do we lay off workers. 只有在万不得已时我们才解雇员工。

同意

• Yeah, that would be OK. 
• I really like that idea. 
• I think so, too. 
• I agree with you. 
• We're on the same page. 
• I think those are all excellent ideas. 
• That sounds ok to me. 

不同意

• I'm not sure I agree with that. 
• I'm sorry, but I disagree. 
• I'm not with you on that. 
• I really disagree. 
• I think that's a terrible idea. We don't want to punish them. 

Writing proposal

introduce

• Our company faces a very large loss this year. 我们公司今年面临一个很大的损失。
• Our proposals are meant to deal with the crisis on a long-term basis. 我们的提案是为了从长远上应对这个危机。
• Two years from now, the company would be profitable. 从现在起两年后，公司将开始盈利。
• We have come up with a prioritized list of options for the crisis. 我们已经那出了一个应对危机的有优先级别的选项列表。

detail

• We propose offering workers a retirement bonus. 
• We strongly recommend that the company lay off additional workers only as a last resort. 
• We recommend cutting everyone back to 35 hours per week. 

Tasks and issues 任务和问题

• Who will be in charge while you're gone? 你不在的时候谁负责？
• Please keep me informed about this. 关于这件事请随时通知我。
• I hope we can work together smoothly. 我希望我们能一起顺利工作。
• We need to come up with a plan. 我们需要想出一个计划。
• I want you to be involved in this discussion. 我希望你能参与到这个讨论中。
• I will follow up on this tomorrow. 我明天会跟进这件事。
• We need better coordination between our departments. 我们需要我们的部门之间更好的协调。
• I've heard rumors about the merger. 我听说了好几个合并的传闻
• There are several important tasks. 

Managing discussions: start and return to a topic

• The next point of discussion is the hiring freeze. 讨论的下一个问题是暂停招聘。
• The next item on the agenda is an update from our CEO. 
• Moving on, let's discuss the plan to expand overseas. 下一步，让我们来讨论一下海外扩张的问题。
• Oh, and one more thing: We need to discuss a change in employee insurance. 哦，还有一件事。我们要讨论一下员工保险的一个变动。

回到原来话题

• Now, as I was saying, our competitive situation in Europe has changed. 正向我刚才说的，我们在欧洲的竞争局面已经发生了变化。
• Hold on. We're getting off topic. Let's keep to the agenda. 稍等，我们正在偏离话题。让我们不要偏离议程。
• Getting back to my point, I think a merger is not an option. 回到我的观点，我认为并购是不可取的。

改变话题

• Now, where was I? Oh, yes - the sales figures for last quarter. 我刚说到哪了？哦，是的，上个季度的销售额。
• Let me see. What's next? 让我想想，下一步是什么？
• Umm, let me think. We have one more issue to resolve. 嗯，让我想想。我们还有一个问题需要解决。 

News from a meeting

• walk out the door = leave
• run behind schedule = go slower than planned
• move forward =  continue
• back on track = on schedule again
• keep me informed = tell me what's happening

• The team will work around the clock until the project is finished. 日以继夜的工作
• As soon as we wrap up the project, I will take some time off. 一等项目完成，我就马上休假。
• She was fast-tracked for promotion as soon as she joined the company. 她一进入公司，立刻平步青云。
• By the time we wrapped up, we had already missed the deadline. 
• My boss had gone by the time I finished writing the email. 

• I have some good news and bad news. 
• Which would you like to hear first?
• Unfortunately, there is a big problem. 
• I wish I had better news for you, but we have to cut staff. 
• I'm sorry to tell you this, but we didn't get the contract. 

Closing/Concluding a meeting 结束会议

预示会议即将结束

• Ok, I know we're all busy, so let's conclude this meeting quickly. 好的，我知道大家都很忙，所以我们快点结束吧。
• I think that's about it. Let's wrap things up. 我认为差不多了。来做个总结吧。
• Unless anyone has anything else, I think we're ready to talk about next steps. 如果没有人有任何别的意见，我觉得我们可以讨论下一步计划了。

谈论计划

• I'll follow up on finding a better location for the office. 
• Moving forward, we will need to learn more about our competition. 未来我们需要了解更多竞争对手的情况。
• As a next step, let's all think about ways to improve communication. 下一步，让我们想想如何改进沟通。

会议保密

• I just want to say again that this discussion is confidential. 我只想再说一遍，这次讨论是保密的。
• Nothing we've discussed here leaves this room. 所有我们在这儿说过的话都不会离开这个屋子。

结束会议

• Ok, that's it for now. Thank you all for coming. 
• This has been a very productive meeting. I appreciate all of you being here. 这次会议非常有成效。感谢各位的参加。

Summarizing a meeting

• board of directors 董事会
• integrate 合并
• chief operating officer 首席运营官
• That makes sense. 很有道理
• I turned it down. 我拒绝了
• a mess 一团糟

• We decide to hire a replacement quickly. 我们决定迅速招一位替换人员。
• The board decided not to go forward with the merger. 董事会决定不再继续合并。
• The COO approved the new proposal. 首席运营官批准了新的提案。

• It's a reasonable decision. 这是一个合理的决定。
• It's a smart move. 这是一个明智之举。
• We haven't reached a decision yet. 我们还没做出决定。
• No decision has been made. 没有做出决定。