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  • Hi. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam.

  • In today's video I want to talk to you about some business English, but more specifically,

  • we're going to talk about meetings, business meetings and what goes on there, and some

  • of the vocabulary you will need to know if you have to go to some of these meetings.

  • Okay, we have a bunch of words here.

  • I'm going to go through each one, make sure you understand what it is.

  • So, every meeting has to have an "agenda".

  • Actually I'll stand on this side a little bit.

  • Every meeting has to have an agenda.

  • What is an "agenda"?

  • An agenda is basically the plan or the list of topics that need to be covered in this meeting.

  • Right?

  • So by the end of the meeting you have to cover these points, and then the meeting can break

  • up or whatever.

  • Okay?

  • So that's the plan.

  • We also use this for other situations, like somebody has an agenda, means somebody has

  • a goal they're after.

  • In a business meeting, the plan.

  • The goal is to finish these lists...

  • The list of priorities.

  • At a meeting someone will be "designated" to take notes.

  • Okay?

  • So, "you designate" means you choose someone or you assign someone a specific task.

  • Okay?

  • So, every...

  • Every meeting somebody else takes a turn or sometimes some big companies have one person

  • whose job is to take those notes.

  • Now, those notes are called "minutes", like the same minute...

  • Like, you think about it in terms of time.

  • "Minutes" are the notes or the summary of a meeting.

  • Okay?

  • At the end of the meeting the person who was designated to take the notes will go back

  • to his or her desk, and type up a list of the main highlights of the meeting, and whatever

  • goals were achieved, whatever items need to be discussed next meeting, etc.

  • So, notes.

  • Now, somebody might put forward a "motion".

  • Okay?

  • "Put forward a motion".

  • A motion is basically the same idea as a proposal.

  • Somebody says: "Okay, I think we need to do this.

  • Let's vote on it."

  • So anything that needs to be voted on is called a motion.

  • Okay?

  • Their idea, their plan, their suggestion, etc.

  • After somebody puts forward the motion, everybody else in the meeting room will have "deliberations".

  • Okay?

  • They will deliberate on this motion.

  • Basically they will discuss it.

  • Everybody will say what they think, what they like, what they don't like.

  • There'll be a general discussion about the motion, and that's called deliberations.

  • Sometimes these deliberations involve a "conference call".

  • A conference call is basically a call with people outside the meeting room, it could

  • be on Skype, some sort of video program, it could be just a telephone call, but it's a

  • speaker and everybody in the room can hear and be heard, and the person on the other

  • end can be...

  • Can hear and be heard as well.

  • So it's a conference call.

  • Then everybody will "brainstorm" to come up with new ideas.

  • So, "brainstorming" is basically thinking, but thinking hard about a specific topic,

  • and trying to come up with different ideas for that topic, how to do something, etc.

  • Hopefully everybody in the room will "collaborate", people from different departments might come

  • into a meeting to talk about a project or a product, or whatever, or a campaign.

  • Everybody has to collaborate, everybody has to work together, that's what "collaborate"

  • means.

  • A good company will have people who like to collaborate, they'll like to work as a team;

  • some companies it's a bit more difficult.

  • Then after the deliberations, after the brainstorming, after all their talk, it's time to vote.

  • Okay?

  • So everybody will "cast a ballot".

  • We also talk about this when we talk about politics.

  • After the campaign for a political position, the public goes to cast a ballot.

  • They go to the ballot box to vote.

  • So, "cast a ballot", vote.

  • Now, there are different ways to do it.

  • There's a secret ballot.

  • Okay?

  • If you have a secret ballot, then everybody writes their answer, their choice on a piece

  • of paper, puts it into a box, and then somebody collects them: "Yes", "No", whatever.

  • There's an open ballot that everybody knows what everybody else is voting.

  • This is called "a show of hands".

  • "Show of hands, who's for the project?

  • Who's against?"

  • Okay, and then more hands this side, this side wins; more hands this side, this side wins.

  • "Show of hands".

  • In a classroom a teacher might use this: "Okay, does everybody understand?

  • A show of hands.

  • If you understand, put up your hand."

  • Good.

  • Sometimes you'll hear: "The ayes have it".

  • Another way to vote is: -"All in favour say, 'Aye'."

  • -"Aye."

  • -"All in...

  • All against, say: 'Nay'."

  • -"Nay."

  • More people have...

  • Say: "Yes", the "Ayes", not these eyes, the ayes, this means yes.

  • "The ayes have it" means the yes side wins.

  • Okay?

  • Now, hopefully you will reach a "consensus" or you will reach a "unanimous"--excuse me--decision.

  • "Consensus" and "unanimous" are very similar words.

  • "Consensus" means all or at least almost all.

  • So if most of the people choose one side, then you have a consensus, then that's a good

  • decision, everybody's on board.

  • If it's unanimous, means everybody agrees or everybody disagrees.

  • So, "unanimous" means everybody, all the people who are voting made the same choice.

  • Okay?

  • Now, sometimes if you can't make a meeting...

  • Okay?

  • You're out of town on business or you're sick that day, but you want somebody to cast your

  • ballot, vote for you, you can send a "proxy".

  • A "proxy" basically means a substitute, somebody who will go in your place to vote in your

  • name.

  • Okay?

  • We also think...

  • If you read the news you sometimes see, like: "proxy war".

  • A "proxy war", when you have two very big countries, if for example, Russia and the

  • United States decided to have a war, that would be a lot of destruction because they're

  • both very big countries with very big militaries.

  • So if they want to fight but they don't want to fight directly, they will fight through

  • smaller countries.

  • They will find a small country and a small country, and they will send these two countries

  • to war as a proxy for themselves.

  • Right?

  • In the business meeting it's not so bad, but it's still the same idea, it's a substitute.

  • Okay, so then the meeting is all good, you have your ballot, you have your choice, everybody's

  • in agreement, it's a consensus, etc., it's time to "wrap up".

  • When you're wrapping up, basically you're bringing the meeting to a close.

  • You finish all the last details.

  • "Any questions?

  • Any questions?

  • No?

  • Everybody's good?

  • Okay, let's wrap it up.

  • Everybody sign where they need to sign.

  • See ya next week, next meeting."

  • And then you "adjourn".

  • "Adjourn" means you basically end the meeting, or sometimes you suspend the meeting.

  • "Okay, this meeting is adjourned" means it's finished.

  • "We're going to adjourn this meeting until next week", so it means we're going to take

  • a break, we're going to come back and finish next time.

  • Okay?

  • "A-journ", the "d" is silent, you don't actually pronounce it.

  • So, there you go.

  • You're ready to go to a business meeting in English and be able to handle all these different

  • words.

  • If you have any questions about them, please go to www.engvid.com, you can ask me in the

  • forum.

  • You can take the quiz, make sure you understand all of these words.

  • Of course, subscribe to my channel if you like this

  • lesson, and I'll see you again very soon. Bye-bye.

Hi. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam.

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