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BEP 20c – Presenting a Cohesive Argument

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s business English lesson on presenting a cohesive argument.

You may have lots of great ideas. But those ideas aren’t worth much if you can’t convince other people that they’re great. And that takes more than just excitement and energy. To convince others, you need to present a cohesive argument.

So what is a cohesive argument? Well, it’s a series of logical reasons to support an idea. A cohesive argument helps you convince others of your position by providing a set of supporting points presented in a logical manner. If you do not provide a cohesive argument, then you’ll have trouble getting other people to support you.

A good argument might start by showing research and giving some context for the issue. Then you can talk about precedents for your idea, which means other times that it has been done successfully. It’s also good to think about what people might be concerned about, and address that before they even have a chance to bring it up. And finally, you can tell people why your idea is necessary. With a cohesive argument like this, you’re sure to have more support for your idea.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Jack, who’s presenting a proposal to move his company’s production to Costa Rica. In our last lesson, we heard Jack and several others discussing the idea. Jack’s argument was a bit disorganized and drew criticism from the others. He didn’t manage to convince them that moving production overseas was a good idea. In this meeting, the team has to make a decision on the issue. So Jack really needs to present a good argument.

Listening Questions

1. What has Jack done in preparation for the meeting?
2. Why does Jack mention the company Intel?
3. Jack talks about one thing that other people might be concerned, or worried about. What is it?

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BEP 19c – Arguing For or Against a Position

Business English, English for Meetings, Persuasion / September 3, 2016

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to argue for a position.

A position could be an opinion, an idea, or a plan. And whether you’re in a meeting, a one-on-one discussion, or a presentation, you’ll often find yourself arguing for your position, or against other people’s positions.

So how can you argue for or against a position effectively? Sure, you can just state what you think. But there are some more effective techniques you can use to support your position. For example, you can use language to make an idea stronger. Instead of just saying “this plan is disorganized,” you can say “this plan is totally disorganized.” That has a greater impact.

You can also work the other way around, and use softening and minimizing language. For example, instead of saying “we are happy with the new building but there are some problems,” you might say “overall we’re pretty happy with the new building, but there might be a few problems.” And if you want to criticize someone’s ideas, you need to introduce that carefully and balance the criticism with praise. All these techniques will help you present your position.

In today’s dialog, we’ll hear Jack, who’s trying to argue for the idea of moving his company’s production overseas, to Costa Rica. However, Angie, Dan, and Jim are not convinced that Jack’s plan is a good idea. As they argue for their positions, we’ll cover some useful techniques on both sides of the discussion.

Listening Questions

1. How does Angie introduce her first criticism of Jack’s ideas?
2. What does Jack say about the risks involved in his plan?
3. What positive thing does Angie say about Jack later in the dialog?

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Business English Course – Accepting or Rejecting Suggestions

Business English, English for Meetings, English Video / August 23, 2015

This is a free preview of a video lesson from our Business English Kickstart Course:

This lesson is the second part of a two-part series on making, rejecting and accepting suggestions. In this lesson, we’ll learn appropriate ways to reject and accept suggestions. You can access the original lesson here – BEP 31 – Accepting or Rejecting Suggestions in English

The Business English Kickstart Course covers the 3 main Business English Skills of meetings, presentations and talking on the phone with 20 lessons appropriate for intermediate English Speakers.

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Business English Course – BEP 30 Making Suggestions in English

Business English, English for Meetings, English Video, Functions / August 2, 2015

This is a free preview of a video lesson from our Business English Kickstart Course.

The lesson looks at language for making suggestions in a business meeting. You can check out the original lesson here – BEP 30 – Making Suggestions in English

The Business English Kickstart Course covers the 3 main Business English Skills of meetings, presentations and talking on the phone with 20 lessons appropriate for intermediate English Speakers. The course is available on the Udemy platform which provides desktop and mobile access for Android and iOS devices.

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BEP 273 – English Collocations for Discussing Business Strategy (2)

Business English, Business English Vocabulary, English Collocations, English for Meetings / July 19, 2015

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English collocations for talking about strategy.

Think about the future of your company. How will it remain competitive? What are the long-term goals of your company? What does your company want to achieve? And how will it do that? These are just some of the questions that you might consider when you discuss business strategy. You need to think about what your business does well, how you can use your resources wisely, and what you need to do to grow the company. And when you discuss these ideas, you can use some common expressions, or combinations, which we call “collocations.”

But what is a collocation? A collocation is a group of words that sound natural together. They sound natural because native speakers commonly use them. And you can sound natural too if you learn these collocations. For example, you can say “implement a plan.” That sounds natural. But how about “do a plan?” Well, that’s not a common collocation and so it doesn’t sound natural.

As you listen to the conversation in this lesson, try to pick out some of these collocations and we’ll discuss them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Anne, Jenny, and Max, three executives at a food company called Healthy Organics. They are discussing their strategy for developing the company into the future. They’ll talk about some important strategic decisions, and they’ll use lots of useful expressions.

Listening Questions

1. According to Anne, why do they need to broaden their product offerings?
2. What does Jenny think they need to build on?
3. What specifically does Anne want to figure out for the next three to five years?

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