meetings | Business English Pod :: Learn Business English Online

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September 1, 2008

Welcome to Business English Pod: The Business English trainer you can put in your pocket. Download over 450 MP3 and video podcast lessons on essential language for meetings, presentations, telephoning, negotiations, travel, socializing and lots more. Make real progress with your language skills using the detailed study notes and online activities available to members.

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BEP 81 – Meetings: Finishing Up and Action Points

This Business English Podcast is a preview of our new audio / e-book for business English learners and teachers: Meeting Essentials

Meeting Essentials is a comprehensive study guide to the language and skills you need to participate effectively and confidently in business meetings in English. Learn on the go with over 4-hours of audio lessons, review key language and techniques with the detailed 100-page study guide, including a transcript of each podcast lesson, and practice useful phrases with the online activities.

It’s the end of a meeting, and everyone wants to go, but wait! We have one last thing to do: Action points. That means: Tell everyone who is going to do what, and when. Having no clear action points is a number one reason meetings are unproductive.

So in this episode, we’ll study language we can use to assign work to people, and also some English phrases to finish off the meeting.

We’ll be listening in to a group of bank managers discuss how to deal with credit risk problems before a major year-end report to top management. They have already discussed and decided what to do, and now they need to finish the meeting. As you listen, pay attention to how the boss, Lisa, gives action points to her team, that is, reminds them of what they need to do.

Listening Questions:

1) When will Lisa’s team have their next round of meetings?
2) What duties does Lisa assign during the meeting, and to whom?

*** This lesson is part of our Business English eBook for meetings: Meeting Essentials. Premium members click here to download the complete eBook.

Members: PDF Transcript | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 75 – Performance Appraisals: Giving Feedback (1)

Advanced, Business English, ESL Podcast, Human Resources, Management English / December 2, 2007

Performance appraisals – sometimes called job performance evaluations or reviews – are a powerful way to develop staff’s potential. These skills are important not just for HR (Human Resources) professionals, but for any manager or supervisor who has responsibilities over other staff.

For performance appraisals to succeed, however, it’s important that they are conducted in a structured way. In addition, it’s important that skill and diplomacy are used to handle the two main tasks of the appraisal – giving effective feedback and setting goals.

So this is the first in a two-part Business English Podcast lesson that focuses on structure, skill and diplomacy in performance appraisals. In this podcast, we will deal with giving feedback. In the second, we will handle setting goals.

This episode focuses on giving effective feedback that creates a positive environment and builds trust. These feedback skills are useful not only in performance appraisals, but also in any situation that requires making critical comments to someone about their work.

Wendy is a new hire at ConStar’s videoconference call center. She has been working there for about 10 months, including training, so now it’s time for her first six-month performance review. Derrick, the manager of the operations department, will be giving Wendy her appraisal.

As a “videoconference coordinator” for ConStar, Wendy’s job requires using special equipment to set up and connect videoconferences for Fortune 500 clients. ConStar’s customers hold regular remote meetings among multiple locations all around the world. Wendy’s job is to make the connections between locations and to solve customer’s problems when they call into the help desk.

What kind of feedback will Derrick give Wendy? She is really smart, but she tends to get hot under the collar when she works under pressure. That means, she gets upset when she feels job stress. Sometimes she loses her temper, and her colleagues have complained about it.

Listening Questions

1) How many meetings is Wendy handling per day at the moment?
2) What’s the main issue that Derrick wants to give Wendy feedback on?
3) What advice does Derrick give Wendy to help her correct the problem?

Premium Members: PDF Transcript | PhraseCast

Download: Podcast MP3

Business English Pod (China RSS Feed)

October 22, 2007

Welcome to the China Users information page for Business English Pod.
欢迎来到商务英语pod中国用户信息页面

About Business English Pod
关于商务英语Pod

Business English Pod provides ESL podcast and business English lessons for intermediate and advanced business English learners. Each business English podcast lesson is focused on a particular skill (meetings, presentations, telephoning, negotiating, socializing, travel, conversation etc.) and language function (clarifying, disagreeing, questioning, expressing opinions, persuasion etc.).
商务英语Pod为中级和高级商务英语学习者提供mp3 podcast和ESL（将英语作为第二语言的学习）课程。每一课商务英语podcast都重要培养某一特定的技巧（如会议、陈述、电话、谈判、社交、旅游、会话等）和语言功能（如表示澄清、不赞同、提问、表达观点、劝说等）。

Business English Pod’s MP3 lessons feature example training dialogs with clear explanations of the target language, vocabulary, idioms and useful phrases, followed by a short practice and review session. The audio lessons can be downloaded directly from the website or transferred to your iPod or MP3 player using free software such as Apple’s iTunes program.
商务英语Pod提供的MP3课程以训练对话示例为特色，配合对目标语言、词汇、习语和实用短语的清楚解释，之后是很短的练习和复习部分。音频课程可以直接从网站下载、或是使用如Apple的iTunes程序等免费软件传输到你的iPod或MP3播放器上。

Sign up as a Premium Member and you will have access to the detailed study notes, including a full transcript, example phrases, vocabulary and language review exercises for each podcast lesson. Online quizzes, language exercises and vocabulary glossaries are also available to premium members.
注册称为高级会员，你就可以享受到详细的学习笔记，包括每一课podcast完全的录音文稿，示例短语、词汇和语言复习的练习。在学习中心还可以享受到网上测试、语言练习和词汇抽认卡。

BEP 68 – Meeting English: Dealing with Interruptions

Business English, English for Meetings, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English / October 13, 2007

As a non-native speaker of English, you might often find yourself in situations like this: You’re sitting in a meeting or a teleconference, and some of the participants are native English speakers. They are speaking with one another very rapidly, and they are using some idiomatic or difficult-to-understand expressions. Someone says something you don’t understand, or perhaps something that is not true or that you disagree strongly with. You should interrupt to ask what they mean, to clarify, to correct – but you just can’t bring yourself to open your mouth. How do you start? How do you interrupt?

That’s the focus of today’s Business English podcast lesson. We’ll be studying useful language and expressions for interrupting and for resisting or stopping interruption.

The listening takes place in an internal meeting at Strand Technologies, a Hong Kong-based OEM of portable electronic devices, mainly MP3 and MP4 players. OEM stands for “original equipment manufacturer.” It refers to companies that manufacture other companies’ products for them. In this internal meeting, all three participants know each other well so the language is more informal and direct. As you listen, pay attention to how they use assertive language to interrupt each other in order to keep the meeting on track and arrive at positive result more quickly.

Listening Questions

1) What does Bill mean when he says they’re facing a “bottleneck?” What is the bottleneck?
2) Why can’t Bill just retrain the engineers he has?
3) What is Mei Lin’s suggestion to speed up the recruitment process?

*** This lesson is part of our Business English eBook for meetings: Meeting Essentials. Premium members click here to download the complete eBook.

Premium Members: Study Notes | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 43 – Meetings English: Managing the Discussion

Business English, English for Meetings, Intermediate English, Teleconference English / April 15, 2007

This is the second in our two-part intermediate Business English Podcast series on opening and managing meetings in english. In the first episode, we looked at how to open a meeting. In today’s podcast lesson we’re going to cover how to manage the discussion.

Martin, the GM of Daneline Singapore, is discussing with his staff how to make up a budget shortfall. He has just asked Sandra to kick off the first item on the agenda – outsourcing the cleaning.

Listening Quiz

1) How much money can Daneline Singapore save by outsourcing cleaning?
2) Does Sam like pizza?
3) Does Dave agree with the strategy of outsourcing cleaning?
4) How does Dave suggest dealing with the brochure redesign?

*** This lesson is part of our Business English eBook for meetings: Meeting Essentials. Premium members click here to download the complete eBook.

Members: Study Notes | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 42 – English for Meetings: Opening a Meeting

Business English, English for Meetings, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Teleconference English / April 11, 2007

This is the first in a two-part intermediate Business English Podcast lesson on opening and managing meetings. In this episode, we’ll look at how to open a meeting. In the second part (BEP 43) we’ll look at language you can use to manage the discussion.

The listening takes place in the Singapore offices of Daneline, an international shipping company. Martin, the GM, is chairing a meeting with Sandra, David and Sam to discuss a budget shortfall. Shortfall means their budget has fallen short of expectations. In other words, they don’t have enough money, so they need to make some cuts. To chair a meeting is to lead the meeting. We can say that Martin is the chairperson. So in these two episodes on opening and managing meetings, you’ll be learning language for chairing meetings.

Listening Quiz
1) What is the amount of the budget shortfall?
2) Why doesn’t Sandra have a copy of the agenda?
3) How many possible cuts are under discussion?
4) What is the first item on the agenda?

*** This lesson is part of our Business English eBook for meetings: Meeting Essentials. Premium members click here to download the complete eBook.

Members: Study Notes | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 39 – Reporting in English: Project Update

A2, Business English, ESL Podcast, Functions, Grammar, Intermediate English / March 17, 2007

In today’s intermediate Business English Podcast episode you’ll practice reporting on progress. That means informing your boss or colleagues about your current work. This is also called updating someone on the status of a project.

Reporting on progress happens in formal settings, such as at meetings, but often also in informal settings, such as around the water cooler or maybe even over a drink after work.

Today’s listening provides an example of this very common kind of informal project update. It takes place in the offices of AirMech Services, a company that specializes in the maintenance, repair and modification of Passenger Loading Bridges, which are commonly called “jetways”. You’ll hear Rudi, a project manager, update his boss, Wolfgang, on the status of one such project. They meet each other during a break in the coffee room.

As you listen, pay attention to both the vocabulary and the verb tenses Rudi and Wolfgang use to discuss the progress of the project.

Members: PDF Transcript

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 35 – Meetings: Clarifying Meaning in English

A2, Business English, English for Meetings, ESL Podcast, Functions, Intermediate English / February 24, 2007

In BEP 34, we talked about clarifying what was said , for example, “What did you just say? I didn’t catch that.”

In today’s Business English Pod lesson, we’ll look at clarifying what was meant, for example, “What do you mean by that?” or “What I’m trying to say is…” Clarifying the meaning is an important part of all communication because it helps us avoid misunderstanding.

*** This lesson is part of our Business English eBook for meetings: Meeting Essentials. Premium members click here to download the complete eBook.

Members: PDF Transcript | Quizzes | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

BEP 34 – Meetings: Clarifying What Was Said

A2, Business English, English for Meetings, ESL Podcast, Functions, Intermediate English / February 18, 2007

This is the first in a two-part Business English Podcast series on clarifying. To clarify means to make clear.

Today we’ll look at phrases and skills for clarifying what was said. For example, “I didn’t quite catch that. Could you say that again?” This is useful when you don’t hear clearly or when someone speaks too fast. Then, in the second podcast (BEP 35), we’ll be looking at language for clarifying what was meant, for instance “What exactly do you mean by that?”

The listening today is from a shipping company. You’ll hear Wim Zeldenhuis and Andre De Vries in Rotterdam call their American colleague Benny McClenahan in Boston.

*** This lesson is part of our Business English eBook for meetings: Meeting Essentials. Premium members click here to download the complete eBook.

Members: PDF Transcript | Online Practice | PhraseCast | Lesson Module

Download: Podcast MP3

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