Business Meetings

Do you ever feel as you spend your life in meetings? In average, people working in large organizations spend 22% of their time at their desks, 6 per cent on the telephone, 3 per cent on other activities, but 69% in meetings.

Business people spend quite a lot of time in meetings, and meetings come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from formal committee meetings to informal one-to-one meetings. The ideal size of meeting depends on its purpose. There are several reasons why meetings are held: solving problems and reaching decisions.

All meetings consist of a chairperson and participants and have one thing in common: role-playing. The most formal role is that of chairman. He keeps the meeting running on time and to the point. An effective chairperson should be flexible, especially when meetings require a consensus of the members, discussion and voting. When the chairperson opens the meeting, he runs through the agenda - a list of the points that have to be dealt with. The purpose of an agenda is to speed up the meeting and keep everyone to the point and it must be organized in a logical order. Drawing up the agenda is usually the responsibility of a secretary. The main body of the meeting is discussion. During the discussion, participants make recommendations and proposals in order to solve problems. If the meeting is scheduled for a whole day, it is typical to take breaks. At the end of the meeting, the next-to-last point is AОВ (Any Other Business) which gives participants the opportunity to raise other issues not included in the main agenda. Closing the meeting the chairperson summarizes it: objectives and results, confirm new responsibilities from the meeting, fixes a date for the next meetinj and thanks people for coming.

In addition, how participants behave will depend on cultural background. You can use some " golden rules" to help you prepare yourself for communicating at international meetings.

- Read the agenda before and bring supporting documentation.

- Respect time and other speakers.

- Prefer diplomacy to open disagreement.

- Don't interrupt too much or disagree too strong.

-Value fact over opinion.

- Humour is often personal and culturally specific. Use it with caution.

- Use family names.

People may mistake friendliness as unprofessionalism.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions. Discuss.

1. What do you personally enjoy and dislike about meetings?

2. What should you prepare for an important meeting?

3. What is the ideal kind of room for a meeting? What equipment should it have? Should smoking be allowed? Should drinks be available?

4. What advice would you give to someone who is going to chair a meeting for the first time?

Рекомендуемая литература:

Основная

1.Алексеева Т.К., Дарская В.Г., Журавленко К.В., Пикалова Л.А. Деловой английский.English for Business. Часть 1-2: Учебник английского языка. М.: Вече, 2002. – 640 с.

2.Андрюшкин А.П. Business English. Деловой английский язык: Учебное пособие. – 3-е изд., испр. и доп. – М.: Издательско-торговая корпорация «Дашков и К», 2008. – 332 с.

3.Бондар Т.І., Кириченко З.Ф., Колесник Д.М., Дєгтярьова Л.П., Шпак В.К. Англійська мова для аспірантів та наукових співробітників. Навчальний посібник. – Київ: Центр навчальної літератури, 2005. – 352 с.

4.Памухина Л.Г., Глуховская А.Г., Сочилина З.И. Деловой английский. English for Business. Часть 3: Учебник английского языка. М.: Вече, 2002. – 336 с.

5.Серена Мердок-Стерн. Деловые приемы и встречи на английском: визиты, сотрудничетво и профессиональные контакты: учеб. пособие/ Серена Мердок-Стерн; пер. с фр. И.И. Максименко. – М.: Астрель: АСТ, 2005. – 126 с.

6.Business English. Деловой английский язык: Учеб. пособие/ Сост. Е.В. Пинская. - 3-е изд., испр. – К.: Знання, 2006. – 182 с.

7.Mallor J.P. Business Law. Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 14 edition, 2009.-1600 p.

Дополнительная

1. Аммазова Л.А. Как научиться говорить по-английски: Учеб. пособие. – 2-е изд. испр. – М.: Высшая школа, 1980. – 224 с.

2. Хорнби А.С. Оксфордский интенсивный английский для взрослых. В 3 кн. – М.: АО «Буклет», 1991ю – 248 с.

3. American English for everyday and Academic Use. Санкт-Петербургская кафедра иностранных языков Российской академии наук. Санкт-Петербург. Академический проект, 1996.

4. Schaffer R., Agusti F. International Business Law and Its Environment. - Hardcover, 8th Edition, 2011. – 768 p.

Практическое занятие №8

Тема: “ Scientific conference ”

ПЛАН

1. Чтение текста “Submitting papers for conference”.

2. Выполнение лексических упражнений