Meetings

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Running a face-to-face meeting

So, let’s get started.

Useful Tips

  • Go through the agenda at the start of the meeting and check no items are missing.
  • Ensure good timekeeping during the meeting, making sure that participants stick to the agenda and don’t get sidetracked.
  • Control the discussion, making sure all participants contribute where relevant and that no one person dominates the whole meeting.
  • Summarize key decisions at the end of each agenda point.

Track 45

Janette: Everybody is here now. So, let’s get stared. Now, we’re here to discuss the rollout of the new SAP customer relationship program. You are the people who’ll have to implement it and we need to decide what you need for the rollout. So, let’s look at point number one on the agenda: resources. Fabian, would you like to start?
Fabian: Right, at the moment there’s a shortage of human resources to…
J: …so by the time everyone has finished the training course, we should be OK. So, to sum up point number one, we’ve agreed that Lucy will arrange training sessions for the rollout team together with SAP and I’ll talk to Human Resources about finding more SAP specialists.
Lucy: Thanks.
J: Good. Let’s move onto the next point: budget. Tony, that’s your field.
Tony: Well, I’m afraid that we have a very limited budget for this project, which means that we really have to be imaginative about how we allocate resources…
F: …Does that mean training will be cut? Because look at the problems we had last year with the database. I spoke to Billy West in the data center and he said that there was a problem with the…
J: Can I stop you there, Fabian? Let’s not go sidetracked. Let Tony tell us what exactly is planned and then we can…
J: …the meeting has been very useful. We all have our action points to deal with and we know the next steps. How does everybody feel about that?
T, L and F: Fine. OK. Good.
J: Great! So, that wraps up everything for today. Thanks very much for all your ideas. Anybody want to go to lunch?

Negotiating agreement

Well, that’s an interesting proposal, but…

Track 50

Janette: And that, basically, is why I called you, Stuart. We don’t have enough SAP specialists for this job ourselves.
Stuart: I see. So, what exactly do you need?
J: We propose that you second us five programmers for customizing the basic SAP package to our needs, two web interface experts to make sure the package is user-friendly and one technical project manager.
S: OK. But we need to talk about fees. They would have quite different daily rates: €650 for a programmer, €875 for the interface specialists and, um, at least €1,250 for a project manager. Depending on his or her experience.
J: Well, we’d like to keep the bookkeeping easy. So, we’d like to aggregate these daily rates. We suggest that we pay you €700 per head per day.
S: I see. Well, that’s an interesting proposal, but €700 per day is far too low. €950 is nearer the mark.
J: I don’t think we could go along with that. You see, we have very strict budget limits.
S: Hmm… Let’s think about how we can make this work… Another possibility might be to have two rates: €650 for the programmers and €950 for the others.
J: But have you considered the advantages of just one single flat rate? It makes the administration so much easier. I mean, what’s the downside?
S: I take your point. It’s just a question of agreeing the rate.
J: Right. So, by my calculations if we agree on a daily rate of €750 per head per day, over six months your company will receive… just a second… €772,000.
S: €750 per head per day for six months. Yes, I think we can live with that.
J: Excellent! So, now we just need to decide which people will be most suited…

Assigning action points

Who would like to take responsibility for this?

Useful Tips

  • Ask people to agree to action points rather than simply telling them to do something.
  • For a general action point, e.g., organizing somebody to look after visitors to company, offer the opportunity to anybody from the team. It may be seen as attractive, especially if it involves entertaining the visitors.
  • If the action point is unattractive, such as writing the minutes of a meeting, and nobody volunteers, then ask the most qualified person. If necessary, ask if they can reprioritize other tasks.
  • Summarize who is responsible for what and when they have agreed to deliver.

Track 55

Janette: …and we need to work together with SAP experts on this if we want to get the rollout to work properly, right?
Lucy, Fabian and Tony: Yeah. Looks like it.
J: So, we need to speak to SAP about running a training program for all the system users. Could you handle that, Lucy?
L: Sure, I’ll call Dieter Grossmann.
J: How soon can you finish the complete training program, do you think?
L: To train everybody, we’ll need about 3 months. So, not until the end of September.
J: Great, now the project kick-off meeting. We all agreed to have it on the 12th of July but nobody has done anything yet, have they? No, I thought not. I know I haven’t! Well, we need to move fast on that, so Fabian, could you deal with that? Invitations to start with, refreshments, you know.
F: Of course.
J: When will the invitations be ready, do you think?
F: I’ll do them this afternoon.
J: Fine. I’d like to have them out by this evening. Now, next week one of our biggest customers, Dimitri Mischkovic, is coming from Moscow to visit the company. He’s arriving on Friday night and is staying here until Wednesday next week. Originally, I was going to take him out in London at the weekend, but my mother is in hospital. So I need somebody to take him out, all expenses paid by the company, of course. Who would like to take responsibility for this?
T: Oh, I don’t mind. I mean, if nobody else wants to do that.
F: That’s OK with me.
L: I don’t think my boyfriend would like me going around London with somebody else anyway!
J: Good, I’ll send you the details, Tony. Now, item number four on the agenda: we are going to be audited.
T, F and L: No. Not again! So soon?
J: Yes. Company policy, I’m afraid. I need somebody to write a report on our business activities over the last 12 months. Is anybody interested in doing that? Tony, how do you feel about taking responsibility for that? You have the most experience.
T: Well, it’s a bit difficult, Janette, you know. I’ve got the department meeting to organize and then the budget to do and then Mr Mischkovic.
F: I could look after Mr. Mischkovic for you, Tony.
T: No, I mean, I’m not saying…
J: Would you mind prioritizing this, Tony? It’s really very important.
T: Oh. Well, I suppose so.
J: Thanks. Can you send me the report by Friday midday? Then you can relax over the weekend with Mr. Mischkovic!

Running a teleconference

Hi, this is Lee Ming here.

Useful Tips

  • One person should take the role of the facilitator. The facilitator should lay out the ground rules for the meeting at the start and control the participants. Only the facilitator should interrupt another speaker. Otherwise, it can get very confusing.
  • As with regular meetings, there should be a clear agenda, if possible with strict time limits for each item.
  • The facilitator should ask people by name to contribute to specific topics. Each speaker should give their name before speaking.
  • Clarity is essential in a teleconference, so native speakers should aim to speak clearly, for example minimizing the use of difficult idioms, and non-native speakers should ask if anything is unclear.
  • The facilitator should do a summary of all points discussed at the end of the teleconference.

Track 59

Janette: …so that’s Petra, Carlo, Sanjay. We’re just waiting for Lee Ming and then…
System: Ping! Speaker 5 is entering the conference room.
Lee Ming: Hi, this is Lee Ming here.
J: Great! So, it’s Janette here. Thank you all for participating today. Before we start, let’s just check some ground rules for telephone conferences. Please always give your name first, so that we all know who’s speaking. Also, don’t interrupt other speakers, please. I’ll make sure that we keep the conversation on track and don’t lose any time. Finally, please could you make sure that you speak clearly and just let me know if anything is unclear? OK?
Petra, Carlo, Sanjay and Lee Ming: Yes. Fine. Good. OK.
J: Right, let’s run through the agenda. First of all we want to look at…
P: …the hardware and the software is now being tested and will be ready…
C: But Petra, that’s not the problem at all! We need to know when!
J: Janette here. Sorry Carlo, can you let Petra finish? As I said at the beginning of the teleconference, just one speaker at a time.
C: Ah yes. Um, Carlo here. Sorry about that. Could you repeat that, Petra? About the software testing?
P: Petra here. No problem. So it’ll be ready…
S: …and we think that the advantages of outsourcing all activities to Mumbai will be much greater if we are working closely with Singapore.
LM: Hmm. Lee Ming here. I’m not sure what you mean by “closely”.
S: Sanjay here. Well, we have a lot of software programmers who could quickly develop the products that your people in Singapore design.
J: Janette here. What do you think about that, Lee Ming?
LM: Lee Ming here. Um, well it depends on what the designers are looking for because…
J: …Well, that was very helpful, I think. So, let me recap our discussion. The next step is for all of us to begin work on speaking with all the key suppliers in Mumbai… and when that’s finished, the project will be over. Is that acceptable for you, Sanjay and Lee Ming?
S and LM: Yes. That’s fine.
J: And how about you, Petra and Carlo? Any questions?
P and C: No, I’m happy. Sounds good.
J: Excellent! Then, I think that’s enough for today. We have another meeting scheduled for…