English for personal assistants - part 15 ppsx

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Task 6
Match the expressions1–16tothetasks a) – j) that an effective chairperson/
facilitator would do. There may be more than one expression for a task. Write the
letter of the task in the box. The first one has been done for you.
Expressions Tasks
1. So, Alice agreed to , can we have your response by next week? j
2. What do you think of ?
3. Will a coffee break at 11 be OK?
4. I’d like to thank everyone for coming and
5. Can I just summarise the main points/views/problems?
6. Can we come to your point later, please?
7. May I suggest we begin by ?
8. Great, could you outline the problem as you see it?
9. So, what you’re saying is
10. OK, I suggest we finish. We’ve achieved our main objectives.
11. Can we all agree on this? Good, well let’s move on
12. Now, as you probably know
13. Right, as we’ve agreed in principle to the only thing left is to
14. Mrs XYZ will take notes you’ll all get a copy later
15. Just a minute Corinna, let Martina finish what she’s saying
16. If I understand you correctly, you mean
Tasks
a) Getting people’s attention and opening the meeting
b) Giving the background to the meeting
c) Agreeing the general process
d) Suggesting procedures
e) Assigning roles
f) Ensuring clarity from the participants for the benefit of everyone
g) Keeping the discussion moving forward
h) Keeping control

i) Securing agreement
j) Closing the meeting/summing up/next steps
70 Meetings
Participating in a meeting
Very often, of course, we don’t chair a meeting, we are participants and have to
express ourselves in a way that doesn’t offend anyone but yet allows us to convey our
message clearly.
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Task 7
Underline and number the expressions in the following dialogue that:
1. express agreement
2. express disagreement
3. make suggestions
4. interrupt
5. deal with interruptions
Christine: I think the move is a bad idea because if sales and marketing are in a
different place,
Helene: No hang on a minute you know we’re really overcrowded here and
Christine: Let me finish what I’m saying please what I wanted to say is that it’ll take
longer to get, say, a particular piece of information if we’re physically in
different buildings and if
Helene: I don’t think so we’ll just use the phone and email more and it’ll save
time
Christine: Yeah, OK I guess you’re right there but what about face-to-face meetings –
those’ll just get harder and
Helene: Yes but why don’t we schedule them in? It’ll be more time-effective than
just seeing each other on an ad-hoc basis.
Expressions for agreeing/disagreeing and giving opinions
Here are some other expressions you can use to express agreement/disagreement,
depending on how strongly you feel.

Agreement – strong I completely agree/I’m in total agreement
Agreement – neutral I agree/I think I can accept your position on that
Agreement – partial I agree in principle but /I I take your point but have you
thought about
Disagreement – strong You’re completely mistaken/Under no circumstances could I
agree to that
Participating in a meeting 71
Disagreement – neutral I disagree/I can’t go along with that
Softening disagreement I’m sorry but /I respect your point of view, however
Giving opinions
Another thing we usually have to do in meetings is to express our opinions and/or ask
others for theirs. Here are some expressions you can use to do this:
Giving opinions – strong I’m absolutely convinced that /There’s no
doubt in my mind that
Giving opinions – neutral As far as I’m concerned/From my point of view
Giving opinions – tentative It seems to me that /I would say that
Asking for opinions – to one person What’s your position on this, Ms X?/I’d be
interested to hear your views on this, Mr Y
Asking for opinions – to a group What’s the general feeling about this?/Does any-
one have any comments to make?
᭿ Task 8
Your entire building is going to be non-smoking. You have been asked for your
opinion on the proposed change at a meeting – express your opinion backed up by
your reasons.
Minutes
Generally, after each meeting minutes are distributed to the participants and
forwarded to those who were unable to attend. Minutes should be written up and
distributed as soon as possible after the meeting to reduce errors of memory. They
should be concise and to the point and should not be a transcript of the entire
meeting.

72 Meetings
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Task 9
What should be included in the minutes of a meeting? For example:
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date, time, and venue
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Minutes 73
Sample Minutes
The regular weekly meeting of the marketing department was held on Friday,
August 10, 20XX at 11 a.m. All department members were present. The minutes of
the previous month’s meeting were read and approved.
The reports from the marketing research institutes have been received and placed
on file.
The new marketing strategy was discussed and consensus reached that we should
proceed with market research. All participants present agreed that we would go
ahead with the X Market Research Institute as they seem to be the most appropriate
for our new product. They will carry out a consumer survey on our behalf to
determine acceptance of our new product, establish what competitors are currently
pricing similar products at, and will come back with recommendations to us on
pricing and positioning.
Ms R has agreed to be the contact person for the research institute and will report
back on their progress at our next marketing meeting. The next meeting will take
place at 11 a.m. on Friday August 17, 20XX.
8 Writing promotional copy
This unit merges all the skills required to produce good promotional copy.
Copywriters need a flair for writing this kind of text as well as editing and

proofreading skills.
Editing is what you begin doing as soon as you finish your first draft. You scrutinise
the content. Moreover, you want to reread it to see, for example, if the text is
well-organised, and if the transitions (for example, linking words) between sentences
and/ or paragraphs are smooth.
Proofreading is the final stage of the editing process, focusing on surface errors such
as misspellings and mistakes in grammar and punctuation. You should proofread only
after you have finished all of your other editing revisions.
What’s the purpose of the text you’re writing?
This may seem a simplistic question but it’s one that’s easy to ignore when there’s the
buzz of an advertising drive running through the company. The question should be
made more specific: is the aim to advertise your brand or to get a direct response (a
purchase or a request for a brochure)?
Two types of advertising
Brand advertising is used by big companies to build and increase awareness of their
brand. This type of advertising can consume huge amounts of money and is rarely
appropriate for smaller companies.
Direct response advertising is used when you want to get a clear response: a sale or an
enquiry.
Understanding the distinction between these two types of advertising will have a huge
influence on how you write your copy. However, one thing is always certain; you have
to have a catchy headline. The headline is either the heading that goes at the top of
the ad or if there’s no heading, it’s the first words of the ad. If you’re on the radio, it’s
the first thing people hear. If it’s TV, it’s the first thing they see and hear. The
headline needs to grab people’s attention.