The Language for Interaction (written and oral)

Meeting 1: Discussing the issue  

Email call for meeting (Written interaction)

Subject:  [SHOULD REFLECT THE TOPIC/CALL FOR ACTION]

Dear…

We would like to call a meeting for [date/time], in which we will discuss the issue of [issue] (agenda attached).

Please review the following material and come prepared with any comments you have regarding the issue:

[material]

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely

[name]

[position]

[contact info]

Agenda attachment  (Written interaction)

TimeSubjectParticipant
Welcome and review of agenda[team leader]
Description of issue
Comments about issue: 1
Comments about issue: 2
Comments about issue: 3
Summary and next steps[team leader]

Meeting language  (Oral interaction)

Welcome and review of agenda

Good morning/afternoon, everyone.

If we are all here, let’s get started/start the meeting/begin.

We’re here today to … /Our main aim today is to …I’ve called this meeting in order to…

[name of participant], would you mind taking the minutes?

Have you all received a copy of the agenda?

There are X items on the agenda. First, … second, … third, … lastly,…

Can we take the points in this order?

[name of participant], can you describe [issue] briefly for us?

Describing the issue

In general, the issue is…

It can be described in/broken down into [number of stages/parts].

The first [stage/part] is…

The second [stage/part] is…

So that’s a short summary of the issue.

Prompting comments (repeat x3)

Thank you, [name of participant]. Now I’d like to ask [name] to comment.

Thanks, [name of participant]. Does anyone else have anything to add?

Making comments (repeat x3)

As I see it, this is a very [ADJECTIVE] …issue. /In my opinion, this issue…./It seems that this issue

For example…

Summarizing

Thanks very much for your input today. It looks like we’ve covered the main items.

Before we close today’s meeting, let me just summarize the main points. 

The main comments about the issue are…

Planning for next time

Our next step will be to examine the criteria we’ll use to evaluate possible solutions. 

Thank you very much  for your participation today.

Email with minutes of meeting  (Written interaction)

Subject line: 

Dear colleagues

Please find attached our minutes of the meeting that took place on [date/time].

[CALL FOR ACTION] Should you have any comments, please send them directly to me. 

Best regards / Sincerely

[name]

[position]

[contact info]

Minutes of meeting attachment  (Written interaction)

Minutes of meeting on [date/time] regarding [issue]:

SubjectParticipantMain points
Welcome and review of agenda
Description of issue
Comments about issue: 1
Comments about issue: 2
Comments about issue: 3
Summary and next steps