Business meetings: 20+ key sentences in English.

Very often meetings within larger companies or international meetings are held in English, the language of business.

Is English not your mother tongue? Then you may not always feel confident to spontaneously bring up certain topics during a meeting, to interrupt a colleague or to give your opinion.

We would like to give you some examples of expressions that will certainly be useful for your next business meeting in English.

Starting a meeting in English

Welcoming people at the start of a meeting

When you're ready to start the meeting, you'll first need to get everyone's attention. You can use the following sentences to welcome everyone:

• Good morning / Good afternoon. 

• Thank you all for coming.

• I’d like to welcome everyone.

• I’d like to thank everyone for coming today.

• I appreciate everyone being here.

• I would like to thank you for being here on time.

• I wish to thank you all for coming at such short notice.

Starting a meeting in English

Is everyone present and can the meeting start? Then it is time to get the attention of everyone and start with your agenda items.

• Since everyone is here, let’s get started.

• I've called this meeting in order to ...

• We’re here today to discuss ...

• Thank you for getting here on time. Today we’re here to discuss ...

• I’ve scheduled this meeting so that we…

• The purpose of today’s meeting is…

• Today, we are going to…

• We’re here to discuss the progress on ...

Asking others to introduce themselves

Are you starting a meeting with several people who don't know each other yet? Have everyone briefly introduce themselves before you start with your agenda items.

• Let’ s go around the table and introduce ourselves. 

• Let’ s introduce ourselves quickly.

• Could everyone briefly introduce themselves?

• I would like to introduce… 

• I would like to begin by introducing…

• It’s my pleasure to introduce…

• Please state your name, job title and why you are here.

• (Name) do you want to start?

Saying something during a meeting

Interrupting someone during a meeting

If you want to say something during a business meeting and you need to interrupt someone, you can say: 

• Sorry, but just to clarify ...

• Sorry I didn’t quite hear that, can you say it again?

• Excuse me for interrupting.

• I’m sorry, could you repeat that, please?

• Can you run that by me one more time, please?

• I’m afraid I didn’t quite understand that. Could you say it one more time, please?

• I missed that. Could you say it again, please?

• Can you repeat what you just said?

• I’m sorry, would you mind repeating that again.

• Can you repeat that, please?

• Could you explain to me how that is going to work?

Asking others if they have questions or feedback

Sharing your opinion during a business meeting is not easy for some. But sometimes it's important to hear everyone's opinion to make sure everybody agrees.

If not everyone has responded yet, you can help them by involving them in a discussion and asking their opinion. This way you take the first step and it makes it easier for them to start speaking in a group:

• Are there any more comments?

• What do you think about this proposal?

• How do you feel about this?

• What is your opinion on this subject?

• What are your views on…?

• Can we hear what you have to say about this?

• Are there any areas of this project we are not thinking about?

Sharing your own opinion during a meeting

If you want to express your opinion after the presentation or during a discussion, you can start with: 

• I think that this is a great idea.

• I completely agree with that.

• That is how I see it too.

• I have to agree with (name).

• That’s a great point, but maybe we should consider all the options.

• Great job for noticing that, but have you considered…?

• I see where your idea is coming from, but maybe we should change the direction a little bit.

• I see where you’re coming from, but… 

• I’m sorry but I have to disagree on this because…

Ending a discussion during a meeting

Time is precious to everyone. To keep an eye on the timing of your meeting, it is important not to let discussions drag on endlessly. You can end a discussion so that you can continue with the meeting:

• Can we continue this discussion later and go back to…?

• We are getting out off topic. Can we return to…?

• Can we go back to our subject, please?

• I’m afraid we are running out of time, so could we go back to…?

• We can continue talking about this later. Now, let’s go back to our previous subject.

Ending your business meeting in English

Is your meeting coming to an end and is it time to finish? Then you can use the following key sentences in English.

Concluding something at the end of the meeting

• To summarize then, let me just run through what we’ve agreed here.

• Before we end, let me just summarize the three main points.

• I would like to briefly cover the topics we mentioned today.

• Before we finish, let’s go over everything we talked about today.

• Let’s quickly summarize the main points of today’s meeting. 

• That brings me to the end of my presentation, thank you for listening.

• Any final thoughts before we close the meeting?

• If you have further questions or want to discuss any of it in more detail, we can meet privately or you can send me an email.

• I’d like to thank everyone for sharing their time today and any feedback would be valuable.

• I’d love to continue this conversation at a second meeting. When are you next free?

• We haven’t covered everything we needed to. Shall we set up another meeting?

Thanking everyone at the end of a meeting

Every meeting, short or long, requires effort from everyone. Do not forget to thank everyone for their presence and active participation in the meeting:

• I would like to thank everyone for coming today.

• Thank you all for your time.

• Thank you for your participation in today’s meeting.

• I want to thank everybody for a productive meeting.

• I would like to thank you all for sharing your time today.

With the help of these standard phrases, you will be able to start and end a business meeting in English with confidence! 

Do you need help in order to be able to speak more fluently and with confidence in English?

Do you need more specific help or coaching to be able to lead or participate in business meetings in English? Then you can contact one of our language coaches.

Together with your coach you will learn useful vocabulary and key sentences that apply to your job and company, and you will practise situations you are often confronted with. 

Before you know it you will start a meeting without hesitation!