How to Take Your Staff Meetings from Good to Great Flashcards
“It’s no secret”
phrase
Something is widely known
* It’s no secret that he will be the next CEO.
* I think it’s no secret that that was an awful idea.
Something “sucks”
verb
Something is terrible
* That meeting really sucked.
* This place sucks, let’s go!
A necessary evil
noun
Something that is undesirable but must be accepted
* Paying one’s rent is a necessary evil.
* He sees hiring lawyers as a necessary evil.
“Short and sweet”
adjective
Brief but pleasant
* Her comments were short and sweet.
* I enjoyed your performance, it was short and sweet!
Attention span
noun
The length of time a person can concentrate on something
* Some believe that young people’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter.
* I don’t have the attention span to sit through the entire presentation.
pertain (to someone)
phrasal verb
To be relevant to someone
* This info does not really pertain to us.
* There is no reason to discuss this since it doesn’t pertain to anyone here.
Check out (of something)
phrasal verb
To stop paying attention to something
* After a few hours most of the audience had already checked out.
* Try to keep your meetings short or people will start checking out.
Stick to an agenda
verbal phrase
To keep to an agenda
* Please try to stick to the agenda today.
* He has a bad habit of not sticking to the agenda.
Prep
noun
Preparation
* I need to do some prep before my trip to Hong Kong.
* She didn’t have enough time to do any prep for the meeting.
“On top of that”
phrase
In addition to something (usually bad)
* We couldn’t get to the meeting on time, and on top of that we also forgot some documents.
* Your performance this year was not so great, on top of that you were often late.
ADD
noun
Attention Deficit Disorder (used to indicate the inability to concentrate on one thing at a time)
* Sorry I missed your call, I’m very ADD today.
* I think he has ADD, he’s always getting distracted.
Get sidetracked
phrasal verb
To get distracted from something
* I often get sidetracked when I need to check my emails.
* He got a bit sidetracked from his job.
Move “down the field”
idiom
To continue with something
* We were able to move down the field using his advice.
* Let’s move down the field now.
Productive
adjective
Producing positive results
* Luckily our meetings and events are usually very productive.
* This is not really a productive procedure.
Dole (something) out
phrasal verb
To give out in small amounts
* He usually doles out tasks to his team every Monday morning.
* I doled this project out to several teams.
Gel together
phrasal verb
For people to work well together
* This will help our team gel together a bit better.
* They were not able to gel together because of their personalities.
