IELTS Speaking Lesson about Meetings

Question 1

IELTS Speaking Vocabulary: Meetings
Here is some useful vocabulary for this topic

Answer 1

To meet
To have a meeting (formal)
To hold / call / schedule a meeting (formal and you organise)
To attend a meeting
To meet up (informal - with friends)
To get together (informal - with friends/family)
To have a get together = family and friends gathering for a dinner / a party

Question 2

When it comes to running a good meeting, organisation is important - here are the phrases you need to know:

Answer 2

• To set an agenda
• To follow the items on the agenda
• To stick to the agenda = follow
• To chair a meeting = to organise the discussion
• To take the minutes = to take official notes
• To jot down some notes - take informal notes
  To give / voice an opinion
  To put back to a later date = to postpone a meeting

Question 3

Different kinds of meetings

Answer 3

If a meeting is only for colleagues within the same company, we call it,
An internal / in-company meeting
When you meet colleagues or customers for the first time, we can say,
* First meeting
* Introductory meeting
* Initial meeting
* Get-to-know-you meeting
*
Other types of meeting might include the following:
* Status updates = give an update on your work activity
* Recurring meetings = happens on a regular basis
* A _follow up meeting (e.g. with potential customers)
* Team-building meetings
* A virtual meeting = an online meeting = a Zoom meeting
* A face-to-face meeting
When specifying the activity of a meeting, we can say,
* Problem-solving meetings
* Brainstorms
* Decision-making meetings
* Information sharing meetings

Question 4

Adjectives to describe meetings

Answer 4

When a meeting is good and with a positive outcome, we can say,
Successful
Valuable = very useful
Fruitful = beneficial (with a good outcome/result)
Productive
Constructive
When a meeting doesn’t go well and doesn’t have a good outcome, we can say,
Difficult = hard work and no clear result (maybe due to personality
clashes, disagreements)
Stormy = very difficult
Fruitless = no result
Inconclusive = no conclusion
Pointless = without meaning

Question 5

What makes a successful meeting?

Answer 5

Here are some ideas on what can make a meeting a successful one:
_Listening carefully
_Being participative
_Working as a team
_Having a well organised and enthusiastic chair (person)
_Having a clear and shared agenda
_Having a clear purpose / goal / outcome

Question 6

Idioms to talk about meetings

Answer 6

To begin a meeting we can say,

• Let’s get the ball rolling
• Let’s get down to business
• It’s time to roll up our sleeves

Question 7

To have your work cut out =

Answer 7

to have a difficult task to do

Question 8

To get to the point

Answer 8

= to say what you mean directly

Question 9

Don’t beat around the bush (=ramble),

Answer 9

please get to the point

Question 10

When it comes to working as a team we can say,

Answer 10

• Put your heads together = to work together
• Work hand in hand = collaborate
• Two heads are better than one = teamwork is a good thing
• We are on the same page = we agree
• We see eye to eye = we agree

Question 11

Blue sky thinking

Answer 11

= Original or creative thinking

Question 12

There are many phrases to say - To begin again from the beginning

Answer 12

• To begin from scratch
• To go back to the drawing board
• To go back to square one

Question 13

To call it a day

Answer 13

= to finish
This is a long meeting, I think it is time to call it a day. Thanks for
coming