Meetings in English

contact with everyone in the group, don't avoid it by looking at the ceiling, the flipchart, the walls …
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Play with your voice: emphasise important points, breathe deeply to make your voice stronger, make your voice more interesting by modulating your pitch.
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Express yourself accurately: no generalisations, avoid words like „never“, „always“, „everyone“.
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Keep your hands and feet still – no fiddling or fidgeting.
Useful grammar
    Don't forget that question tags may also be used to make a statement more palatable to your counterpart and to urge him or her to react. Note that a negative tag asks for agreement, whereas a positive tag shows that you are looking to your counterpart to share your disagreement.
I think April is a good month for team trainings, don't you?
Mr Meyer isn't the right person for the job, is he?
Useful vocabulary
    to slash: radikal kürzen
    to pose a threat to: eine Gefahr darstellen für
    directive: Richtlinie
    to fiddle: herumfummeln
    to fidget: auf dem Stuhl herumrutschen
    to face the music: die Suppe auslöffeln
    emphatically: betont
    Enquiring and resolving misunderstandings
    Remember, it is always better to resolve a misunderstanding immediately so that it cannot lead to problems later or cause the meeting to drift off in a completely different direction. One way to check the facts is to ask for them again.
    Asking for repetition
    Example: sorry?
    A: So, overall, the figures for … [sound of loud drilling outside]
    B: I'm sorry, it's terribly noisy with the window open. I didn't hear your last point. Could you run through it again, please?
    A: [speaks very quickly] I was just saying that until we look at the figures we just aren't in a position to know if it actually made a difference to the bottom line and it would be premature to move onto A3 without taking this step. We really should hold fire on this for a while.
    B: Okay, so just to clarify, by A3 you're referring to the summer promotion?
    A: That's right.
    B: I'm not sure I fully understand the point you were making about A3.
    A: In a nutshell, we need to gauge the success of the previous promotion before launching the new one.
    B: I see – and yes, I totally agree.
    A good way to ask your counterpart for repetition or clarification of what they said is to use the following question words:
What did you say?
Who did you say?
When did you say?
Why did you say?
How many/much did you say?
Useful phrases
I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that/the last thing you said.
I'm sorry, it's a little noisy outside. I didn't hear what you just said.
I'm sorry, could you speak a little louder, please?
I'm sorry, would you mind repeating that last point, please?
I'm sorry, could you repeat your first point for me, please?
Sorry, could you explain that again, please?
I'm afraid I'm not quite clear what you mean.
Sorry, I don't quite follow you.
Sorry, I'm not sure I understood. Would you mind going over that again?
    Summarising for clarification
    Another good way to check your understanding is to reformulate the speaker's point in your own words.
Useful phrases
Are you saying that you can't deliver next week?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but …
Did I get it right that …?
Have I understood you right? Do you mean …?
So, just to check I understand you correctly, do you mean …?
Just to clarify, do you mean …?
So, just to make sure we're all singing from the same hymn sheet, you're saying that …
To quickly summarise, your point is that …
Just to recap, are you saying that …?
    Asking double questions
    In natural English, speakers often double up a question to check what somebody said or to find out what they meant, for example:
    Warranty? What exactly do you mean by warranty?
    Whereabouts is Kemer? I mean, how far is it to the nearest airport?
    Recapping and confirming
    If you're the speaker, you may feel it is important to clarify your point or to check that the other participants have understood.
Useful phrases
What I meant was …
What I mean to say is that …
The point I'm making is …
Are you with me so far?
Are you following me?
Does that make sense?
Do you understand what I mean?
I'm afraid that isn't quite what I meant.
There seems to have been a slight misunderstanding.
Maybe I didn't make myself clear.
The point I'm making is that we are wasting a lot of manpower with the old equipment.
Actually, I am not talking about renting, I am talking about profitability.
Useful grammar
    There are specific verbs in the