Meetings in English

meeting at our offices on 25 November. The meeting is scheduled to take place from 3.00 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. Please find attached directions to our offices.
    I very much look forward to meeting you on 25 November. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information in the meantime.
    Yours sincerely
    David Braun
Example 2: confirming a meeting (email to a colleague)
    Subject: meeting of 25 March – Peter Smith ok
    Wanda
    Just to let you know that Peter Smith can make the meeting on 25 Nov after all. I made a reservation for the Arctic meeting room from 3 to 4.30. Hope you can still make it!
    Best
    David
Useful phrases
    As a participant invited to a meeting, you can also confirm by phone:
Hello. My name is Sarah Hughes and I'm calling from XYZ Com. I am due to attend a meeting at your company on 14 May and I would just like to
check the best way to reach your offices by car/public transport?
confirm the time of the meeting.
check whether there is an overhead projector in the meeting room?
find out if there any suitable hotels near to your offices?
Useful vocabulary
    at short notice: kurzfristig
    to bring it forward: vorverlegen
    to decline: (von vornherein) ablehnen
    to reschedule: verlegen, neu anberaumen
    inconvenience: Unannehmlichkeit
    directions: Wegbeschreibung
    to postpone a meeting: (nach hinten) verschieben
    to attend a meeting: dabei sein, teilnehmen
    to make the meeting: schaffen
    Making the agenda
    All well-structured meetings should have an agenda, which is usually prepared by the chairperson. Depending on the type of meeting, agendas can be formal or informal, but all should start by stating the date, time and location of the meeting.
    It is useful to include the name of the person who will be presenting a specific agenda item. You may also find it helpful to include a note of the time allocated to each point. Some more detailed agendas also state objectives for individual agenda items, for example: „Agree on product design“.
    Formal agendas differ from informal agendas in that they start with routine items, which always appear in a specific order. In addition, each point on the agenda is clearly numbered. Nowadays, agendas for all but the most important company meetings (board meetings, annual general meetings) tend to use an informal style.
    Catchwords and abbreviations
    Note how both informal and formal agendas have a concise style and tend to be written in note-like form, often omitting articles before nouns and using abbreviations. For example, AOB stands for „any other business“, which refers to topics that are not covered by other agenda items or which have arisen after the agenda was distributed.
    Examples
Example 1: informal agenda (eg customer or team meetings)
    Agenda for end-of-year sales meeting
    5 January, 9.00–10.30 a.m., Meeting room 2A
Presentation of last year's sales figures (Andreas) – 15 mins
Forecasts and targets for the coming year (Sally) – 15 mins
Analysis of last year's sales promotions (Peter) – 15 mins
Proposals for and scheduling of promotions for the current year (all) – 45 mins
Example 2: formal agenda (eg board meetings)
    Agenda: Quarterly board meeting
    10 April, 10.00–11.30 a.m., Board room suite
Apologies
Minutes of the last meeting
Matters arising from the minutes
Presentation of first quarter results (CEO)
Departmental presentations (heads)
Motions
AOB
    Compiling the agenda
    Besides giving the meeting structure, the purpose of the agenda is to ensure that the time available is only used for discussing the items listed. Some people hold that topics that are important enough to be discussed should be included as items on the agenda, keeping AOB to a minimum. This can be done by asking participants to submit items for inclusion on the agenda. Email is a practical means of doing this, especially when a large group of people is involved. If the agenda is long, or in the case of a formal meeting, you may wish tocirculate the draft agenda to participants as an email attachment, rather than including it in the body of an email.
    Examples
Example 1: asking for contributions to the agenda
    Subject: agenda for end-of-year sales meeting, 5 January
    Dear all,
    Thank you all for agreeing to attend the end-of-year sales meeting on 5 January, from 9.00–10.30 a.m. in meeting room 2A.
    As usual, the items below will be included on the agenda. Please could you let me know by 20 December if you would like any further items to be added to the