Unit 1: Why are we here? -- Communication skills: Key features of an effective meeting -- Language knowledge: Discussing and evaluating meetings -- Meetings practice: Calling a meeting

Unit 2: Where do we start? -- Communication skills: How to open a meeting, objectives, roles, procedure -- Language knowledge: Opening a meeting -- Meetings practice: Opening a meeting

Unit 3: Where are we going? -- Communication skills: How to control the direction of a meeting -- Language knowledge: Linking items and ideas -- Meetings practice: Structuring a meeting

Unit 4: Your views count -- Communication skills: How to interrupt, and to hold the floor -- Language knowledge: Interrupting and finishing a point -- Meetings practice: Presenting arguments and interrupting

Unit 5: Keeping to the point -- Communication skills: Focusing on essentials, active listening techniques -- Language knowledge: Questioning and clarifying -- Meetings practice: Questioning techniques for specific information

Unit 6: What’s the idea? -- Communication skills: Eliciting ideas, managing interruptions and dominant speakers -- Language knowledge: Asking for, giving, and commenting on opinions -- Meetings practice: Participating in a brainstorming meeting

Unit 7: Making decisions -- Communication skills: Obtaining consensus and making difficult decisions -- Language knowledge: Agreement and disagreement, recommendations -- Meetings practice: Participating in a decision-making meeting

Unit 8: What’s next? -- Communication skills: How to end a meeting effectively -- Language knowledge: Summarizing, clarifying, and closing -- Meetings practice: Organizing and participating in full-length meeting

"Effective Meetings is a practical, video-based course designed for professional people who need to attend meetings in English. It takes learners systematically through the core communication and language skills needed to participate effectively in meetings, and helps them to develop these skills in meaningful and realistic ways. With the video as its central component, the course is divided into eight units which deal progressively with the key elements of meetings, from preparation and organization through to decision-making ad follow-up action. It focuses on useful language for performing these skills, and offers authentic meetings practice tasks which draw on the learner’s own knowledge and experience. The video illustrates both bad and good extracts from meetings for analysis and discussion. In each unit, it demonstrates what can go wrong in different situations, and why. It looks at ways to avoid such problems, and provides a positive model for learners to follow. Effective Meetings is intended for intermediate and upper-intermediate level students, and lends itself both to classroom-based teaching and elements of self-study. It can be used as a short intensive specialist course, or integrated into a wider-ranging Business English programme. The course consists of four interdependent components: a 30 minute video, accompanying Student’s Book, audio cassette, and Teacher’s Book. Effective Meetings was developed from materials used by York Associates, a specialist language and communications training partnership based in York, England" (Book cover).

Intended for intermediate and upper-intermediate level students (B1-B2).