The language of online meetings

With all of the current restrictions in place and with many of us working from home, at some point you will almost certainly have to take part in an online meeting or teleconference.

For some of us, conference calls are a regular part of our business communication, however for many people they can be a new, challenging situation, especially if the call is held in English. If you do not possess the Business English language skills to participate confidently in an online meeting, it could result in misunderstandings, delays in decision making, or even impact your credibility.

Any modern Business English Communication course should now include the correct language and vocabulary for participating in online meetings, enabling ESL learners to be able to use:

• Professional English language for communicating in online meetings and discussions
• Business phrases for leading a meeting in English
• Phrases and words to help you to deal with an unexpected situation in English during an online meeting, such as a connection issue

10 Professional English expressions for use in online meetings and conference calls

• We can’t hear you, John, are you on mute?
• I’m sharing my screen, can everyone see it?
• You’re cutting out, Louis. Could you say that again?
• Hope you don’t mind me recording our session?
• There’s a bit of background noise. I’ll just mute all of you.
  Please unmute yourself if you want to say something
• I think there is a lag. Tom’s audio doesn’t match his video
• No, I can’t see it yet. It’s still loading.
• The sound quality isn’t clear, please can you speak up?
• That’s it for today. I’ll send you an invite to our next meeting tomorrow.
• Jane’s video has just frozen. It looks like we’ve lost her

The language of online meetings

Crossword