职场英语口语(MP3)：During the Meeting

If you have to talk in a meeting, there are three general reasons. You might have to ask a question, state your opinion, or you will have to ask for clarity on something you didn't understand. Let's see some of these sentences.

Raising a Question

Depending on the type of meeting, you might have to wait for the meeting to end before asking a question, you might have to raise your hand to ask a question, or you can simply ask a question any time. I'll give an example on each of these.

If you are in a type of meeting where you can ask a question at any time, then you can say this.

"I have a question. Why is marketing not handling the portion on end user analysis? They usually did this work in the past."
"How will the new addition to our project affect the deadline that we have?"
"Are we making sure to incorporate user feedback on the changes we are making?"

Stating your Opinion

Basically, you can ask any questions, there is no specific way to do it. This is the same when you are talking about your opinion. Someone might ask what you think about the idea or situation. You will simply speak your answer.

"I agree with Mark. The correct approach is to send out the tools to our partners before making it public to everyone."

"In my opinion, I think we should introduce our new line of printers in August. Many companies get more funding at this time, and students are school shopping. Our target market will be more responsive to our ads during this time period."

"I think we can go either way. I believe both solutions will take care of it."

Asking for clarity

Asking for clarity is similar to asking a question. The only difference is that they already answered it and you don't understand. So you should state exactly what you don't know, or ask for clarity on a specific part of the question.

"I didn't understand why we are going to be late. I thought we had everything planned out early. What were the reasons again?"

"Can you elaborate on how this process can help the sales department?"

"Can you clarify the second step in your solution proposal? I don't understand why it is necessary."