we all know 2020 was the year of zoom
and that line you're on mute
you're on mute and 2021
isn't very different is it so it's no
surprise that over the last several
months i've received quite a few
requests
on zoom etiquette in english and
what are effective phrases you can use
to have a successful discussion
on video conferencing platforms so
whether you've been tasked
with leading a business meeting on a
video conferencing platform
or maybe you've decided to organize a
group of friends to listen to some
english podcasts and then talk about
them
and you're going to be using something
like zoom to do that today's
confident english lesson is for you if
you don't already know i'm anne-marie
with speak confident english
everything i do is designed to help you
get the confidence you want for your
life and work in english
that definitely includes conversations
on video conferencing platforms and
making sure
you know exactly what to say no matter
what happens
by the end of this confident english
lesson today not only will you have a
better grasp
of zoom etiquette overall but you'll
also have essential phrases
that will help you minimize technical
issues handle interruptions
and take control of any situation that
may come up
successfully
to help give a structure or a framework
for this video today
we're going to look at seven different
phases of a typical video conferencing
meeting
or different scenarios that may arise
that require
some effective phrases to help ensure
smooth communication
so again whether you're leading a
business meeting or
you're participating in an english
conversation
in a zoom classroom let's start first
with what to do at the beginning to
prepare for a successful discussion
before you even get started there are
definitely steps you can take to help
minimize the potential for technical
disruptions during the conversation
if you're the one leading the discussion
of course you want to test the software
your microphone your video
everything related to the video
conferencing platform before the meeting
starts
in addition to that you should ask your
participants to do the same
and there are two ways you can do that
in a very polite way
first you can send a simple quick email
to all of the participants
asking them to test the software their
video and microphone in advance
especially if this is their first time
using the particular platform
one very easy sentence you can use in
your email is something like
if you've never used this video platform
before we'll
open the meeting room early so that you
have time to test your microphone
and your video before the meeting starts
secondly
it's important to follow through with
that and make sure that you're able to
open the meeting
five or ten minutes early give your
participants time to get set up
rather than just having a blank screen
while your participants join
you could create a slide or an image in
advance
and share that with your participants so
that they see a note
that says we will start our meeting or
we will start our discussion right on
time
please be sure to test your microphone
and your video before the meeting starts
in addition to making sure everything
technical is prepared for in advance
the second thing you can do in this
phase is to review the agenda
and share that in advance as well if you
have
others who will be contributing to the
discussion or that you know
you will ask to share some key details
let them know in advance give them time
to be prepared
so that they can be concise and clear in
the meeting
this same rule applies to any effective
discussion
so before the meeting make sure that you
take time to consider
what the key topics will be who will be
responsible for
talking about those topics or giving
updates and what
if anything will be expected from the
participants
are you expecting everyone to
participate in the discussion
if so let them know in advance the next
phase
is your welcome and greeting phase plus
introductions
just like you would do in any
professional environment definitely
start with a greeting
a quick hello good morning or good
afternoon if you're the host of the
discussion
and there are participants who are new
to you you should definitely introduce
yourself at the beginning
the same is true for anyone who may be
presenting speaking or contributing
significantly to the discussion because
it's important to get right to the
agenda
you want to make sure that the
introductions are quick and concise
so here are two simple formulas to help
you do that
if you're hosting a professional meeting
you could use something like
hi everyone i'm anne marie the director
of speak confident english and i'll be
your host for the discussion today
or good morning everyone i'm lena i'm a
junior analyst at kpmg
and i'll be leading the discussion today
do you notice in both of those i'm
including the name
the title or job position and the
organization where someone works
now if it's a more casual discussion for
example a book club or a podcast
listening club
you definitely want something more
informal so rather than focus on your
professional background
you'll probably talk more about where
you're from or some kind of a fun fact
here are two quick examples hey everyone
i'm anne-marie i'm from dc and i joined
this book club because i love
mystery novels here's another one
hi everyone i'm anne-marie i'm from
washington dc
and i love mystery novels i've read
everything by agatha christie in both
scenarios after you've finished your
introduction it's a great practice to
end with something positive
you can keep it simple with something
like i'm happy to join you today
i'm looking forward to our discussion
today or i'm thrilled to be here
now if it makes sense for your
particular meeting or discussion you
could ask
every participant to introduce him or
herself
when you do that it's important to tell
your participants what they should
include in their introduction
it will help keep everyone concise a
great way to do that
is with something like there are some
unfamiliar faces here today so let's do
a quick round of introductions
then be sure to call on each individual
person
this will ensure that the process of
introductions flows smoothly
the third scenario in a typical online
meeting is establishing ground rules to
ensure
smooth communication and to help
minimize distractions
as the host or leader not only do you
want to demonstrate
active listening skills but you also
want to encourage your participants
to utilize active listening skills as
well
now in an online meeting active
listening skills are a bit different
in face-to-face conversations english
speakers
love using verbal cues to indicate
active
listening you'll hear a lot of english
speakers use things like
oh that's interesting right
these cues are fantastic in conversation
but
they don't always work in an online
platform
sometimes they do it depends on what
you're using
but if everyone's on mute or if there
are too many people in the meeting to
utilize verbal cues you can also
encourage your participants to use
active body language and utilize
other features of your video
conferencing platform
for example on zoom there are reactions
that people can
use to indicate uh thumbs up clapping
their hands or other emojis to indicate
that they're an agreement or that they
like what someone has said
these are all signs that someone is
listening carefully
and they're engaged in the discussion if
you want to encourage your participants
to do something like that
here are a few statements you can use if
you have any questions during the
meeting today the easiest way to let me
know
is to use the raised hand emoji and
don't hesitate to let others know if you
agree or like something that they said
by using the clapping hand or a thumbs
up
if you have any difficulties or need to
leave early please let us know
by sending a quick message in the chat
by sharing all of this
up front you're establishing ground
rules to help ensure
smooth communication and minimizing
potential disruptions
now just like an online meeting may not
be the best place for verbal cues
it may not be the best place for using
those reaction emojis either
if you're giving a presentation to
hundreds of people
that might not be the best place to do
that so instead you can encourage your
participants to use
visual cues or body language and facial
expressions
if you see a hundred faces on zoom but
everybody's doing this
how would that make you feel as the
speaker
it would definitely be uncomfortable so
encourage your participants to
turn off other distractions and be
focused
on the speaker lastly if you're hosting
a meeting that is more of a discussion
where you want
participants to jump into the
conversation
ask questions share their ideas tell
them
that that's what's expected to do this
you want to encourage effective
turn taking what that means is that one
person is allowed to speak
say everything that they need without
interruption and then it's the next
person's turn to speak
you can encourage them to do that by
using the raised hand emoji so you know
who wants to contribute
or asking individuals to share a comment
in the chat
so that you know they want to contribute
whenever possible
it's best to avoid interrupting but
sometimes we need to do it
now i have a whole lesson on how to
politely interrupt someone on english
but here are three quick ways to do that
with all of them i recommend that you
include some kind of a visual cue
we often use our body language to
indicate that we're about to jump in
you'll see someone lean forward
and maybe even put their hand up
something like this
so you might say i'm so sorry to
interrupt but i'd like to ask a quick
question
or i'm sorry to interrupt but i'd like
to add one more thing to what you said
before we move on a third example i
apologize for interrupting but i want to
clarify something that you said
alright so at this point you've prepared
in advance
you've greeted or welcomed all of your
participants
maybe you've led some introductions and
you've established
effective ground rules to ensure there's
clear communication
and you're minimizing distractions the
fourth scenario
is to practice effective time management
at the beginning we talked about
preparing in advance and providing the
agenda
doing that in advance will ensure a more
effective discussion
because everyone's ready to talk about
the key issues
time management also includes that turn
taking that we talked about
making sure that your participants know
how and when they can best contribute to
the conversation
from time to time individuals ask
questions that
take you away from the main discussion
or get you off topic
and here's what you can say to manage
this that's a great question but i want
to make sure that we have time to get
through our full agenda
so let's come back to it at the end
today thanks for asking that question
i'll make sure that we save time at the
end of our meeting today
to answer any questions that are outside
of the agenda
similarly you want to ensure that no one
dominates the conversation
or takes the conversation off track if
you notice that someone starts to do
that
you can jump in and say something like
that's a really great idea
or that's a great suggestion hold on to
that thought
because i'd like to come back to it at
the end of the discussion today
or i appreciate your comments sue that's
a really good point
let's see what others have to say on
that and lastly if you know there's just
a little bit of time left and you still
have topics that you need to discuss on
your agenda you can say something like
we are almost at the end of the meeting
so let's try to get through the last
three items
this will help everyone return their
focus to the meeting agenda
the fifth scenario that you need to be
prepared for is how to handle
interruptions because they will
happen it might be a dog barking someone
at the door knocking a baby crying
construction outside your window
or some unexpected technical issue
when any of those things happen here are
some ways to handle it
i'm so sorry you'll have to forgive the
noise in the background
could you come back to me in a moment i
need to put myself on mute for a second
if someone interrupts you you can
respond with
sorry let me finish my thought and then
you can go ahead or
one moment please i'd like to mention
one more thing before we move on
sometimes interruptions are caused by
technical issues that are completely out
of our control
and we may even lose the ability to stay
connected to the online meeting
in those situations it is always a good
practice to let
everyone know what's happening you can
send a message in the chat
to let everyone know you're having a
technical difficulty or if necessary
send an email
when you do that always let them know
what you plan to do
going ahead if you're a participant you
can let the host know that you'll review
the notes
if you're the host or the leader you can
let them know
when you will try to reschedule the
meeting
the sixth common scenario for an online
meeting is
asking other people to wait while you
do something for example if you're the
host of the meeting or in my case if
you're the teacher
and you want to share your screen or you
have a presentation that you want to
share
you'll often use phrases like bear with
me for a moment
i seem to have lost my presentation
slides
please wait for a moment while i get
ready to share my slides
i apologize for the wait please give me
a moment so that i can share my screen
then when others have waited make sure
to thank them for their patience and
you can simply say thank you so much for
waiting or thanks for your patience and
finally to bring a close
to effective zoom etiquette and
must-have phrases
is end your meeting or your discussion
on a high note
what that means is to end with something
positive
if you're the host of the meeting you
can end by providing a quick summary or
highlighting the key takeaways you can
do that with a sentence starter like
let's go over the priorities to
summarize we will
and then give your action steps to
quickly recap
and then again give your key takeaways
or the key points
after you've done that you can thank
everyone for their time with something
simple like
we got a lot done today thank you so
much for your time and patience
or thanks everyone for coming this was a
fascinating discussion
and finally just like you started with a
typical greeting you would use in any
situation
you can also end with a goodbye for
example
i hope you all have a great weekend i'll
see you next week
or have a great day everyone and with
that you have
over 30 must have phrases for effective
online meetings in english before we
finish i'd love to hear from you
if you've hosted led or participated in
an online meeting is there a phrase
that you always use that i didn't
mention today
if there is i'd love to know and you can
share it with me in the comment section
below
if you found today's lesson useful to
you be sure to give it a thumbs up here
on youtube
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english channel so you
never miss one of my confident english
lessons thank you so much for joining me
today and i look forward to seeing you
next time