Speak Business English Like an American » LESSON 12 - Running a Meeting
Julia: Let's get down to business. We need to cover a lot of ground. Our first agenda item is to figure out how we're going to respond to all the complaints we've been getting about our new website.
Larry: Just so we're all on the same page, please give us an overview of the problem.
Julia: In a nutshell, our customers are complaining that it's very difficult to place orders through the new website.
Sally: I think we jumped the gun by not conducting focus groups with our customers before we launched our new website.
Larry: More focus groups? Every time I turn around we're running focus groups! It's gotten out of hand.
Sally: I beg to differ. Focus groups are very important. They help us better understand our customer.
Julia: Well, clearly you two don't see eye to eye on this issue.
Larry: Ha! That's putting it lightly! Focus groups are a waste of time and they...
Julia: Excuse me, let's not get off track here. Does anybody else want to weigh in on the issue at hand?
Carl: If I can put in you two cents, I agree with Sally that focus groups would've been a good idea.
Julia: Well, enough about focus groups for now. Let's move on to our next agenda item —. planning for our company offsite.
Larry: Wait, I'm not finished talking about the website!
Julia: We can circle back to that at the end of our meeting if we have time. I want to keep us on schedule since I know many of us have another meeting at 11 o'clock.
NOTE: This expression is overused. You will likely hear it, but you may not want to use it.
ORIGIN: A runner "jumps the gun" if he or she starts running before the starter's pistol has been fired.
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