business meeting in English

Business Meetings:

Lesson 1 - Starting a Meeting

Alex: On behalf of Vision Corporation, I’d like to call this meeting to order. This is a

meeting of some of the key players in our company: our top managers. Our purpose this

morning is to hear a presentation about a new initiative for outreach and marketing, and

to discuss this plan with all of you.

This is a presentation that all of us have looked forward to. This initiative marks a new

milestone in the evolution of our company. First, it serves as an assessment of where

our company is now in terms of communicating its message to its customers domestically

and abroad. Furthermore, this plan has the potential to drive our company forward by

transforming our corporate outreach and marketing strategies.

We are delighted that all of the major contributors to this initiative are here today. They will

use their unique perspectives to talk about the current state of affairs in terms of

outreach and marketing, give details about the new proposed initiative, and outline the

path for implementation.

Lesson 2 – Introducing the Participants

Alex: Before we begin, I would like to take a moment to introduce the participants who

have graciously agreed to share their time with us today. I believe that all of you already

know me, Alex Aurora, the CEO of Vision Corporation.

On my immediate right is Ms. Hannah Graff, the account representative from our

marketing consulting firm. She has been a visionary leader in coordinating the focus

groups and helping us identify our target market.

On my far right, the gentleman in the gray suit is Mr. Chris Banda, who is the Senior Vice

President of Product Development. Over the past few months, he has shown great

flexibility and willingness to adapt his product features to better meet our customers’

needs.

And last but not least, I’d like to introduce our Senior Vice President of Marketing, Mr.

Shawn Edwards. He has been coordinating our marketing efforts for the past seven

years, and his hard work is culminating in today’s presentation.

With that, I’ll turn it over to our Senior Vice President of Marketing, Shawn Edwards, who

will lead the proceedings today. Thank you to all of you for being here, and welcome.

Lesson 3 – Beginning a Presentation

Shawn: Thank you, Alex. And thank you to everyone who is here today. As you know,

today’s presentation is designed to present our recommendations about how Vision

Corporation can increase its market share by reaching more of its potential market.

You should each have a copy of our handouts in front of you that correspond to the

slides up here on the screen. This first slide shows our agenda for the day.

First, I will begin with an overview of how our market share has been declining during

the past twelve months, and the reasons for that decline. Then, Ms. Graff will present the

data that she gathered from the focus groups and her ideas for clarifying our target market. She will be followed by Mr. Hanson, who will discuss adapting our product to

meet market needs, and he’ll conclude with our main recommendations.

Since we have limited time today, please hold your questions until the end of the

presentation.

Lesson 4 – Giving a Presentation (part a)

Shawn: As I mentioned, our market share has been sliding for the past year. Naturally,

Vision Corporation is alarmed by these changes and wants to understand the underlying

reasons. The truth is, we’re not entirely sure why we’re losing market share, but we have

identified three factors that may contribute to the cause: a growing number of

competitors, our product’s features, and poor advertising.

First, the number of competitors in our industry has doubled in the past year. To counter

this, we must learn to differentiate Vision Corporation from the other companies. Second,

our product lacks some of the features that customers are looking for. We need to

improve our product and make it the best market offering. Third, our advertising has been

ineffective in reaching our potential customers. We need to rethink our marketing

campaigns and make sure that we’re targeting the right market.

Now I’m going to turn things over to Ms. Graff, who will discuss the findings of her focus

groups.

Lesson 5 – Giving a Presentation: Part B (Visuals)

Hannah: Thank you, Mr. Edwards. We conducted eight focus groups, each with 10 to 12

people who currently use the product. In this pie chart, the yellow-shaded area

represents those participants who buy the product from Vision Corporation, and they

comprise only 13% of the people we spoke with. That’s consistent with Vision