If you are running a business or working for a corporate firm, you must know how to communicate in English. After the invention of the Internet, the global business arena has transformed completely. Many businesses now have international clients and employees. So, it has become inevitable to strengthen your English skills so that you can communicate better with your stakeholders and work seamlessly with your multilingual team.

English in meetings

Meetings are a regular event in any business. In a meeting, you discuss business progress, challenges, new rules, and other things. You must communicate well in meetings so that you can express your views to others clearly and grasp what others have to say. When you conduct meetings with clients, suppliers, or investors, the ability to communicate well in English during these sessions shows your credibility and professionalism. This helps to create a positive brand image, too. If you are conducting the business meeting, you must be well-prepared. You should know the agenda of the meeting in advance so that you can note down what to address in the meeting. If you have to show any information or statistics to the participants then you should prepare a presentation with attractive slides.

Don't start the meeting by going straight into the topic of discussion. Welcome the participants and appreciate their presence. Introduce yourself and ask others to do the same. If you are conducting a regular business meeting with colleagues then you can skip this part. Try to make the environment friendly so that everyone can speak without any hesitation.

You can then address the topic of discussion and share your thoughts. This is the point where you should show the presentation or analysis of any report that is relevant to the meeting topic. You must remember that in a meeting there will be two-way communication. You must listen to others and have an open mind to absorb different views. You must end your meeting by discussing courses of action and follow-ups. Use positive words to end the meetings. Whether you are leading the meeting or participating in it, you must know some common vocabulary. Here are some examples.

Opening the meeting

• "Good morning/afternoon everyone!"
• "Welcome to this meeting."
• "Thank you for joining us today."
• "We want to discuss several important things today."
• "The main objective of today's meeting is…"

Presenting ideas

• "The first item on our agenda is…"
• "Let's start the meeting with an update on…"
• "I would like to share the key findings from the latest sales report."

Clarifying matters

• "Can you talk about it more elaborately?"
• "Can you clarify the point?"

Asking input

• "What are your thoughts on this matter?"
• " Does anyone have anything to say?"
• "Please share your ideas regarding the topic."

Making decisions by finding solutions

• "Let's brainstorm to find the appropriate solution to this problem."
• "Please give me your feedback."
• "Do you all agree on this?"
• "Let's summarize the key points to come to a decision."

Closing the meeting

• " Let's summarize today's discussion."
• "Before wrapping up, let's review the course of actions to be taken."
• "Thank you everyone for your valuable contributions."
• " Let's meet next week to follow up."

These sentences are used often in meetings. So, practicing them can help you in conducting a meeting smoothly and successfully.

English in email communication

Email is the easiest mode of business communication today. Instead of having phone conversations, you can use email as the platform to communicate with clients, colleagues, and other stakeholders. Not knowing the modern email features may put you in a disadvantageous position. Many email software have auto grammar and spelling correction features. So, you won't have to worry about your minor English mistakes. These software also have commonly used sentences in store, like greetings and closing sentences. These suggestions are helpful when writing an email to your business partners or colleagues. You need to know how to send attachments, give replies, and forward emails to others. You must know about the use of 'cc' and 'bc' features. The subject line is very important in business communication. You should learn how to write a concise and clear subject line in your business emails.

Report writing in English

You must write business reports in English so that everyone involved can understand. In a business report, you must present information in such a way that it is accessible to the company. Before writing a business report you should think about the audience and what they expect from the report. You should gather relevant information, facts, and statistics to organize your report. Use charts and tables to easily explain numbers and other information. The information you give in your report should help others involved in the business to make important decisions. Your report should contain the following sections in general:
• a title page
• table of contents
• summary
• introduction
• body (research findings and analysis)
• recommendation
• conclusion
• appendices

You shouldn't make your report unnecessary. Remember that everyone in the corporate world is busy; so they expect reports that present information in a concise and clear manner.

Demonstrating your ability to communicate in English in a business environment will give you lots of new career opportunities. You should consider learning English as a continuous process. The business communication tools are improving and you must adopt the new technologies to conduct meetings, write reports and proposals, and communicate with others. You can watch podcasts or read blogs to know the trends in business communication.