Vocabulary exercises:

Find in the text above the words with the following definitions and insert them in blanks:

……………………………	reliable, responsible, and can be trusted completely. Able to be relied on as honest or truthful
……………………..tactic	1) be captivated by; fall in love with 2) be deceived by (something)
……………………………	politely refuse (an invitation or offer)
……………………………	lack of interest, concern, or sympathy ■ unimportance
……………………………	interpret (something or someone) wrongly
……………………………	not suitable or proper in the circumstances, not useful or suitable for a particular situation or purpose.
……………………………	very personal and private. Closely acquainted; familiar

Chapter 4. Effective communication at meetings, conferences and seminars.

Problem setting:

1. Make your rules known about how co-workers & subordinates may contact you in person. What procedures should others follow when wanting to contact you in person at work?

2. What do you think is an open door policy? Is a request ”Call before you drop in on me?” proper to such policy?

3. If you want to create guidelines on meeting people, to make it less intrusive, will the instruction “You can drop in on me the first half hour in the morning and the first hour after lunch” be useful? What sentence could be added to this instruction?

4. Will it be polite to set up a time frame for your boss if it goes about his visits to you?

5. Look of the definitions of the word agenda [ə'jendə] and say when where and how it is used? A) a list of items of business to be considered and discussed at a meeting B) a list or program of things to be done or problems to be addressed Origin: early 17th cent. (in the sense ‘things to be done’): from Latin, neuter plural of agendum, gerund of agere ‘do’ •• Usage Although agenda (‘things to be done’) is the plural of agendum in Latin, in standard modern English it is a normal singular noun with a normal plural form (agendas)

6. Have you ever had anything written on your agenda?

7. Here is one more definition. What should you do, to make communication in business setting effective? Guess. “Follow up If you follow up something that has been said, suggested, or discovered, you try to find out more about it or take action about it.”

Text:

To make the most of any meeting, conference or seminar, it is reasonable to have an agenda, whether you are conducting the meeting or attending it. If writing materials are not provided, make sure, you bring your own so you can take notes. Arrive on time. Notice, if there are any instructions on the chalkboard or on large sheets of paper at the front of the room, advising you to do certain exercises or consider certain ideas while awaiting latecomers. If you are running the meeting, begin it on time. Do not penalize those who are punctual, by making them wait fro those who are late. Participate in any meeting, conference or seminar when you have something useful to say but not just to draw attention to yourself. Saying too much is as inappropriate as saying nothing. Make your unspoken expectations concrete, so you as well as those you are meeting with can fulfill those goals. If your company is small and has few formal meetings, with most reports being oral, make a written record of what occurs. It is necessary to document everything that happens even if it is verbal. Keep your own day to day diary, just to get able to put things in a proper perspective for recall “six months down the road”. Such is the way to move along to something else.

Here are a few proverbs and sayings. Which of them would refer to the text above? Can they relate to the business protocol? To which chapters and topics? In the table below, fill in the gaps with the titles and topics of “Business etiquette”.

Explain your choice of a chapter or principle. Justify your oral answer. Which sayings could refer to several topics?

The title of a chapter or a topic from business protocol:	A saying or proverb:
	Honesty is the best policy.
	Bad news travels fast.
	If you run after two hares, you’ll catch none.
	Tell me what company you keep, and I’ll tell you what you are.
	Easily earned money is quickly spent
	Things done can not be undone
	Better untaught than badly taught.
	A friend indeed is a friend in need.
	Better later than never

Chapter 4: Follow- up: in person, by phone, by letter.

Following up is a key aspect of effective executive communication. Quite often the initial communication whether in person, by phone or by letter is very short and quick. It is the follow up that may take minutes, hours or days to accomplish. There may be lots of reasons that people fail to follow up, everything from being overworked or overextended with too many projects to attend to, to simply not having the answer and being reluctant to admit it. But you have to follow up if you want to be known for politeness and courteousness. Follow-up is a seeming “little thing”, but it means a lot in terms how effective an executive communicator you are. You can lose clients if you don’t do your follow-up. What form might that follow-up take? If you have been invited to a lunch, you should call to accept or decline the invitation. After job interviews, you might send a note to the interviewers, thanking them for their time, expressing your pleasure at meeting them and emphasizing your interest in that particular job.

Follow-up allows the opportunity to reinforce a growing business relationship.

Upon whom the responsibility for following up falls depends on whether or not you solicited or initiated this offer or contact. If someone is contacting you for the first time and you haven’t asked to be contacted, and if he or she needs you more than you need him or her, it is polite for the caller to call again, until contact is made. The effort for the follow-up should be on his or her back.

For example, an editor asks an author to agree to allow an article to be reprinted in an anthology without any additional recompensation. Initially, the author says “no”, a few hours later, the author calls the editor and leaves a message that she has decided to allow the reprint and that the editor should return the call. The call is never returned. For months the author is annoyed at being ignored by the editor and just as happy not to participate at all in a project. When months later she then talked to the editor on another matter, she was surprised to learn the editor had gotten her old message, agreed to reprint the material and did not see any reason to return the call.

Little do they realize they may be missing sales opportunities and even clients by not following up.

Chapter 4: in writing.

Your success as an executive will be enhanced if everything you write in a business setting adheres to the general etiquette principles of showing interest in others, using acceptable formats and language, and responding in a timely way.

Executives maybe judged first by the kind of letters they write before they are evaluated by their speech or in-person skills, since often even getting the job begins with a letter or inquiry. Once an executive gets the job, positive evaluations as well as advancement may hinge on writing appropriate and effective letters.

Good business writing depends on 4 considerations: thought, readability, correctness and appropriateness.

Thought is the content of your writing, or what you say in your letters, notes or interoffice memos. You have to be clear about the ideas you wish to express, or you will not be able to communicate persuasively those thoughts or points to others.

Readability is the clarity of your writing. It is best accomplished by using short words, sentences and paragraphs. A few well chosen words will make a better impression than lots of empty phrases.

Correctness refers to the grammar and spelling that you use. There is no excuse for incorrect or awkward writing. When in doubt, consult grammar books, easy to read style books, such as Strunk “The elements of style”, a dictionary, or have someone whose writing you admire read it over for you.

Appropriateness is the tone of your writing. The tone – a choice of words, how informal or formal a style you follow – should be tailored to the person to whom you are writing just as your clothing is tailored to the type of clients you are dealing with.

Learn the text above and give your own examples of following up and failing in it; of correctness, appropriateness, thought and readability in writing. Generalize, what aspects your good evaluations in business depend on? Use the synonym “hinge on” while expressing your ideas. (Something that hinges on one thing or event depends entirely on it.)