How to chair a meeting in English, even when it is not your first language

Chairing a meeting is a small act of leadership, and it is one of the first things people notice about you at work. It is also one of the hardest things to do in a second language, because you are managing other people’s talking while producing your own. The good news is that most of the job is done by about fifteen fixed phrases, and those phrases can be learned in an afternoon.

Start by naming the purpose

British meetings often open sideways, with a minute or two of small talk before anyone touches the agenda. That is normal and you should let it happen. When you are ready to begin, say so plainly. Naming the purpose does two things at once: it tells everyone the social part is over, and it gives you the authority of the person who set the frame.

• Right, shall we make a start?
• Thanks everyone for joining. The main thing we need to decide today is the launch date.
• I have put three items on the agenda, and I would like to keep us to about forty minutes.

Notice how short these are. A chair who over-explains at the start loses the room. One sentence of purpose, one sentence of shape, and then move.

Interrupting politely, which is the part everyone dreads

The fear of interrupting is the single biggest thing that keeps capable people quiet in meetings. In British professional English, the interruption itself is expected; what matters is the wrapper you put around it. A softener at the front and a reason at the back will carry almost any interruption.

The three-part interruption

• Softener: “Sorry to jump in”, “Can I just come in on that?”, “If I may.”
• Content: the actual point, kept to one or two sentences.
• Handback: “But do carry on”, “Sorry, you were saying?”, “Back to you.”

The handback is the part non-native speakers most often leave out, and it is the part that makes the interruption feel collaborative rather than combative.

The interruption is expected. What matters is the wrapper you put around it.

Keeping the meeting moving without sounding blunt

A chair spends most of the meeting doing traffic control: bringing quiet people in, moving talkative people on, and parking things that are not for today. Each of those has a stock phrase, and using the stock phrase is not lazy. It is legible. People recognise it and respond to it.

• Bringing someone in: “Priya, you have worked on this before. What is your read?”
• Moving on: “That is really useful. Can we take the detail offline and come back to the decision?”
• Parking: “Let us put that in the parking lot and pick it up next week.”
• Checking agreement: “So, are we all comfortable with that? Anyone not?”

I used to think a good chair was the person who talked the most. Then I watched my director run a meeting in eleven minutes, mostly by asking short questions, and I understood the job differently.

Closing so that things actually happen

The last ninety seconds are worth more than the previous forty minutes. Summarise the decision, name the owner and the date, and say what will land in the inbox. If you do nothing else differently after reading this, do this.

• “So to summarise: we are going with option two, Daniel is picking up the timeline, and we will review on the fifteenth.”
• “I will send round a short note this afternoon with those three actions.”
• “Thanks everyone. That was a good use of the time.”

How to practise this before your next meeting

Read the phrases aloud until they come out without a pause, because a phrase you have to search for is a phrase you will not use under pressure. Then rehearse one real meeting: the one you are dreading. Say your opening out loud, say your two interruptions out loud, say your closing summary out loud. Ten minutes of that is worth more than an hour of reading about it.