Networking is all about people and connections. You never know when someone you meet at a conference or trade show may be able to help your business in the future.
In this lesson, we’ll focus on ways to steer a conversation toward a lead. We’ll also cover ways to shoot for a meeting and be persistent. And we’ll look at the other side with ways to politely leave a conversation.
This is the first of a two-part Business English Pod series on networking.
Networking often involves approaching people you don’t know, which can be a little awkward. How do you network in a way that seems genuine? In this lesson, we’ll look at ways to approach people. We’ll also cover greetings and introductions, 10-second elevator pitches, and talking about your industry.
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In this intermediate Business English Podcast we look at business meals and the language of ordering food in a restaurant, describing dishes and paying the bill.
In the listening, we continue to follow Mario and Francesca, who represent the Italian fashion company Viva, on their visit to the U.S. As planned, they are having dinner in Las Vegas with their distributor Adriana, who works at the American company Foxtrot. Bill, one of their new customers, has also joined them.
When the dialog begins, the group has already made some small talk and looked at the menu. Now they are ready to order.
In this podcast lesson we look at the language you can use to discuss politics with your English speaking colleagues.
There’s a trick to talking about politics in business. In international business culture, it’s usually better not to express strong opinions. The focus is generally on the exchange of information rather than on debate, because the main goal is to maintain harmonious relations. To avoid conflict, we are often non-committal in stating our opinions. That means we don’t voice a strong view one way or the other. Instead, we prefer to be vague, or ambiguous. This strategy helps avoid conflict.
In addition to covering some useful phrases and vocabulary for discussing politics, we’ll be studying how to soften your questions and be non-committal when necessary.
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In this business English podcast lesson we explore language that you can use to socialize with colleagues during happy hour or during other informal occasions.
Whether you drink alcohol or not, in many places around the world you will likely be invited to the bar or pub with colleagues. It’s important to know how to offer to buy drinks for others and how to make polite excuses when you’ve had enough or when it’s time to go. The same skills are also useful for other types of after-work social activities.
In the dialog, we join Greg, a manager, and three people in his team – Joanna, Gary, and Ben – as they order. Continue reading