设计议程表 Designing an Agenda
会议议程表有助于与会者理解会议的目的(purpose)和内容,方便其准备工作。议程表的内容应当简明扼要、清晰易懂(understandable)。在会议召开的数日前,议程表就应该分发出去,为与会人员提供充足的时间(sufficient time)来准备。
怎样才能将日程表准备得简明扼要、清晰易懂呢?
☉What is the purpose of our meeting today?
今天会议的目的是什么?
☉Everybody, let’s stay on track.Take a look at the agenda.
各位,让我们进入正题。来看一下议程表。
☉I’m glad everyone could make it.Shall we start?First item on our agenda is……
我很高兴每个人都能到会。我们可以开始了吗?我们议程表的第一项是……
☉Did you get a copy of the agenda for our meeting tomorrow?I sent it to your e-mail.
你收到我们明天会议时间表的复印件了吗?我发到你的邮箱了。
☉There’s a lot to talk about at the meeting on Tuesday.I hope the agenda makes matters clear.
周二的会议要谈很多内容。我希望议程表能够体现得足够清楚。
☉I didn’t get a copy of the agenda yet.Could you resend it to me?
我还没有收到议程表的复印件。你能给我再发一次吗?
会议时间
准备会议议程表的首要工作是选择合适(appropriate)的会议时间。必须确保所有的与会者都能按时到会;应当避免(avoid)在午餐后举行会议,因为那个时候不太容易集中精力(hard to concentrate);也应当避免在下班前开会,因为不能按时(on time)下班,这不免让人有些心烦意乱。
☉Can everyone come to the staff meeting on Thursday?It’s scheduled for
11:00 am. If you can't make it, be sure to let me know ahead of time.
每个人都能来参加周四的员工大会吗?时间定在上午11点。如果您不能出席,请提前通知我。
☉How about setting our meeting for Friday at 2:00 pm?Does that work for everyone?
把我们的会议安排在周五下午2点怎么样?大家都能接受吗?
☉Let’s begin our meeting around 3:00 pm.That will give us plenty of time to finish our discussion before 5:00 pm.
我们下午3点左右开会。这样,5点前我们就有足够的时间来完成讨论。
☉Clear your schedules everyone.The boss has called a meeting for Monday morning, first thing.
各位,请调整你们的日程表。老板要求优先安排周一早晨的会议。
☉I’m afraid if we hold the meeting at 1:30 pm, everyone is going to be sleepy. Can we try for before lunch instead?
我担心如果我们1:30开会的话,大家都会犯困。我们能否调整到午饭前?
确认会议主旨
准备会议议程的第二步是确认会议主旨。应当在议程表的醒目位置用一句话来突出(highlight)会议的主旨,如同“使命宣言”(mission statement)一般列在议程的正上方。议程应当包含日期、时间、会议地点等重要的细节信息。
☉This meeting should accomplish working through all the financial issues forthe merger project.
此次会议应当为合并项目扫清所有的财务问题。
☉Our game plan for the meeting on Wednesday, July 17th at 2:00 pm is to……
我们对周三7月17日下午2点的会议安排是……
☉Our main objective for Monday’s meeting is to……The meeting begins at 2:00 pm and will be held in conference room 405.
周一会议的主题是……会议定于下午2点在405会议室召开。
☉The purpose of this meeting is to examine marketing reports, budget reviews, and customer service evaluations.Please be prompt.Monday, September 27th ,10:00 am, room 7B.
我们这次会议的目的是评审营销报告、审核预算和评估客户服务。请在9月27日,星期一早上10点,到7B房间准时开会。
☉By the end of the meeting on December 3 rd at 9:00 am in Marsha Smith’s office, we should have a working budget put together.
12月3日早上9点到玛莎·史密斯办公室召开会议前,我们得对预算工作进行汇总。
列出所有的议项
议程准备的第三项内容是列出所有的议项(items for discussion)。可以在每个议项前标明序号。应当将最主要的议项安排(arrange)在议程的最前面。在会议起始阶段,可以通过安排所有相关议题的统计数据和图标,来协助与会者解决问题(tackle the problem)。
☉Item 1,Staff Reports;Item 2,Budget Review;Item 3,Marketing Report.
内容一,员工报告;内容二,预算审核;内容三,营销报告。
☉We need to talk about Sales, Marketing, Finance, and our upcoming conference.
我们需要谈论的包括销售、营销和财政,以及即将召开的座谈会事宜。
☉The most important thing is talking about our financial auditing.Let’s do that one first.
最重要的是谈论我们的财政审计,我们先从这个开始。
为每项议程分配时间
准备会议议程的第四步是为每项议程分配时间(allocate time)。对于一些需要讨论和集思广益(brainstorming)的内容可以多分配些时间,比如说议项的平均分配时间是10分钟,你可以多给出5分钟。但总体而言,早半个小时结束比“拖堂”半个小时要好得多。
A:How long should it take us to go over the budget?
B:Not more than about 15 minutes. The budget report should be pretty straight forward with no troubleshooting or problem areas.
A:审核预算大概要多长时间?
B:不超过15分钟。预算报告应该直截了当,不涉及疑难解答和问题领域。
总结议程是一个会议的中心思想。一个会议是否会漫天神游、毫无建树,只要看会议议程就知道了。只有议程做到清晰扼要、简明易懂(short and simple),与会人员才会朝一个共同的主体方向来准备。一般情况下,会议议程不超过一页纸。此外,一旦议程在手,那就得不折不扣(stick to)地执行。
Words 单词表attendance出席,到场
budget预算
customer relation客户关系
disciplinary action纪律处分
evaluation评估,评价
examine考核,检查
item项目,条款
mandatory强制的;义务的
marketing营销
minute会议纪要,备忘录
prompt提示
report报告
resend重发
secretary秘书
staff全体职员
troubleshooting疑难解答,故障排查
Phrases 短语表Are you sure?你确定吗?
customer service客户服务
game plan行动计划,策略
go over复查,复习
haggle over讨价还价
hold a meeting召开会议
I guess我猜
It says here这里说的
last long持续很长
make matters clear搞清楚
yep是(俚)
no kidding不开玩笑
no problem没问题
pretty非常的
problem areas问题领域
take a look看下,瞧一瞧
spending all our time付出我们所有的时间
up for discussion来讨论
实景对话1A:There's a lot to talk about at the meeting on Tuesday. I hope the agendamakes matters clear.Did you get a copy of the agenda?I sent it to your e-mail.
B:I didn't get a copy of the agenda yet. Could you resend it to me?
A:Sure, no problem.
B:Oh wait, here it is. I have a hard copy on my desk.Let me take a look.
“The purpose of this meeting is to examine marketing reports, budget reviews, and customer service evaluations.”Seems like a lot to talk about in one meeting.
C:No kidding. When is the meeting supposed to be held again?
B:It says here on the agenda,“Monday, September 27th ,10:00 am, room 7B. Please be prompt.”
C:I guess they don't want us to be late. What are the items up for discussion?
B:Item 1,Staff Reports;Item 2,Budget Review;Item 3,Marketing Reports……I hope we don't end up spending all our time haggling over the budget. That's what happened last time.
C:Nah, I don't think it will be a problem this time. Hey Bill, How long should it take us to go over the budget?
A:Not more than about 15 minutes. The budget report should be pretty straightforward with no troubleshooting or problem areas.
A:周二的会议要谈很多的内容。我希望议程表能够体现得足够清楚。你收到议程的复印件了吗?我给你发了电子邮件。
B:我还没有收到。你能再给我发一次吗?
A:当然,没问题。
B:哎,等一下,在这儿。我的桌上有个复印文本。让我看一下。“会议的目的是评审营销报告、审核预算和评估客户服务。”看来在这次会议上有不少要讨论的。
C:说真的,会议什么时候开啊?
B:议程上写的是“9月27日,周一早上10点,在7B房间,请准时到会”。
C:我想他们不希望我们迟到。要讨论哪些内容呢?
B:内容一,员工报告;内容二,预算审核;内容三,营销报告……希望我们别把所有时间都花在预算的讨价还价上。上次就是这样。
C:不会吧,我想这次不会这样了吧。嘿,比尔,审核预算大概要多长时间?
A:不超过15分钟。预算报告应该直截了当,不涉及疑难解答和问题领域。
实景对话2A:Are you going to the meeting tomorrow morning?
B:Yeah, of course. Isn't it mandatory attendance?Anyway, it shouldn't last too long.
A:Are you sure?Have you seen the agenda?
B:Yep, here it is……
Staff Meeting, Monday, April 16th
Our main objective for Monday's meeting is to review staff evaluation reports. The meeting begins at 2:00 pm and will be held in conference room#405.
Welcome—Bob Johnson, HR
Minutes from last meeting—Joyce Campbell, Secretary
Reports
●Marketing Department
●Sales Department
●Finance Department
●Secretary
Schedules
●Managerial Meetings
●Staff Meetings
●Vacations
Special Needs
●Health Absences
●Employee Disciplinary Action
●Others
Other Business
A:Looks pretty straightforward to me.
A:你参加明天的会议吗?
B:是的,当然。不是说必须参加吗?不管怎么样,应该不会开很长时间吧!
A:你确定吗?你看过议程了吗?
B:是的,在这里……
员工大会,周一,4月16日
周一会议的主题是审核员工评估报告。会议定在下午2:00,在405号会议室召开。
欢迎词——鲍勃·约翰逊,人力资源部
上次会议纪要——乔伊斯·坎贝尔,秘书处
报告
●营销部
●销售部
●财务部
●秘书处附表
●管理会议
●工作会议
●假日
特别要求
●除非病假,不得缺席
●员工纪律
●其他
其他事项
A:看起来真是一目了然。