Lecture 12

Communicating Effectively in
Meetings and Conversations

Shafquat Rafiul Alam

BUS 251

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Learning Objectives

• Discuss talking and its key elements

• Conducting and participating in meetings

• Describe good phone and voice-mail techniques

• Explain the barriers to good listening and describe how to overcome them

• Describe the nature and types of nonverbal communication

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Elements of Professional Talking
• Voice quality
 Pitch and Resonance
 Speed and Volume
• Style
 The way the pitch, speed, and volume combine
to give personality to your oral expression
• Choice of words
 Related to vocabulary
 Courtesy and respect
• Adaptation to your audience
 Fitting the message to the intended level

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Techniques for Conducting Meetings
• Plan the meeting. (Agenda-the list of topics to be covered)
• Follow the plan.
• Move discussion along.
• Control those who talk too much.
• Encourage participation from those who talk too
little.
• Control time.
• Summarize at appropriate places.
• Take Minutes
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Techniques for Participating in Meetings
• Follow the agenda
• Participate
• Do not talk too much
• Cooperate
• Be courteous

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Using the Phone
• Many of us have bad techniques
 Bad voice quality – gruff, shrill, soft
 Inconsiderate: most of the time they are not intentional
• You can improve
 Listen to yourself – record a conversation.
 Talk as if you were face-to-face
 Follow recommended procedures for courtesy.

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Phone Courtesy
• When calling
 Introduce yourself and ask for the person you want
 Explain purpose of call if unsure of person to contact
• When answering
 If the call is coming directly to you identify yourself
 Identify company/office and yourself and offer to help when screening calls
for others
 Emphasize thoughtful answering practices
• General Instructions
 Outline an agenda beforehand to stay on point
 Do not interrupt or dominate

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Effective voice mail techniques
• Speak clearly and distinctly
• Identify yourself by name and affiliation
• Give overview of message
• Continue with details
• Ask for action if needed
• Speak slowly with call-back information
• End with goodwill comment

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Courteous Use of Cell Phones
• Widely used- professionally and personally
• Benefit: Greatly expanded our ability to communicate
• To ensure best professional image, keep these in mind:
 Turning off ringer in meetings and other places where it would be
disruptive
 Not using them at social gatherings (keep them on silent mode)
 Not placing them on the table while eating
 Avoiding talking when within earshot of others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGtntNidbFA

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Courteous Use of Cell Phones
• Avoiding discussing personal matters around others
• Not talking too loud
• Calling from a quiet place
• Being courteous to those around while talking
• Avoiding use while driving (Part of law in many places)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R22WNkYKeo8

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Listening
• The receiving end of communication. Causes more problems
than the sending end.
• Involves- sensing (sense sounds and attentiveness), filtering, and
remembering.

• You can improve listening-

 Active Listening (Focusing)

 Back Channelling (repeating what you think you heard)

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10 Commandments of Listening
1. Stop talking
2. Put talker at ease
3. Show the talker you want to listen
4. Remove distractions
5. Empathize with talker
6. Be patient
7. Hold your temper
8. Go easy on argument and criticism
9. Ask questions
10. Stop talking
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 Nonverbal communication
• Nonverbal Communication or nonword communication means all
communication that occurs without words.
• Nonverbal communication accounts for more of the total message than
words do in face-to-face communication.
• It can be broad and imprecise.
• Types of nonverbal communication:
1. Body language: face and eyes, gesture, posture, and physical appearance
2. Use of Space: intimate, personal, social, public.
3. Use of Time
4. Paralanguage: how we say something.
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THANK YOU

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