Phrases




	The Chair

	Useful Phrases

The agenda is the basis for the organisation of the meeting. The chairman is the elected official who controls the running of the meeting. He/She sits in “the Chair” and “chairs” the meeting.

Below are some of the phrases the chairperson will use to move through the meeting in an orderly manner.

1. Opening of the meeting

The chairman opens the meeting and welcomes those present.

Ladies and gentlemen, I declare the meeting open. (formal)

The meeting will come to order. (formal)

Thank you all for coming. (less formal)

Shall we start? (less formal)

2 Apologies

The chairman calls for apologies. He (or She) then needs to know if there are enough people present to make a valid decision. If this is in doubt he will ask:

Do we have a quorum?

3 Reading of the minutes

The chairman asks the secretary to read the minutes of the last meeting.

Will the secretary read the minutes?

Will you read the minutes please?

When the minutes have been read, the chairman asks the members:

Can we accept the minutes as read?

Are the minutes approved as read?

If there are no corrections to the minutes a motion or proposal can be made to confirm them by a member, which can be seconded and voted upon. If the minutes have to be corrected the chairman then asks:

Are the minutes approved as corrected?


	4 Matters arising from the minutes (following up previous decisions

5 Correspondence

The chairman asks the secretary to read the correspondence received since the last meeting.

Will you please read the correspondence received since the last meeting?

Matters arising from the correspondence can be dealt with immediately or left until alter as they may be related to points on the agenda.

6 Reports

The chairman can call for reports from the sub-committees.

Can we now have a report from the treasurer concerning… please?

I now call upon the social secretary to report on…

7 The business of the meeting

Here the items on the agenda are read out by the chairman before they are discussed. The purpose now is to make proposals and come to decisions

The chairman may begin the discussion on an item on the agenda as follows:

The floor is now open for discussion...

This section concentrates on phrases used by the chairman. For a more detailed list of phrases used during the decision making process, please follow the link below:

9. A.O.B. (Any Other Business)

The chairman asks if there is anything else to discuss - that is not on the agenda.

Is there any other business?

10 Closing the meeting

The chairman formally ends the meeting.

I declare this meeting closed. (formal)

The meeting is adjourned (postponed) until…

I think we’ve covered all the points on the agenda so I suggest that we close the meeting.

The Chair

Useful Phrases