How often do you have a conference call at work? Do you have a daily online meeting with your colleagues (coworkers)? Or do you have to call multiple people on the phone regularly? If you have a lot of meetings with multiple people at work, like I do, then you may want to know specific phrases for conference calls. This is where Bespeaking is here to help!

Ever since Covid, a lot more calls and meetings are taking place online rather than in person. So certain phrases have become very common on these calls. If you need to do any work in English, these phrases for conference calls can be extremely helpful. Are there any of these that you’ve heard before?

“You’re muted.”

This is one phrase that I end up saying pretty often. I always find it kind of funny, because we’re calling each other on Teams and Slack so often over the last few years, that it seems like it should be second nature (instinctual, easy to check) that you’re not muted before you start speaking. But it happens to me, too, sometimes, that I start speaking, but my microphone is muted, so no one can hear me. Someone will have to say, “Erin, you’re muted!” before I realize and turn my microphone on! It happens to the best of us, and sometimes you’re just so excited to say your bit (opinion, perspective), you forget to check.

“I’d like to add something.”

Did someone mention something in your call that you know a lot about? Or that you have some more information about? Then saying that you’d like to add something will let people in the conference call know that you would like to speak, and that you have something valuable to add to the conversation. If you don’t make this known sometimes, it can happen that you’re passed over (skipped) during the meeting, and may not get to say what you know about the subject.

“Did everybody look over the agenda?”

If you’re in a big meeting with a lot of people, it can be worthwhile to send an agenda (plan) to the participants beforehand. Then everyone will know what’s going to be discussed during the call. It’s always a good idea to read over the agenda before the meeting starts, so that you know what points you want to make and what the meeting is going to be about.

This phase is important to use in conference calls so that you know that everyone is on the same page, and that everyone is prepared for the meeting.

“Can you take the minutes?”

For long meetings and calls, it can be a good idea to have someone take the minutes of the call. This would mean that someone should take notes about what is discussed, important decisions, and make notes of who said what. These notes would then be sent to all of the participants after the call so that they can remember what was talked about, and if they need to do anything. Asking someone to take the minutes of the meeting is a good way to get someone to take responsibility and to make sure that there’s a good record taken of the contents of the meeting.

Can you think of any more important phrases for conference calls? Is there one you use more than others? How do your conference calls run at work? Make sure to share with us in the comments below!

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Erin Duffin lives in Hamburg, is an English teacher, blogger, yoga instructor, and uses all of these phrases for conference calls on a weekly basis at work.