Business Meetings on Festivals and Celebrations

Business meetings on festivals and celebrations

Part One: Business meeting on Xmas

Choose three topics from below and roleplay a whole business meeting to decide what your company and employees will do about those things during Xmas (this year and/or every year). Roleplay the whole meeting from greetings and small talk at the beginning to checking that there is nothing else to discuss, talking about future contact and saying goodbye at the end.

Possible Xmas topics to discuss in a meeting

• alcohol
• answerphone
• business contacts who particularly celebrate Xmas – contacts who don’t celebrate Xmas
• changing the normal routine at Xmas – continuing as usual during Xmas
• closing the office
• clothing
• compliance (with anti-bribery laws if you receive gifts, etc)
• deadlines (for expenses claims, etc)
• decorations
• food and drink
• gifts/ presents
• greetings
• health and safety
• length and dates of the Xmas period (how long decorations stay up, etc)
• making sure all work gets done (on time)
• music
• not offending people
• parties/ celebrations
• paying for things related to Xmas (shared Xmas cake, etc)
• people’s desk space
• photos
• religious things at Xmas – non-religious alternatives
• social media/ company website
• special products for Xmas/ special versions of products for Xmas
• staff who particularly celebrate Xmas – staff who don’t celebrate Xmas (at all/ much)
• staff’s families
• staying in touch during Xmas
• the cafeteria
• the lobby/ the office entrance
• time off
• weather
• working from home/ telecommuting
• Xmas cards

Share one of your decisions with the class and see if other groups agree with it.

Ask about things you don’t understand above, discussing that topic as a class each time.

Part Two: Business meetings on other festivals and celebrations

Roleplay a similar meeting discussing three topics for one of these other special times:

• After a big business success
• After a big product launch
• After finishing a big project
• April Fool’s Day
• Armistice Day/ Remembrance Day/ War Memorial Day/ Poppy Day
• Birthdays
• Bonfire Night/ Guy Fawkes Night
• Buddhist festivals
• Carnival
• Cherry blossom viewing
• Chinese New Year/ Lunar New Year
• Diwali
• Easter (Good Friday, Easter Sunday, etc)
• Eid
• First day at work
• Gay Pride
• Getting married
• Halloween
• Hanukkah
• Having a baby
• (American) Independence Day
• Last day at work
• Lent
• May Day protests
• National elections
• National holidays/ Bank holidays
• New Year’s Day
• New Year’s Eve
• Oktoberfest
• Ramadan
• Retirement
• Saint Patrick’s Day
• Shrove Tuesday/ Pancake Day
• Special birthdays (40^th, etc)
• Summer festivals
• Tanabata
• Valentine’s Day
• When an important visitor comes to visit

Ask about any festivals and celebrations above which you don’t understand, don’t know about, or couldn’t imagine how to discuss, discussing a good company policy each time.

What language did you use and could you use for starting meetings, moving from one topic to another during meetings, and ending meetings?