1)      Have you ever been invited to or participated in an international conference? If so, how was it? Did you enjoy it? Why/why not?

2)      One of the scariest moments for students of English comes when the socializing with other people starts. Socializing in conferences is becoming more and more important as building business relations and networking are both key in today’s business world. How would you complete the following conversation beginnings?

_________. Are you Mr. Stevenson?  I´m Rachel Ross ______ PANEMA, I was given your name ____Lindsey Dennis at WBY. She said you’d be a good person to talk to about the Japanese construction business.  

Mr.Hughes, how are you?____________ in Rome?

__________, _________________ at last month’s TMB Conference in Bristol?

3)      Complete the following conversation extracts:

WTB have some very innovative products. If you don’t mind me asking, _____________for WTB?

I __________ the talk about “ International Marketing “ very interesting. _________?    

So you work for WTB, __________ Jane Simpson, the Production Manager?

4)      Check your answers using the answer key*.

5)      Listen to this podcast. Do they use any of the expressions from the previous exercises? What new expressions have they used?

6)      Roleplay a conversation with your partner or teacher. Here are two rolecards:

 Student A: Your name is Robert Seel and you are a university professor at Columbia University. You’ve just arrived in Oslo for an international conference on “Global Warming”. You are an environmental engineer and would like to meet other academics and professionals working in the field.

Student B: Your name is Rosa Martinez and you work for TBB, an environmental organization in Spain. You’ve just arrived in Oslo for an international conference on “Global Warming”. You would like to meet other professionals and academics in the field. 

* KEY: 2) excuse me –  from – by – How’s it going – excuse me – didn’t we meet  3) what do you do – found – and you – do you know