100+ English phrases to boost your online meeting confidence

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Navigating online meetings in a second language can feel like a high-wire act. Not only are you focusing on the business at hand, but you also have to deal with lagging audio, accidental mutes, and the classic awkward silences.

The secret to sounding fluent and confident online isn't knowing every single vocabulary word in the dictionary — it's having a reliable set of go-to phrases ready to deploy at a moment's notice.

Here are over 100 practical English phrases, broken down by every phase of a virtual meeting, to help you communicate seamlessly.

Greeting and small talk

Before diving into the agenda, there is usually a short period of waiting for everyone to join. Use this time to build rapport.

Saying Hello

  • "Hi everyone, good morning/afternoon."
  • "Thanks for jumping on the call so quickly."
  • "Great to see you all today."
  • "Hi [Name], thanks for joining us."

While waiting for others

  • "Let's give everyone a minute or two to log on."
  • "We're still waiting on a couple of people, so we'll start in just a moment."
  • "I think [Name] is joining shortly, let's wait briefly."
  • "While we wait, how is everyone's week going?"

Casual small talk

  • "How is the weather over where you are?"
  • "Did anyone do anything fun over the weekend?"
  • "Can you believe it's Friday already?"
  • "I hope you've all had a productive week so far."

Setting the stage and starting the meeting

Once everyone is present, use these phrases to start the meeting and state its purpose formally.

Getting down to business

  • "Alright, let's get started."
  • "Since everyone is here, let s dive in."
  • "Thank you all for making the time today."
  • "Let's kick things off."

Stating the agenda and goals

  • "The main purpose of today's meeting is to..."
  • "Today, we need to cover three main items: [A, B, and C]."
  • "Our goal by the end of this call is to decide on..."
  • "I've sent over the agenda, but to recap, we are focusing on..."
  • "First, we'll review the metrics, and then we'll move on to budget."

Dealing with technical challenges

Tech glitches happen to everyone. Handling them calmly with the right phrase keeps you looking professional.

Audio issues

  • "I'm sorry, I think you're on mute."
  • "You're breaking up a little bit. Could you repeat that?"
  • "Is anyone else having trouble hearing [Name]?"
  • "Your audio is a bit faint. Could you speak up a little?"
  • "There is a bit of background noise; could everyone please mute if they aren't speaking?"

Video and connection issues

  • "My connection is a bit unstable today, so I might turn off my camera."
  • "Your screen seems to have frozen."
  • "I can hear you, but your video isn't loading."
  • "Hold on, I'm going to log out and log back in right away."
  • "I think there's a slight lag on the line."

Screen sharing and visual presentations

When it's your turn to present, these phrases help transition your audience's focus smoothly.

Pulling up your screen

  • "I'm going to share my screen now."
  • "Let me pull up the presentation."
  • "Can everyone see my slide?"
  • "Please let me know when you can see my screen."
  • "It should be loading for you right now."

Navigating the slides

  • "Moving on to the next slide..."
  • "If you look at the chart on the top right..."
  • "Let's scroll down to look at the next section."
  • "I'd like to draw your attention to this row here."
  • "Let me zoom in so this is a bit clearer."

Managing interruptions and transitions

Virtual meetings lack physical cues, making it easy to accidentally talk over someone. Use these phrases to manage the flow politely.

When you accidentally interrupt

  • "Oh, sorry, go ahead!"
  • "Apologies, I didn't mean to cut you off. Please continue."
  • "No, after you."
  • "Sorry, we both started at the same time. You go first."

To stop someone else politely

  • "If I could just jump in here for a second..."
  • "Sorry to interrupt, but I have a quick question about that."
  • "Can I just clarify something before we move past this point?"
  • "Hold that thought for just a moment, I want to make sure we don't miss..."

Getting back on track

  • "Where were we? Ah, yes..."
  • "Anyway, let's get back to the main point."
  • "To return to what [Name] was saying earlier..."
  • "Let's table that discussion for later and focus back on..."

Asking for clarification or input

If you missed something or need a colleague's expertise, use these direct, polite queries.

When you didn't catch something

  • "Could you run that by me one more time?"
  • "I didn't quite catch that last part. Would you mind repeating it?"
  • "What did you mean when you said...?"
  • "Just to make sure I'm on the same page, we are delaying the launch?"
  • "So, if I understand correctly, your team needs more time?"

Inviting others to speak

  • "[Name], I'd love to get your thoughts on this."
  • "Does anyone have any feedback on this approach?"
  • "Are there any questions before we move on?"
  • "Who wants to take the lead on this next item?"
  • "[Name], do you have anything you'd like to add?"

Giving your opinion and expressing agreement/disagreement

Contributing your voice dynamically is key to an effective meeting.

Sharing your view

  • "From my perspective, I think we should..."
  • "I'd like to point out that..."
  • "In my experience, this usually takes about two weeks."
  • "My recommendation would be to..."
  • "I'm of the opinion that..."

Agreeing

  • "I completely agree with that."
  • "That makes a lot of sense."
  • "I'm aligned with [Name] on this."
  • "You took the words right out of my mouth."
  • "I strongly support that idea."

Disagreeing politely

  • "I see your point, but have we considered...?"
  • "I'm not entirely sure that will work for our timeline."
  • "I respect that opinion, but I have a few concerns."
  • "I think I look at this a little differently."
  • "That's an interesting idea, but let's look at the data."

Confirming action items and next steps

Never end a meeting without clarifying who is doing what next. This avoids confusion later.

Assigning tasks

  • "So, [Name], you'll handle the client follow-up?"
  • "Let's assign this task to the marketing team."
  • "Who wants to own this particular item?"
  • "I can take care of drafting the email summary."

Setting deadlines

  • "What is a realistic turnaround time for this?"
  • "Can we get this wrapped up by Friday?"
  • "Let's aim to have a draft ready by next Monday."
  • "We need this finalized before our next call."

Summarizing

  • "To recap our next steps..."
  • "Let's review what we've agreed on today."
  • "So, the immediate action items are..."
  • "I'll follow up with a summary email listing ll the deliverables."

Wrapping up and saying goodbye

End the meeting on a professional, positive note to leave a lasting impression.

Closing the meeting

  • "Alright, that looks like everything on our agenda today."
  • "If there are no further questions, we can wrap up here."
  • "We finished a bit ahead of schedule, so I'll give you back 10 minutes of your day."
  • "Thank you, everyone, for a very productive session."

Final thanks

  • "Thanks for your time today, everyone."
  • "I appreciate everyone's valuable input."
  • "Great working with you all today."
  • "Have a wonderful rest of your day!"

The bottom line

Having the perfect phrases in your back pocket is a fantastic way to boost your conversational confidence, but using a platform designed to take the friction out of virtual collaboration is the real game-changer.

If you are looking to truly elevate your team's remote workflow, tools like Virola Messenger bridge the gap between communication and execution. Instead of juggling multiple disconnected apps while trying to remember your vocabulary, Virola brings everything into a single, cohesive meeting space:

  • Seamless collaboration: Share your ideas visually with screen sharing capabilities.
  • No context-switching: You can create, assign, and track tasks directly inside the meeting room, turning real-time discussions into immediate action items without missing a beat.
  • Perfect accountability: Never worry about missing a detail or forgetting what was said with the built-in meeting recordings.
  • Tech peace of mind: You can proactively test your speaker and microphone before diving into a call, and even view the connection quality of other users in the meeting room. This means you will know exactly when someone else's line is lagging before you accidentally talk over them.

By pairing the right professional phrases with a robust, meeting-centric platform like Virola, you can eliminate technical anxiety, keep your team perfectly aligned, and master your next online presentation with absolute ease.