A conference programme

Read the programme for a management conference to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

Morning programme

9.00–9.30	Conference opening Dr Jon Martinez
9.30–10.45	Management styles with Helena Clark Consider the different management styles and how you can adapt yours to suit your team.	Giving feedback with Amelia Novak Explore the different ways to give feedback to maximise development.	Managing change with Akira Yoshida Help your employees deal with change and to see the positives change can bring.
10.45–11.15	Coffee break
11.15–12.30	Using storytelling in leadership communication with Antoine Martin Sometimes, the best way to communicate with your team is by telling stories. Find out how to do this in this workshop.	Leading small businesses with Cheng Wei How is leading small businesses different and how can leaders of small businesses bring success to their team?	Leading in uncertain times with Omar Abboud Uncertainty can affect the success of your team. Learn to bring confidence to your team in a time of uncertainty.

Afternoon programme

12.30–2.00	Lunch
2.00–3.15	Managing international projects with Alisa Petrov Consider how to ensure successful intercultural communication in your international teams.	Developing creative thinking in your team with Mariana Silva How can you get your team to think more creatively? Explore the different ideas that can help your team see things in a new way.	Conflict management with Tracy Edwards Conflict can create problems in your team, but managing conflict well can bring about development. Learn how to manage conflict in this workshop.
3.15–4.15	Group discussions
4.15–5.00	Conference closing Dr Grace Moloney

Task 1

TrueOrFalse_MjMxNzI=.xml

Task 2

GapFillDragAndDrop_MjMzOTI=.xml

Discussion

Which of the conference sessions would you attend? Why?

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Language level

B1 Intermediate

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I would like to attend the Leading in uncertain times session. Uncertainty is really a huge problem for any team because it makes the team not confident and the members’ thoughts will collide.

Ⅰ would like to attend Developing creative thinking in your team. I think it is hard to come up with new ideas. If we can have a lot of new ideas, our company will improve and develop. It is very important things to us. But, it is not as easy as l said. When I was a high school student, There were many situations where I had to come up with ideas. I sometimes thought about it for days and sometimes didn't like it. With many ideas, the company will grow better. So, I wanted to learn how to come up with ideas from different angles. And, I want to be a person who can express my opinion in the future.

I will attend the Amelia Novak session, because I consider that it is very important to have a feedback to improve the development

It was a very good activity, that helped me to increase and remember some words in English, and I hope that this type of activity can continue on a near future.

I would attend "Developing creative thinking in your team", because it will help me to develop new creative idea which helps in developping our team

I would attend Leading in uncertain times with Omar Abbouda. Because there are many unexpected events. For example, a member of a group can’t come, and a tool needed at work break down. Members of a group would get into a panic because of that alone if they act in a situation where no mistake is allowed. So at least a person is needed per group who can stay calm no matter what happen. Additionally, an unexpected event has come up already. That is emergence of Coronavirus. Now some complain about that, and the others say, “That is a great chance to face myself”. The ability to act according to circumstances may influence that difference.

I would like to attend Managing international projects with Alisa Petrov. First, we can know many different cultures and social life. For example, food, trend, avarage earnings, social ploblems and so on.I think these imformation are very useful to consider other country's things and we can make communication very smooth. If we don't know these imformation, we may be rude and we can't success communication. Seconds, we can talk about social problems. They have many different social problems in their countries and their own ideas. When we talk about our own plobrems, we may possibly find solusions. For these reasons, I would like to attend this project.

I would attend the session of Managing international projects with Alisa Petrov or Using storytelling in leadership communication with Antoine Martin. first, I'm going to tell the reason of Managing international project. Now, it’s increasing to work with foreigners more and more, because many companies hire them. So, we need to understand other cultures and values such as food, clothes, languages, origin, gender, and religions. By doing so, we will be able to work easily, and also establish trust between us. They are important to work with them together. I would like to learn about like that. Next reason of Using storytelling in leadership communication. I’m not good at telling a story to other people, I would like to improve it. And the leadership is also important to me. I think this is the best way to improve it and learn them. For these reasons, I would choose the session of them.

I would like to attend the Managing international projects with Alisa Petrov. Each country has its own culture and custom, so it is very difficult for me to communicate with foreign people. But it is important to understand the superficial differences such as food and the internal differences such as body language in order to create a better intercultural relationship. And even in the same language, it may not be possible to communicate with the other people due to differences in dialects. Should we speak the same dialect as others in such situation? I want to solve the problem, so I will present it to the meeting.

I think that the afternoon programme sessions are mostly important to attend, because talks about the excellent of any organization or company, how to manage the conflicts, team thinking creatively and manage international teams.