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Business English vocabulary · Meetings

Chair

Meaning in business english, with examples

/tʃer/verbCommon term

In business english, chair means: To lead a meeting by opening it, following the agenda, giving people turns to speak and keeping time. As a noun, the person who does this.

In Turkish: toplantıya başkanlık etmek, toplantıyı yönetmek, oturum başkanı

How it is used

Common for formal meetings, committees and boards: 'Who's chairing today?', 'She chaired the board meeting.' Many organizations now prefer the noun 'chair' or 'chairperson' to 'chairman'.

Example sentences

  1. Can you chair the meeting on Friday? I'll be travelling.

  2. The steering committee is chaired by the COO.

Common collocations

  • chair a meeting
  • chair the committee
  • chair of the board
  • chairperson
  • agendaA list of the topics that will be discussed in a meeting, usually in the order they will be covered and shared with attendees beforehand.
  • minutesThe official written record of a meeting, listing who attended, what was discussed, what was decided and who will do what next.
  • attendeeA person who takes part in a meeting, conference, training session or other event.
  • board of directorsThe group of people elected by a company's shareholders to oversee its management and make major decisions, such as appointing the CEO.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Meetings

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