Making small talk before a meeting
Before the meeting starts, if you don’t know all the participants and you have time to do so, introduce yourself to one or two people. It is also polite to make small talk while you wait for the meeting to start. You should discuss things that have nothing to do with the meeting, such as weather, travel details, sports, or the country where the other person comes from.
Hello I’m Sarah Wilson from (name of company, department or job title). Pleased/Nice to meet you.
or if you’ve already met the person, you can say
Nice to meet/see you again. How are you?
I’m fine/great/well/ thanks and what about you?
To introduce a colleague, you can say
Have you met my colleague George Smith?
May I introduce my colleague George Smith.
Let me introduce my colleague George Smith.
Small talk examples
Weather
How’s the weather in …?
I heard it’s been very cold/hot/wet/dry there.
It’s really cold/hot here isn’t it?
For an international meeting
Where are you from?
How was your flight here?
Did you have a good trip here?
How’s your hotel?
I heard it’s beautiful there.
I was there in 2012 and had a great time.
I love the food in France.
Is this your first time in city/country?
How do you find Germany so far?
Sports
Do you play golf?
Are you interested in soccer? (American term)
Did you see last week’s football match between ….? (for the rest of the world)
If you’ve never met before
What do you do?
How long have you worked for the company?
I’m new to the company.
I’ve just joined the team/department/company.
If you’ve met before
We met at the kick-off meeting last year.
Did you enjoy the conference last month?
How have things been since we last met?
How’s the family? (if you spoke about your family before)