BE 593: Let Your English Take the Stage Today

This is the Business English Podcast, episode 593. Let your English take the stage today. Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.

For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.

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Hey, Lindsay, how are you? Doing great, Michelle. How's it going? How's it going? Going pretty well. Lindsay, when was the last time you took the stage at a conference or had any sort of presentation?

Yeah, I did a panel discussion. I think it was actually, it might have been 2024 summer or 2025 summer at a conference in, where was that? Yeah. I don't actually remember.

I think it was in Denver, actually, right here in Denver about podcasting. So with other big podcasters and it was fun to learn from them and be next to them on stage. And it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool.

That's awesome. Yeah. So today we are going to talk about the verb to take and how it can apply to business because there are many ways that take can be used and we're going to talk about them today. Okay.

Yeah. And I think today's way that we're talking about is a little less common, right? Often we talk about bring versus take and lots of common ways of using take. And today is a little bit more idiomatic or interesting, let's say.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is going to be really fun. So guys, make sure you hit the follow button wherever you are listening to the Business English Podcast. We are here three days a week.

Yes. And let us drop into your queue. Yes, exactly. Really good stuff. So the first one is what you asked me at the top of the show, Michelle. Take the stage.

What does this mean exactly? Yeah. So this is get on stage to present something. Do you always have to be on a stage, Lindsay? No, you don't have to. It's more of a metaphorical thing.

Yeah. Exactly. It means you are the center of attention. You are in charge of essentially presenting something, providing information in a public way.

Exactly. Or it could be about actually being on stage, but it doesn't have to be. So here's an example. Are you ready to take the stage after your PowerPoint is set up?

So your presentation is next. Speaking of, Lindsay, do you get nervous when you have to take the stage? Yes. I think for the panel discussion a little less because panel discussions are a little more chatty.

You're sitting in a chair and it's a chat. But definitely when I have to give like a full presentation, I still haven't done that yet at a conference, actually doing a full presentation. I've done more panel discussions, which is what conferences these days that I go to, the ones mostly about podcasting and ESL tend to be a lot of panel discussions and less. Actually, the ESL ones are more presentations.

Yeah. People presenting their research on applied linguistics and language learning. But in podcasting, they'll just put four chairs on the stage and find four experts and that's it. They go.

So that's – I prefer that style personally. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I did a presentation at a TESOL conference. Yes. Yeah. And I remember there were, there was some tech issue, you know, that's like the thing that when you're on the panel, you know, someone else is taking care of all the tech.

You sit in the chair. I've done that too. It is definitely a little bit more relaxed than worrying about it. All right. What's the next one? Okay. So take action.

Oh, no. Wait. Hold on. You missed one. Oh, take the floor. Take the floor. This is very much related to take the stage. That's why we had to say it now.

So take the floor is basically turning the attention towards you, having the attention turn towards you. whether again, a meeting, a presentation. So you say, let's say we're in a team sync meeting and I, maybe we want one person to participate like Ryan. Ryan, why don't you take the floor now?

So you can prevent, present your findings to the team. Exactly. Exactly. Um, so yeah. Um, take the floor that you're just, maybe somebody else is talking and then it's your turn to talk.

Um, and then the third one is take action. Um, Um, and yeah, this is really important for work, but this is really not necessarily about presentation. Um, to take action is to start doing something, act.

Um, but it could also sound a little legal. Don't you think? Oh, take legal action. Yeah. You could say that legal action on this. Sure. Yeah. Uh, it's time to take action because the big meeting is in less than a month.

Right. Better get going. Or I don't want to take action against them. I think it was just a big misunderstanding. Yes. You hear I mean legal. Yes. And our listeners know.

Well, I think we've mentioned it on this podcast at least once that I am. Well, I had a baby this spring. Yeah. But there was a period of time where I was kind of putting it off and delaying.

And then I woke up and I said, okay, we've got to take action on this, right? Do you ever find that you do that, Michelle, that you delay or you think, oh, I'll get to it later. I'll get to it later. Oh, of course.

Yeah. something wakes you up maybe at four four o'clock in the morning you're like yeah no i have to do that right now of course this is very very human and uh it's always this like a home alone ah gotta get going gotta take action get something done are you talking about the moment where he runs in front of the camera and he's like ah

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, yeah, because he's putting also the cream on his face, the aftershave. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think he does the other one too.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So funny. So taking action is important. Better to do it early than later. Yes, exactly. Start your gratis proof period at shopify.com.

All right. Take leave. So, I mean, this applies right here, right now, right? So taking time off for something. I just said that, that I had a baby this spring.

So I'm taking a little bit of time off from recording, but you'll still hear my voice on the show because we can record in advance. That is the beauty of podcasting, right? It's not necessarily live in the moment. Yes.

Yeah. So you could say she's taking maternity leave this summer. Exactly. Exactly. And what else, Michelle? All right. The last one is to take into account or to take into consideration.

So this is to consider something generally to make into like it will likely factor into some sort of decision. For example, I want to take into account the numbers from last year when we're making this decision. Yes. Yeah.

Or I will take her opinion into consideration, but I have many other opinions to hear. So, Lindsay, here's a question. What do you take into consideration when hiring someone for all ears English? That's a tough one.

A lot of things, Michelle. I think the best thing to do before you hire someone is to make a list of your ideal hire. Like what exactly are you looking for? And then it's kind of like a vision boarding thing where that energy comes to you.

I believe in that. And so character, personality, flexibility, work ethic, these are all things where we can try to ask questions to try to get insight into these things.

Yeah. Work ethic is really important here. Yeah. Really important to take that into consideration. Big consideration. Yeah, absolutely. So, guys, again, we've taught several phrases with take.

So we have take the stage, take the floor, take action, take leave and take into account or take into consideration. So should we do a role play with these? Yeah. Let's mix it all up into a fun little role play.

Here we are supervisors. So we're having a meeting. So two supervisors meeting to have a meeting. So meeting to have a meeting. Okay. So what time should we have Ricky take the stage?

Well, I guess I will take the floor when everyone comes in and then he can get started. Oh, okay. That works. Is April going to be there? No, she's taking her maternity leave early.

Ooh, understandable. So we definitely have to take that into consideration. So we'll assign someone else her part. Yeah. All right. We have to take action on that now because it's not so far away.

I'll make a list. Yeah. Dates and times really creep up on you, don't they? They creep up on you. Yeah. It's unbelievable how that can happen. You know, like, wait, what?

It's already, you know. I know. Time moves by fast. Yeah. I kind of had this moment at 5 a.m. this morning. I woke up and, you know, as of the time of our recording, we are two weeks out from giving birth.

Right. And I sort of woke up at 5 a.m. I was like, oh, my gosh, there's all these things we have to do. Yeah. And then do you kind of relate how two weeks feel to feels to like, are you like, oh my gosh, two weeks ago, this is what I'm doing.

I was doing. Oh, I didn't feel like yesterday. But sometimes I do have that thought. Yeah. Yeah. That's like, oh, what is this amount of time feel like?

Right. Yeah. And it's just nothing. So all these, like all the work things I have to do, all the life things that I have to do all came at me at 5am. Yeah.

That sounds like fun. Were you able to go back to sleep? I actually was, but it definitely kept me up for about an hour. I'm just kind of like, oh, yeah.

These are all good things. These are good things. It's all good. Yeah. All right. Let's go through the role play, Michelle. So what did we say here? All right.

So I said, what time should we have Ricky take the stage? So it sounds like Ricky's going to make some sort of presentation. So we're planning for, we're like planning the schedule. Yes.

Planning the schedule. And then you, I said, well, I guess I will take the floor when everyone comes in and then he can get started. So I'm giving the order of who will take the floor first. That will be me.

And then I will kind of give him the floor, right? You can give someone the floor too. Yeah. You can take the floor and you can give the floor. You can.

Yeah. Oh, and then I said, is April going to be there? And you said, no, she's taking her maternity leave early. So someone who normally might make some sort of announcement isn't going to be there.

Great. Yes. And you said understandable. So we have to take that into consideration. So the verb here is take into consideration. Okay. Yes. And then you said, yes.

All right. We have to take action on that now because it's not so far away. So we have to get moving. This is our wake up. We have to take action. Wake up call.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right, guys, go over and check out 2567. That was an episode entitled Make a Photo or Take a Photo where we approached make versus take.

So there's a lot of takes on take. Takes on take. A lot of takes on take, Michelle. A lot of angles that we can take on the word take. I'm going to stop talking now.

Take, take, take. Lindsay, but that was over on the All Ears English podcast. So if you haven't ever heard that podcast, which what are you doing, right? Go on over there.

That's one of our other shows. Go on over and listen to that. Again, episode 2567. And make sure that you hit the follow button over there as well. Yeah.

The way you can find that is just open your search bar, guys. Type in All Ears English. If you love YouTube, you could also find it over on YouTube by typing in All Ears English Podcast. Okay.

All right. Final takeaway today, Michelle. Oh, man. These are just really helpful. I mean, sometimes, you know, they help you connect. They help you do planning.

They help you say situations that people are in. This person's taking leave. I'm going to take the stage at this time. So there's just a lot of. logistical things that these can be good for.

And sometimes that's what we really need at work to figure out is logistics. Logistics. You got it. Logistics. All right, Michelle, good stuff. I'll talk to you very soon.

You have a good day. All right. Bye, Lindsay. Bye, guys. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.

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