Office English / Work events

Is every conversation at work important for your career? Some people think so.

Voicenote clipsI think you have to be able to be very confident and be able to show off a little bit like 'This is what I do, this is why I'm good at it and this is why we should work together.'

Small talk is great in the way that it breaks the ice before you can find something interesting to talk about with the other person.

In this episode of Office English, we're finding out how to be professional at work events and master the art of small talk, which is what we call talking about unimportant things.

Welcome to Office English from BBC Learning English, your podcast guide to the language of the workplace. I'm Phil.

And I'm Pippa. In this podcast we talk about the words and phrases that can help you through even the most stressful situations at work. And today we're talking about work events. Maybe it's a festive work party, maybe you're at a conference or award ceremony, or maybe you just need something to talk about with your colleagues over lunch.

Yes, there are lots of times when we might need to speak in English at work when we're not even doing work at all. And when we use these opportunities to improve our professional relationships this is called networking. Are you any good at networking, Pippa?

I'm not sure, really. I think I'm probably quite bad at networking when I don't know somebody because I get really nervous. I'm maybe a bit better once I start to know someone better. So, with colleagues at work I think I'm a little bit better at developing good relationships. What about you, Phil?

I think it depends on the situation because there are some situations where it's like everyone's there to network. So, because it's kind of accepted that you're going to be doing networking, I can make myself do it. But where I'm not so good at it is in... when I'm in a much more social situation where perhaps there isn't that expectation and I'm not the sort of person who's going to jump up and get out my business card and give people a long speech on what I do and how I could make them loads of money. Yeah, that feels a bit uncomfortable to me.

In this episode, we'll guide you through these informal work settings from small talk to networking so that you can make the most of your conversations at work.