Asking open questions in business networking conversations: English practice
Practise asking open questions in business networking conversations. This exercise helps you learn about the other person’s priorities through questions that invite an explanation. You take the role of a founder at a business event and speak with another founder you have just met. You can work alone by recording both parts, or ask a partner to respond naturally.
Learn about the other person’s priorities through questions that invite an explanation.
Your situation
You have a few minutes between sessions. The other person runs a growing service business and mentions that onboarding new clients takes too long.
Known detail: the next session starts in five minutes. Your communication task is to understand their experience and decide whether to continue the conversation. Keep that task in mind while practising the language; accuracy matters more than sounding elaborate.
| Your role | a founder at a business event |
|---|---|
| Other person | another founder you have just met |
| What is unresolved | new client onboarding takes more coordination than expected |
| Possible agreed outcome | you will exchange details only if both people want a follow-up |
A useful language pattern
What matters most about …? How does that affect …?
Open questions help reveal needs and consequences that a yes-or-no question can miss.
Example: “What matters most to you as we understand their experience and decide whether to continue the conversation?” This is one way to express the idea. Change the wording when the actual situation calls for a different level of formality.
| Less useful wording | Is everything fine? |
|---|---|
| Clearer follow-up | How would that delay affect your work, and what could we prepare in advance? |
Vocabulary for this conversation
| introduction | the first exchange in which people explain who they are |
|---|---|
| follow-up conversation | a later discussion that continues an earlier one |
| common ground | an interest or experience that people share |
An eight-minute practice
- Minute 1: read the situation and identify what is known, what is uncertain and what you need to understand their experience and decide whether to continue the conversation.
- Minutes 2–3: Write three questions beginning with what or how. Use the answer to choose your next question.
- Minutes 4–5: ask a partner to reply differently from the example. Respond to their meaning rather than restarting your prepared answer.
- Minutes 6–7: review the three criteria below. Rewrite one unclear sentence using shorter, more specific words.
- Minute 8: repeat the difficult exchange without looking at the model. Finish by confirming the next step.
Make the exercise easier or harder
You do not need an idiom or a complicated sentence to sound professional. Check that the listener understands the message, can ask a question and knows which action follows. This exercise does not assess your accent or certify a language level.
| More support | Keep this pattern visible: What matters most about …? How does that affect …? Practise one exchange at a time and ask the other person to speak more slowly when needed. |
|---|---|
| More challenge | Add a new constraint: the other person cannot answer immediately. Keep the discussion accurate while you understand their experience and decide whether to continue the conversation. |
| For your actual work | Replace the fictional detail “the next session starts in five minutes” with an appropriate, non-confidential example from your work. |
An example conversation
What matters most to you as we understand their experience and decide whether to continue the conversation?
I need to know what happens if the first step takes longer than expected.
How would that delay affect your work, and what could we prepare in advance?
Let us confirm what we have agreed and what still needs checking.
Your working sheet.
Make the exercise your own. Notes are saved in this browser when storage is available. Download a copy to keep; avoid confidential information on a shared device.
Example: What matters most to you as we understand their experience and decide whether to continue the conversation?
Example: I need to know what happens if the first step takes longer than expected.
Example: How would that delay affect your work, and what could we prepare in advance?
Example: Let us confirm: you will exchange details only if both people want a follow-up. Have I understood correctly?
Review your work
This is a reflection checklist, not an automated assessment.
Questions
Do I need advanced English for this exercise?+
What should I focus on in business networking conversations?+
Can I use this dialogue at work?+
Original fictional language practice. Model answers are examples, not the only correct wording. The self-review is not a formal language assessment.
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