Planning an event

Read a dialogue where three people negotiate who does what to achieve a task.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Matching_MjMxODg=

Reading text

Event planning team

online

All right, so I've divided up the tasks among the three of us planning this event like this:

@Jen: make guest list, schedule social media announcements, arrange room set-up, organise musicians
@Ed: book catering, send out invitations, design posters, book speakers
@Mike: reserve rooms, design invitations, write and publish blog post, get emcee

But please don't feel like we need to stick to this. If you prefer to do something else, feel free to say so.

Mike, 14:41

Yeah, I was thinking, as you are project leader @Mike, maybe it's best you make the guest list? I've got experience in graphic design so I'm happy to design the invitations.

Jen, 14:50

@Jen, do you mind designing the posters too? I'm not very good at designing.

Ed, 14:55

Sure, it'll be fun. If I take the poster design off you @Ed, do you think you can organise the musicians?

Jen, 14:56

Absolutely, I know some really good musicians that do events like this one. And I also know a really good emcee. Do you want me to take over getting the emcee too?

Ed, 14:58

@Ed I actually already have an emcee in mind, so I think I'll handle that. I'd appreciate it if you could write and publish the blog post about the event though.

Mike, 15:01

That's not a problem. I quite enjoy online marketing tasks.

Ed, 15:01

If that's the case @Ed, do you want to schedule the social media announcements too?

Jen, 15:03

I can do that ... if someone books the speakers.

Ed, 15:04

I'll book the speakers. And since I'm making the guest list, I should send out the invitations too. @Jen, are you still OK with arranging the room set-up?

Mike, 15:08

Yes, let me do the room reservations as well.

Jen, 15:09

Good idea. That would work nicely.

Mike, 15:10

Task 1

Reading B1: Planning an event – 1

Task 2

Reading B1: Planning an event – 2

Discussion

How are tasks usually divided in your project teams?

Download

Worksheet91.16 KB

Language level

B1 - Intermediate

Do you need to improve your English reading skills?

Join thousands of learners from around the world who are improving their English reading skills with our online courses.

Find out more

Actually, I work by my own, so almost all the time it is not neccessary to me ti divide the work in teams. What really I do is planning a timeline with the aims of my work. However, I've been part of teams, and I know it is important have objectives in common ang get them together. As a part of this, we have achieved our goals, and the satisfaction is great.

Normally, in my project teams form University each member of the group decides what part of the project wants to do and then when each member of the group finishes their part we do aprevious meeting to see if the project is okay or if we can improve a part.

Hello, great lesson. However, I have a question which is about this difference: "I have a lot of things on my mind right now" and "I have someone in mind" So.... In which situations should I use "on my mind" and "in my mind"?

Hi GiulianaAndy,

It's a good question! There is a difference in meaning.

If you have something on your mind, it means you're worrying about it. I've got a lot on my mind is a particularly common phrase.
If you have something or someone in mind, it means you have a plan or intention about that thing/person. For example, if your company has a job vacancy and you know somebody who is perfect for the job, you could say I have someone in mind and then suggest that person to your manager. Or, if you have ideas about how you want to celebrate your next birthday, you could say I have something in mind to your friends/family.

I hope that helps.

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Alright, thank you very much. I think I have something in mind about how to use this phrase

A good teamwork would work nicely! ;)

In my project teams the tasks are divided by specialist. For instance, the marketing specialist development the tast related with marketing and social media, the quality specialist do the tasks related with the customer relationship and the operations specialist do the tasks related with the development of the project

In our project teams, we are usually divide the event matters according to choice and interest of every one. The team work is most important in all aspects of life. The project tasks are most nice and successful when all the team members do work with real experience ,concentrations ,devotions and most interest.

When I was at university, we used to schedule a first meeting to define the tasks and divide them among the team members. The usual procedure was the following: first, we created a list of the tasks and then we started a process in which each of them was assigned to the member who chose to work on it according to their skills and abilities. Tough tasks were often the most difficult to assign but we always found a way to negociate.