How do you handle a conference call in English?
With three jobs that turn into words when there are no faces: make yourself known as you dial in ("Hi, it's Anna from Hamburg."), take your turn while naming yourself ("This is Anna — can I come in here?"), and check and sign off at the end ("I need to drop off in five minutes. Thanks everyone, speak soon.").
- Job 1 — join and check the room: "Hi, it's Anna from Hamburg.", "Who's just joined?", "Is everyone on the line?"
- Job 2 — speak without visual cues: use names ("This is Anna — can I come in here?", "Tom, what's your view?") and ask for a repeat when the line is poor.
- Job 3 — check and go: "Can I just check I've understood…", "I need to drop off in five minutes.", "Thanks everyone, speak soon."
B1 · Telephoning · 10 minConference calls in English, taught brick by brick.
A structured lesson for B1 learners. Hear the opening of a conference call in context, meet the three jobs from a tutor, then practise them in interactive drills before a final quiz. The whole arc is under ten minutes and nothing requires a signup.
- CEFR levelB1 · Intermediate
- Time to completeAbout 10 minutes
- SkillsSpeaking, Listening, Vocabulary, Set phrases
- Bricks10 blocks
01 / 06
Why a conference call is harder than a one-to-one call
A conference call is a call where several people dial in to the same line and nobody can see anybody. That is exactly what makes it harder than a one-to-one conversation. With two people it is always clear who is speaking and whose turn comes next. Put five or six people on the same line and that clarity disappears: you hear a voice, but you do not immediately know whose it is. You want to say something, but you cannot see whether somebody else is already drawing breath. And when a person stays quiet, you cannot tell whether they are thinking, distracted, or have lost the connection. English does not solve this with grammar but with a handful of fixed phrases that do the work your eyes would normally do. That leaves three jobs to handle in words: make yourself known when you dial in, take a turn and hand it back, and check that everything has landed before you leave. This lesson walks through them in order.
02 / 06
Job one: dial in and check the room
When you dial in you either hear voices already or you hear nothing at all. Either way, the first thing you do is say who you are. The usual line is "Hi, it's Anna from Hamburg." Just as natural is "This is Anna from Hamburg." — "It's" sounds a little more relaxed, "This is" a little more formal, and both are perfectly ordinary on calls. When several sites or companies are involved, add what you stand for straight away: "It's Anna from Hamburg, from the logistics team." Then comes the roll call. Whoever is chairing asks "Is everyone on the line?", and after each joining tone "Who's just joined?" But you can ask too, when you want to know whether the person you are waiting for has arrived: "Is Tom on the call yet?" If somebody is missing, one sentence gives the group a decision instead of an awkward silence: "Shall we wait a couple more minutes?" Announce yourself once at the start and you never have to explain yourself later.
03 / 06
Job two: take a turn when nobody can see you
In a one-to-one conversation a glance is enough to show that you want to say something. On a conference call you have to put that into words. So the simplest and most useful habit is this: give your name before you speak. "This is Anna — can I come in here?" or, shorter, "Anna here — one thought on that." The room then knows instantly whose voice it is hearing, and nobody has to guess. The other direction matters just as much: name the people you want an answer from. "What do you think?" can be ambiguous in a group, while "Tom, what's your view?" is not. And because you cannot see who is drawing breath, two of you sometimes start at the same moment. One phrase settles that in a second: "Sorry, go ahead." When the line is poor, ask for a repeat straight away instead of hoping the gap will close itself: "Could you say that again? The line's not great." or "Sorry, you're breaking up a little."
04 / 06
Job three: check what you heard and leave
On the phone, numbers, names and responsibilities slip away fast, and in a group nobody nods where you can see it. So every conference call deserves a short checking loop before the end. "Can I just check I've understood…" opens it politely, and then you read the key points back out loud: "…we ship on the fifteenth, and Tom sends the figures on Monday?" Anyone who needs to correct you can do it now, while everybody is still together. For your own exit there are two cases. If you know in advance, announce it while the group is still complete: "I need to drop off in five minutes." That lets the others pull the important items forward. If it comes up suddenly, say it briefly and give a reason: "Sorry, I'll have to leave the call now — I've got another meeting." And finally a natural sign-off for a group call: "Thanks everyone, speak soon." If a next step is still open, fix that too: "So I'll send the notes round this afternoon."
05 / 06
Typical mistakes German speakers make
Three habits stand out among German-speaking participants. First, the way you announce yourself: "Hier ist Anna" and "Hier spricht Anna" easily become "Here is Anna" and "Here speaks Anna". "Here speaks Anna" is not a usual telephone introduction in English, and "Here is Anna", while a possible English sentence, tends to introduce somebody else rather than announce you. On the phone it is "It's Anna" or "This is Anna". Second, the preposition: being connected is "on the line" or "on the call", not "in the line" — in English "in the line" suggests a queue instead. So "Is Tom still on the call?" and "We're all on the line now." And third, the word "Telko": that is a German short form. English "telco" refers to a telecommunications company, so in English you say "conference call", "dial-in", or simply "the call". "Let's set up a call for Thursday" is the neutral English wording.
06 / 06
Vocabulary and register on a dial-in call
A handful of words turn up again and again on dial-in calls. You dial in, usually with a dial-in number and an access code or a PIN. Whoever runs the call is the host or the chair, and the points to be discussed sit on the agenda. For sound trouble you need "The line's not great", "You're breaking up" and "I can't hear you very well". When there is noise in the background, the usual line is "Could you mute your line while you're not speaking?" — short, factual and free of blame. On register: "Hi everyone" fits many internal company calls, while "Good morning, everyone" is the more formal version for clients. "I need to drop off" is neutral rather than impolite, and "I'll have to leave the call now" sounds a touch more formal. The sign-off "Thanks everyone, speak soon" works in both directions: friendly enough for colleagues, polite enough for external guests.