Setting Up Meetings: future forms for arranging and moving meetings
About this lesson
A B2 Business English lesson plan on arranging meetings in English, from proposing a time to moving it.
- Grammar
- Will for decisions and offers (I'll send you a new invite.), going to for plans, the present continuous for arrangements (We're meeting at nine.) and the present simple for schedules and after when.
- Topic
- Setting up and moving meetings across time zones before a business trip to Hamburg, with words such as pencil in, push back, call off and a clash.
- Activities
- A travel-plan email, a video call that changes the plan, self-checking drills, a chat that moves a training session, wheel role-plays, and an email and a recording for homework.
What's inside
Chapter 1Warm-up: Are You Free on Tuesday?
Chapter 2Reading: Ana's Plan for Hamburg
Chapter 3Listening: Half an Hour Early
Chapter 4Grammar: I'll, I'm Going To, I'm Meeting
- Study the scheme: future forms at workGrammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct option: will or going toChoose the optionTry it
- Fill in the gaps: present continuous or present simpleFill in the gapsUnlock
- Choose the correct option: when, as soon as, until…Choose the optionUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: why this form?QuizUnlock
Chapter 5Speaking: Can We Move It?
Chapter 6Homework: Next Week, Next Month
Meeting scheduling vocabulary
10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.
+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words
- push back
- bring forward
- call off
- a clash
- a slot
- on short notice
- time difference
Grammar: future forms for meetings and schedules
Arranging a meeting means talking about the future in almost every sentence, and English has four everyday forms for it. Following an email, a video call and a chat, learners choose a form by who decided, and when, then keep the present simple after when and as soon as.
Talking about the future at work
Decided now, planned before, arranged with people, or on the schedule?
Four forms, four jobs
Will covers a decision made while speaking, an offer, a promise or an opinion. Going to gives a plan made earlier, the present continuous an arrangement that is booked or in the calendar, and the present simple a timetable: My flight lands at 10:30.
| Form | Use it for | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| will / won't + verb | a decision made while speaking; an offer; a promise; a prediction from opinion | OK, I'll send you a new invite. I think they'll love the Sidama. |
| be going to + verb | a plan or intention decided before now; a prediction from evidence you can see now | We're going to run the tasting in the afternoon. Look at the traffic: we're going to be late. |
| present continuous | a fixed arrangement: it's booked or in the calendar, often with other people | I'm flying to Hamburg on Monday. We're meeting the sales team at nine. |
| present simple | schedules: flights, trains, programs, opening hours | My flight lands at 10:30. The tasting starts at two. |
Decided now, decided before, or booked?
Then I'll move my call is decided while speaking; I'm going to bring three coffees was decided last week. Once a plan is agreed with others for a time and place, the present continuous takes over: I'm going to call the cooperative becomes I'm calling the cooperative at six.
Who decided, and when?
Deciding now: will
- The tasting is in the afternoon? Then I'll move my call.
- Sorry, the line's bad. I'll call you back.
- An offer: I'll pick you up at the airport.
Decided before: going to
- I'm going to bring three coffees. (I chose them last week.)
- We're going to open a café in Rotterdam next spring.
Arranged and fixed: present continuous
- I'm meeting Daniel's sales team on Thursday at nine. (It's in both calendars.)
- Are you coming to the tasting on Wednesday?
Going to or the present continuous?
Both can describe plans. Choose the present continuous when the plan is fixed: it's booked, or agreed with other people for a time and place: I'm going to call the cooperative (my plan) → I'm calling the cooperative at six (they've agreed). For a schedule, use the present simple: the flight leaves at 7:40.
Predictions: opinion or evidence?
A prediction from opinion takes will, often after I think, I'm sure or probably: Don't worry, it'll be fine. With evidence you can see now, use going to: Twenty-two cafés have said yes, so it's going to be a busy afternoon.
Opinion: will
- I think the cafés will like the Sidama.
- Don't worry, it'll be fine.
- Often with: I think, I'm sure, probably, I expect.
Evidence you can see now: going to
- Look at those clouds. It's going to rain.
- Twenty-two cafés have said yes, so it's going to be a busy afternoon.
No will after when, as soon as or until
In a time clause about the future, the verb stays in the present simple, since the main clause already shows the time: I'll call you as soon as I land, not as soon as I will land. Before, after and until follow the same rule.
Time clauses about the future
when · as soon as · before · after · untilpresent simplemain clause: will, going to or an imperative
I'll call you as soon as I land.
Before the café owners arrive, we're going to set up the grinders.
Wait until Daniel confirms the time.
No will after when
In a time clause about the future, use the present simple: I'll call you when I arrive, not "when I will arrive". The main clause already shows that it's the future.
Typical mistakes
I'll meet Daniel's team on Thursday at nine. It's in my calendar.
I'm meeting Daniel's team on Thursday at nine. It's in my calendar.
A fixed arrangement: present continuous.
I'll call you when I will land.
I'll call you when I land.
After when, as soon as, before, after and until: present simple.
Do you come to the tasting on Wednesday?
Are you coming to the tasting on Wednesday?
Ask about someone's arrangements with the present continuous.
The phone's ringing. I'm going to answer it.
The phone's ringing. I'll answer it.
A decision made at the moment of speaking: will.
More lessons on this grammar: Future tenses lessons and exercises
Try the future forms for meetings exercises
Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.
What's in the lesson
- 10 auto-checked exercises
- 3 games
- 2 teacher-checked tasks
- 1 real-life document
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 set of word cards
- 1 audio clip
- 1 picture
- 1 transcript
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- choose will, going to or the present continuous by who decided and when: I'll call you back. I'm going to bring three coffees. We're meeting at nine.
- give timetables in the present simple, and keep it after when, as soon as and until: Call me as soon as you land.
- base a prediction on opinion with will and on evidence with going to: I think they'll love it. Look at the traffic: we're going to be late.
- write an email that sets up or moves a meeting, with an apology, a short reason and new times: I could do Thursday at 10 or Friday at 2.
Lesson 5 of Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield opens the unit Meetings and figures, which trains four jobs of office life: scheduling, presenting figures, running meetings and negotiating. It takes the present simple and present continuous of lesson 1 into the future and builds on will vs going to from English A2.2 lesson 30; lesson 20 adds the future continuous and future perfect. A trip to Hamburg with a call to Colombia squeezed in gives each form a real job.
The warm-up opens boxes of questions about moving meetings and working across time zones, then teaches ten phrases with pictures and audio, from set up a meeting to on short notice, and matches them to situations. Ana's email lays out her travel plan and proposes a tasting time; in an AI-voiced video call, the tasting moves to the afternoon and her call to Colombia to the evening. Four self-checking drills follow the scheme, ending with a quiz on why each form was chosen.
In the chat, students play a coffee supplier who must move a barista training with a hotel manager, choosing replies that apologize, offer two times and confirm. A wheel of role-plays follows, from a client meeting to move to a call across time zones. Homework starts with a future-form drill and a memory game that check themselves, then an email that sets up or moves a meeting and a recording about next month's plans, both reviewed by the teacher.
- Grammar:
- future forms · will vs going to · present continuous for arrangements · present simple for schedules · future time clauses
- Topic:
- meetings · scheduling · time zones · business travel · rescheduling
Teaching tips
- Start from real calendars: pairs open their work calendars, find a free slot next week and say what fills the other times: I'm meeting a client on Tuesday. I'm going to finish the report on Wednesday.
- Pause the video call after Daniel's news about the café owners and ask what Ana should do. Then play on: her I'll move it to the evening is will for a decision made on the spot.
- Make the time-zone role-play real for one-to-one professionals: they set up a call with a colleague abroad and work out the time difference aloud, in both directions.
- Ask why each wrong chat reply fails: I don't come tomorrow needs the present continuous, I will can come stacks two modals, and Dunno, whenever is too casual for a client.
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The whole course: Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield
20 lessons at B2 in American English that follow a year at Wrenfield Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon, as founder Claire Morgan and her team win a Dutch hotel contract. Learners network, write emails, run meetings, negotiate, handle complaints and present figures, with one grammar point per lesson.See the course
Unit 1 First contacts
networking, a company story, a business lunch and emails: present tenses, the present perfect, question tags, indirect questions
Unit 2 Meetings and figures
scheduling, sales figures, running a meeting and negotiating: future forms, trends, gerunds and infinitives, conditionals
Lesson 5 · you're hereSetting Up MeetingsFuture forms for meetings and schedules
Lesson 6The Monthly FiguresDescribing trends
Lesson 7Running a MeetingGerunds and infinitives in meetings
Lesson 8Negotiating a DealFirst and second conditionals in a negotiation
Unit 3 Problems and growth
a complaint, a late shipment, a launch and hiring: the present perfect continuous, the passive, comparatives, relative clauses
Unit 4 Reports, prices and feedback
reporting back, explaining prices, expenses and feedback: reported speech, linking words, modals of obligation, past modals
Unit 5 Looking back and ahead
what went wrong, other cultures, an agency and next year: the third and mixed conditionals, past deduction, the causative, the future perfect
