What is this Business Meeting Bingo of which you speak?

In the comments to a recent language rant in BBC News (via Languagehat), I ran across the idea of “Buzzword Bingo” or a “corporate bingo card”.  Posters from Luxemburg and the UK seem to know exactly what it is, and say it helps them get through those “tedious cross-channel conference calls”.

Here is a sample game card that can be changed just by hitting the refresh button.  And here are some instructions for constructing a Business Meeting Bingo card:

Do you keep falling asleep in meetings and seminars? What about those long and boring conference calls? Monotone voices burbling on and on like a creek for hours on end, forcing you to look for the nearest sharp object or length of wire to end it all. Here’s a way to change all of that…   Meeting Bingo!

1. Before (or during) your next meeting, seminar, or conference call, prepare yourself by drawing a square. I find that 5″x5″ is a good size. Divide the card into columns-five across and five down. That will give you 25 one-inch blocks.

2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:

synergy strategic fit core competencies best practice bottom line revisit take that off-line 24/7 out of the loop benchmark value-added proactive win-win

think outside the box fast track result-driven empower knowledge base solution touch base mindset client focus paradigm game plan leverage

The rest of the instructions are |here|. (Camel’s Nose is a child friendly site, so I’ll just link to them.) Don’t forget to read the testimonials.

After you get back on your chair, if you still want more, here is a list of 50 expressions from BBC News readers. Imagine a boss who says, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, so you have to step up to the plate and face the music.” And here’s one that fits right in with the recent trend towards jihad and faith-based initiatives: “At my old company (a US multinational), anyone involved with a particular product was encouraged to be a product evangelist. And software users these days, so we hear, want to be platform atheists so that their computers will run programs from any manufacturer.”