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Software Business English with ForkFly CEO Paul Wagner
ForkFly 首席执行官保罗·瓦格纳教软件行业英语

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• platform
• real time
• messaging
• merchant

• coupon
• deal
• publisher
• software

• on the fly
• traditional media

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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For many, many years, people have found coupons and special deals in the newspaper. Now that digital coupons are becoming more popular, ForkFly wants to make sure that the publishers who know the local businesses best are involved.

ForkFly is a software company that has partnered with traditional media outlets all over the US. It provides these newspapers and radio stations with a platform where their advertisers can share special deals on mobile phones and the web.

The company connects the history of media with its future, and it is quickly getting more and more popular with consumers and businesses. We recently met with CEO Paul Wagner to talk about how he went from owning a restaurant to founding a software company, and all the English vocabulary that goes with this field.

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Paul_W

Jason:  ForkFly is a software company that teams up with newspapers and radio stations to help people get deals at local businesses. We met with CEO Paul Wagner at the ForkFly offices for a business English lesson. How did you get into this business? What made you decide to start it?

Paul_W:  A number of years ago, I opened a restaurant, and I realized that the marketing options I had were fairly limited. I wanted something that would engage my customers in real time and allow me to control my own messaging, so I decided to do something about it myself.

Jason:  What is real time?

Paul_W:  Real time means something that’s happening right now. Traditional media, newspapers, television and radio, they tend to operate with a delay. For example, when you run a newspaper ad, sometimes it can take a week for that advertisement to be created and then it can run for another week. Merchants can log in to ForkFly, create content themselves and it goes out instantaneously. There’s no delay. So the merchant gets to control the message now.

Jason:  What is a coupon?

Paul_W:  Traditionally, a coupon is an offer or a deal printed on a sheet of paper that entitles the consumer to get discounts. So it could be at a grocery store: “Get a dollar off when you present this coupon.” Our platform allows a consumer to go in with their mobile phone and simply hold up the phone to get the coupon.

Jason:  What is a platform?

Paul_W:  Traditionally, when someone spoke of a platform, it was something that held something up. For example, a diving platform is where a swimmer goes up to get on the platform and dive off. A construction platform is where construction workers stand to get work done. In software, a platform is basically something that allows other components to be built on a frame. We have three distinct platforms. The first platform is for media companies, newspapers and television for example, to engage small business owners. The second part of our platform is for the small business owners to create coupons, and the third part of our platform is for consumers to then redeem those coupons. We give all three of those distinct groups a platform, and they get to take it from there and manage it themselves.

Jason:  What does the name of your company mean?

Paul_W:  I think people generally think ForkFly has something to do with food, and it does not. The first part of the word, “fork,” has to do with a merchant forking over a deal or an offer to a consumer or customer. When you fork something over, it means you’re handing something over. “Fly” has to do with the concept of “on the fly,” which means something happening right now in real time. So ForkFly means forking something over on the fly.

Jason:  Cool.

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