Received the following message from my colleague:
Florence [my boss] has requested that you just "reply all" to him [external organisation] and state that the marketing team will meet in the first instance.
Am I correct in assuming that this means that I have to respond to this organisation by stating that the marketing team will meet internally and then get back to them with an answer?
In the first instance - means 'to get things going'. Like 'how to kick things off'; to take the first step.
'Reply all', means 'hit the reply all' button on the email, to reply to everyone who was addressed or copied to, or blind copied to, on the original email about the topic.
And then she wants you to invite them all to a meeting, to talk about the topic.
So, with your boss, you could send her a short note saying 'am I correct that you'd like me to invite everyone on this email to a meeting with our marketing team about this topic?' to check your understanding.
In the first instance (or 'inst')
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/in-the-first-instance
