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La reunión empieza a las diez; mientras tanto, podéis tomar un café.

La reunión empieza a las diez; mientras tanto, podéis tomar un café.
The meeting starts at ten; in the meantime, you guys can have a coffee.
From Lesson 462:Meanwhile (mientras tanto, justo cuando, hasta hace poco)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about La reunión empieza a las diez; mientras tanto, podéis tomar un café.

Why use mientras tanto here instead of just mientras?
Mientras tanto means "in the meantime" or "meanwhile" and acts as a transitional phrase between two separate ideas. If you used just mientras ("while"), you would need to combine the clauses into one sentence, such as: Mientras empieza la reunión, podéis tomar un café.
The meeting hasn't started yet, so why is empieza in the present tense rather than the future tense?
Just like in English, Spanish frequently uses the present indicative tense to talk about future events that are officially scheduled or on a set timetable. You could say empezará, but the present tense is very natural and common for schedules.
Who is being addressed by the verb podéis?
Podéis is the vosotros form (second-person plural) of the verb poder. Since this is Spanish from Spain, it shows the speaker is informally addressing a group of people, like saying "you guys" in English.
Why is tomar used here instead of tener for "to have a coffee"?
In Spanish, tener strictly means "to possess" or "to own." When talking about consuming food or beverages, Spanish uses tomar (literally "to take"). Therefore, "to have a coffee" is expressed as tomar un café.

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