Write an Executive Summary Report 1page do as soon as possible (try for 2 hours)
sweetreese22
BetterBusinessWriting.2018_Spring.pptxBetter Business Writing
Focus on These Three Parts of Communication- The Rhetorical Triangle
1. Purpose
2. Audience
3. Context
Purpose
Know why you are writing
What are you trying to accomplish?
What reaction are your trying to get?
What results are you after?
With every sentence ask if you are advancing the cause.
Search for the best words to get your point across
What do you want the reader to:
Think?
Feel?
Do?
Understand Your Readers
What are their goals and priorities
What pressures do they face?
What motivates them?
Respect Your Reader’s Time
If you don’t get to your point pretty quickly, they'll ignore you
At the slightest need to struggle to understand you, they’ll stop trying – and think less of you
Prove quickly that you have something valuable to say
Why should they read what you wrote? What’s in it for them?
Words Have Consequences
Words have consequences and should elicit sincere meaning.
Your communication should be respectful of the audience, be clear about the purpose and relate to the context of the situation.
What Have You Told Them?
Consider this - what do they know that they did not know before they read your message?
What do they need to know?
Were you specific?
Did you give a timeline?
Did you reduce their anxiety?
Did you write in a way that assumes they are intelligent?
What Conversation Are You Having With Yourself?
When writing ask yourself: What do you want people to think after they read this message? What do you want them to do? How do you expect them to react it? Have you been as clear as possible?
Are you talking to fellow employees or to shareholders and customers?
Tailor Your Message To Your Audience
Avoid cliché’s
Eliminate jargon
Simplify your message
Have a sincere desire to inform
Divide Your Writing Into Four Parts
The Madman – who gathers the material and generate ideas
The Architect – who organizes information and draws up an outline
The Carpenter – who puts your thought into words – layout sentences and paragraphs
The Judge – who polishes the expression, checks for tone and misinterpretation, corrects grammar and punctuation
Organizing Paragraphs
A paragraph is a unit of thought, not of length.
It makes a point, a point different from what the previous paragraph made and different from what the next one will make.
A bad paragraph is one where the reader has no idea until the end what the point is.
Good Paragraph Construction
1. Say it
2. Explain it
3. Detail it
4. Say it again
Say It
The condition of the Baker Company is poor in every respect.
Explain It
Stock price, debt, and sales.
Detail It
1. Forbes magazine singled Baker out recently as an example of overpriced stock.
2. Debt has mounted to the point where it is eight times equity.
3. And sales have declined from $1.1 million to $725,000 in only a few years.
Say It Again
Nothing favorable can be said about the company’s finances.
Outlook Bleak For Baker Co.
The condition of the Baker Company is poor in every respect. Their negative financial position is reflected in their lower stock price, increased debt, and declining sales. As a result, I recommend that we divest of all our holdings of Baker company stock as soon as possible.
Forbes magazine singled Baker out recently as an example of overpriced stock. (This statement can be supported with additional sentences explaining facts such as the current price of the stock compared to the stock price at an earlier period.)
Their debt has mounted to the point where it is eight times equity. (Additional sentences can be added here discussing dates and the amount of debt at one time compared to another. Other companies in the same industry can be researched to provide relevant comparison data that would add to the conversation).
And sales have declined from $1.1 million to $725,000 in only a few years. (Here you can give a history of the company, how it got started, its biggest products and/or customers, the type of industry it is in, trends in that industry, major competitors, outside threats, what differentiates the company and gives it a sustainable competitive advantage).
Therefore, I recommend that we divest of all our shares of Baker Company stock immediately.
Construct It Together Logically
1. Present the main conclusion first, make sure its clear.
2. Provide specifics to document it.
3. Remind your reader what the point is.
