Writing Memos and E-Mails

1. Writing Memos and E-Mails

2. THE IMPORTANCE OF WRITING MEMOS AND E-MAILS • The most widely used type of written communication ……………… members of an organisation • Business Letters  used …………………an organisation • Memos  used …………………an organisation • E-Mails  used both…………………and …………………of an organisation • Memos and E-mails are messages that: • ………………… Information • Reinforce Agreements • Clarify ………………… Messages • Deliver short ………………… about daily organisational problems

3. ADVANTAGES OF MEMOS AND E-MAILS • MANY RECEIVERS • you can send one document to many individuals ……………………………… • deliver info to ………… employee or ……………………………… ones • via e-mail (can be composed, transmitted & read on PC screens!) • WRITTEN RECORD • you have a written record for ……………………………… • sometimes, you need to document a transaction or a situation  you can refer to the written memo or e-mail later to jog your memory • COMPLEX INFORMATION • you can transmit complex information & follow up on oral conversation • provides an employee a record of all the necessary……………… to ensure accurate ……………… of a task {if you only tell an employee rather than follow-up with an e-mail or memo, the employee may forget how to complete a project – a memo refreshes one’s memory}

4. FORMAT OF MEMOS • a Standardized Heading To: From: Date: Subject: (see Box 6.1., p.121 Memo Format) • the Message • ………………… -space the body / ………………… -space between paragraphs • Block or indent paragraphs (most use block paragraphs to save time) • Side margins = 1 inch approximately / memo heading 1 inch from top • 2nd page heading (receiver’s name, date + page number) - - Because you don’t sign a memo, the …………………………...……is omitted - -

5. FORMAT OF E-MAILS • Heading (typically e-mail programs use the standardised memo format) To: From: Cc: BCc: Date: Subject: • the Body (outside the organisation – externally and/or internally) • ………………… (e.g. Dear, or Hi + receiver’s name followed by a colon (:) • ………………… (e.g. Best Regards, or Good Wishes) • Electronic ………………… at the end of your message so that your reader can identify you (Name, Title, Organisation)

6. Cc and BCc • The Cc field - Cc stands for Carbon Copy For people you want to know about the message, but are not directly involved. It's mainly for people that do not need to act or reply to the message, but to keep them …………………. • The BCc field - BCcstands for Blind Carbon Copy When you want other people to receive the message, but you don't want the other recipients to know they got it. It is common practice to use the BCc: field when addressing a very long list of recipients, or a list of recipients that should not (necessarily) know each other, e.g. in mailing lists. The basicdifference between Cc and Bcc is that Cc recipients are ……………to all other recipients whereas those who are BCc-ed are NOT visible to anyone. In other words, when people get an e-mail, they'll see all the people in the To and Cc lines - but not Bcc

7. Cc and BCc From: Frank SinatraTo: Kurt Cobain Cc: Bob Dylan; Jim MorrisonBcc: Mark Knopfler; Paul McCartney In the above example, ALL recipients of the email (including Mark Knopfler and Paul McCartney) will see the following email header information when they receive the email:From: Frank SinatraTo: Kurt CobainCc: Bob Dylan; Jim Morrison This means that NONE of the recipients will know who the Bcc recipients are. Each of the BCced recipients will, of course, realize that they were on BCc but THEY WILL NOT KNOW WHO ELSE WAS ON BCc.

8. Punctuation of URLs or email addresses • Can you read the following properly? g_papaioannou@zerobank.com.cy '@' separates user name and domain http://www.euroengineerjobs.com/job_display/78141/Civil_Engineer_Henkel_Bratislava_Slovakia Here are some Basic Punctuation marks and their names: – _ . , : ; @ -  / ?

9. CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL MEMOS/ E-MAILS A successful memo/e-mail: • contains a Clear Subject Line • has a Conversational Tone • is properly organised • has a concise message • uses Signposting • Uses Caution when expressing emotions - Business people: about ………% of time spent on writing memos - To compose a memo, it takes the average office worker 2 hours (if it takes this much time,, you want it to be successful!)

10. CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL MEMOS/ E-MAILS • Clear Subject Line • SPECIFIC {clearly states your ………………… for writing} Check this: Meetings OR Dates of Meetings General Vs Specific Subject Lines (see p.123) Training Sessions Vs Dates of 2010 Training Sessions Your Computer Order Vs Hard Drive shipped Today from ComputerLand • BRIEF {no more than …………… words} Wordy Vs Brief Subject Lines (see p.124) Survey of Student Preferences in Regard to Various Pizza Vs Students’ Pizza Preferences If you are between being specific and short, be ………………… (make it appropriate for your purpose, indicate the response you want)

11. CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL MEMOS/ E-MAILS • Conversational Tone • INFORMAL style {contractions, first-person pronouns}   (e.g., can’t, she’s) (I, we, you) Read it aloud to see if you would ………………… the way you have written Use simple language as if you were speaking to the reader

12. CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL MEMOS/ E-MAILS • Proper Organisation of the Message • Cover only ………………… topic • Start with the ………………… you want the reader to take, then support it Get to the of the issue!!! Start with the conclusion or ………………… you want the reader to take and use the rest of the memo to ………………… your reader to agree with you! • List major points under ………………………… throughout the body

13. CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL MEMOS • Conciseness • Avoid wordiness or ………………… writing – ‘The SWISS Rule’ { try to use ………… words or ……… in each sentence} • Use ………………… paragraph breaks to help your readers Put the key information up front and tell them the: who, what, when, why and how. ** memos: If you keep most memos to ……… page or less, your readers will likely take action on your request ** e-mail: If you‘ve got a lot of information to share, consider writing a ……………… and ……………..……… a longer document – people will no read a long e-mail!

14. CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL MEMOS • Signposting • To get your doc easy to read, thus make your ideas noticed, use signposting techniques, such as: - …………………… - Bullets - …………………… - Tables - Lists • Helps you …………………… and emphasize the points you are making Bulleted sentences : use …………………… structure (see Box 6.3. Memo Without Headings , p.126 & Box 6.4. Memo With Headings, p.127) Readers find listed information easier to comprehend & understand

15. CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL MEMOS • Caution when expressing emotion • Users have developed their own substitute images, called …………………… , to accompany electronic words. (see Table 6.1, p.128) :-) ;-) :-( %-) >:< :-D :-@ :-/ :-[ • Humor and irony can easily be …………………………… when your receiver misses ………… -verbal cues (i.e. cannot see a grin) • You have greater ability to …………………… (when you allow your anger or emotions to affect your message negatively/ OR/ when you get carried away with the message, sometimes to the point of using profanity)

16. Coming-up next class!!! Learning the 3 Ps of Oral Presentations