Writing for Engagement [TechReady 22]

1. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Aaron Gustafson @AaronGustafson slideshare.net/AaronGustafson

2. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT What we’ll cover today ๏ Identifying Lifeless Writing ๏ Identifying Your Audience ๏ Clarifying Your Goals ๏ Writing with Clarity and Purpose ๏ Establishing a Shared Voice ๏ Getting in Tune with Your Tone ๏ Connecting with Readers ๏ Writing with Style ๏ Revising and Editing 2

3. Here Be Zombies.

4. EXEMPLI GRATIA Incorporating our corporate culture into our business processes and customer needs, we continue to leverage our exceptional and effective work practices, improve operational effectiveness to meet business objectives and create win-win situations for our employees and shareholders.

5. EXEMPLI GRATIA It is the opinion of the group assembled for the purpose of determining a probability of the likelihood of the meteorological-related results and outcome for the period encompassing the next working day that the odds of precipitation in the near-term are positive and reasonably expected.

6. EXEMPLI GRATIA After notification of NMFS, this final rule requires all CA/OR DGN vessel operators to have attended one Skipper Education Workshop after all workshops have been convened by NMFS in September 1997. CA/OR DGN vessel operators are required to attend Skipper Education Workshops at annual intervals thereafter, unless that requirement is waived by NMFS. NMFS will provide sufficient advance notice to vessel operators by mail prior to convening workshops.

7. EXEMPLI GRATIA Microsoft Edge is the default browser for all Windows 10 devices. It is built to be highly compatible with the modern web. For some enterprise web apps and a small set of sites on the web that were built to work with older technologies like ActiveX, you’ll find a new option that lets you access that site using Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10.

8. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Good content is… ๏ Clear ๏ Useful ๏ Friendly 8

9. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Start with two questions: ๏ Who am I writing this for? ๏ Why am I writing it? 9

10. Know Your Audience

11. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT You may have many ๏ Primary: Kids and their parents ๏ Secondary: Grandparents/relatives, teachers, collectors 11

12. HELPFUL HINT Sometimes it’s helpful to distill your audience into a “persona” or (better yet) a real person.

13. “I’m writing this post for Tim Kadlec.”

14. Clarify Your Goals

15. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Ways to get there ๏ Draft a mission statement ๏ Write a thesis statement ๏ Jot down key points ๏ Write what you want them to take away ๏ Write a goal statement 15

16. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT When writing a goal statement ๏ Be specific. What does this piece need to do and why does it matter? ๏ Be practical. Make sure your goal is achievable. Sometimes a long piece may be more digestible as a series. 16

17. GOAL STATEMENT This post help Tim Kadlec understand what web components are and when they could be useful.

18. GOAL STATEMENT This post will get Tim Kadlec up to speed with web component best practices. Tim is an industry leader who will share what he learns with other web designers and developers, helping us improve interop
 on the open Web.

19. Write with Your Readers in Mind

20. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT A few guidelines ๏ Be clear. ๏ Be concise. ๏ Be honest. ๏ Be considerate. ๏ Write how you speak. 20

21. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Clear writing ๏ Write as an expert, but also educate. You know (or should know) the subject you’re writing about; your audience may not. Explain what’s important and why. ๏ Write simply and in a straightforward manner. If there’s a shorter or less pretentious way to say something, do that instead. ๏ Limit each sentence to one idea. ๏ Be as specific as possible. Avoid vague instructions like “update your email settings”, spell things out: “Go to Settings > Email" ๏ Use words consistently. For example, make sure navigation labels align: “Leave Your Comment” vs. “My Account”. ๏ Avoid abbreviations and jargon. Not everyone understand the topic like you do, so spell things out clearly. Avoid ambiguous abbreviations like CA (is that California or Canada or Computer Associates?). 21

22. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT For example Needs Help Clear Alternative discover find incentivize objective obtain utilize, leverage IT Pros line of business 22

23. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Concise writing ๏ Start with the main idea. In journalism, this is called the inverted triangle. Unless there’s exposition or framing required, get the core message front and center. ๏ Make it scannable. Group related content together. Have an arc to the piece that makes sense. ๏ Write simple sentences. For example, “Other Questions? Contact us.” is preferable to “For assistance with questions not addressed here, please click here to get in touch with us.” ๏ Talk to your readers. Don’t talk about yourself or the technology, talk about them and what they can do with it. Use the active voice. 23

24. HELPFUL HINT Awkward sentences are best avoided through use of the “active voice”.

25. HELPFUL HINT Write in the “active voice” and you’ll avoid awkward sentences.

26. HELPFUL HINT If you can insert “by zombies” after the verb, the sentence is in passive voice.

27. The town
 was attacked
 (by zombies).

28. Zombies attacked the town.

29. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT These could all be rewritten ๏ Your feedback is appreciated. ๏ In today’s preview build, the new rendering engine is hosted within Internet Explorer. ๏ When a property is declared as a const, compilers are sure that the value of that property would not change over the lifetime of the program. ๏ When we initially announced HSTS in Windows 10, we noted that mixed content is not supported on servers supporting HSTS. With today’s updates, this is still the case in Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 – mixed content is always blocked on these servers. 29

30. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Honest writing ๏ Be careful in what you say. Always double-check what you’ve said, backing up claims with facts. ๏ Tell the truth. Don’t say something just because it sounds nice. You can soften bad news. ๏ Show, don’t tell. Avoid using fluffy, vacuous words & phrases like “industry-leading” and “powerful” and show readers why something is great rather than telling them. 30

31. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Considerate writing ๏ Be polite. Write like the person is going to read it in front of you. ๏ Be inclusive. Watch out for words that might turn people off or make them feel alienated. Avoid jargon, catchphrases, idioms, “in” jokes, and cultural references that may not translate well. 31

32. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT For example Jargon Inclusive Alternative bespoke custom or unique tweeps Twitter friends viral popular or shared crushed it won or were successful disruptive new or unconventional game changer significantly changes things 32

33. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Considerate writing ๏ Be polite. Write like the person is going to read it in front of you. ๏ Be inclusive. Watch out for words that might turn people off or make them feel alienated. Avoid jargon, catchphrases, idioms, “in” jokes, and cultural references that may not translate well. ๏ Be respectful of personal names & genders. It’s ok (and perhaps most inclusive) to use a singular “they” or “them”. 33

34. Connect with
 Your Readers

35. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT You connect when you ๏ Maintain a consistent voice. 35

36. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Great voices ๏ Put the customer first ๏ Reflect the company’s culture ๏ Are lively, human, and appropriate ๏ Don’t sacrifice clarity for personality ๏ Evolve over time 36

37. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT This, but not that MailChimp is… ๏ Fun but not childish ๏ Clever but not silly ๏ Confident but not cocky ๏ Smart but not stodgy ๏ Cool but not alienating ๏ Informal but not sloppy ๏ Helpful but not overbearing ๏ Expert but not bossy ๏ Weird but not inappropriate 37

38. HELPFUL HINT Read your
 work aloud.

39. HELPFUL HINT Before reading
 it aloud, say
 “Listen to me, I have something to
 tell you.”

40. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT You connect when you ๏ Maintain a consistent voice. ๏ Take the appropriate tone. 40

41. WRITING FOR PEOPLE Plutchik’s wheel of emotions optimism love Joy aggressiveness submission Anticipation Trust Anger Fear Surprise Disgust contempt awe Sadness disapproval remorse

42. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Content mapping Content Type Emotions Tone Error message
 Confusion, stress, anger Gentle, calm, serious
 Help Document
 Confusion, annoyance Straightforward, helpful Blog Post Interest, anticipation, curiosity Casual, friendly 42

44. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT You connect when you ๏ Maintain a consistent voice. ๏ Take the appropriate tone. ๏ Think through your message. That means not only having a good idea of what you want to say, but how you should say it. ๏ “Don’t ‘network’ or ’promote’, just talk.” (Thank you Neil Gaiman!) 44

45. Writing with Style

46. Nouns!

47. HELPFUL HINT The best nouns
 are concrete,
 not abstract

48. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Which sounds better? Work in a consulting relationship with internal and external customers to decompose complex business problems and create information and education products. 
 OR 
 We’ll work with you and your customers to solve business problems and create new products. 48

49. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Avoid “groupspeak” Heavy rains throughout most of the State have given an optimistic outlook for lessened fire danger for the rest of the season. However, an abundance of lightning maintains a certain amount of hazard in isolated areas that have not received an excessive amount of rain. We were pleased to have been able to help Nevada with the suppression of their conflagration. 49

50. WRITING FOR ENGAGEMENT Avoid “groupspeak” Heavy rains throughout most of the State have given an optimistic outlook for lessened fire danger for the rest of the season. However, an abundance of lightning maintains a certain amount of hazard in threatens isolated dry areas that have not received an excessive amount of rain. We were pleased to have been able to help Nevada with the suppression of their conflagration fight their fires. 50