Lecture 8

1. Lecture 8 Email and Concision

2. E-Mail provides a middle ground KEY ADVANTAGES • A written record _______________________. • “Written conversation” - ________________. • Has made some companies ______________. KEY DISADVANTAGES • Your message is _____________________. • Your reader cannot see or hear you: _____________________________. • We all struggle with __________________________.

3. Guidelines for E-mail: Format • Provide __________________________. • Use greetings and closings as in letters • Keep messages ______________ less than___ screens, and break into brief paragraphs • Proofread and edit to send a professional message; you don’t know where it may end up • If you include attachments, _______________.

4. To: • To = __________________. • Cc = _________________. • 'Bcc' = blind copies; not visible to either to/cc addressees

5. Avoid • _______________________________________ in the “To” line if the message is only FYI for most of them. • People in “To” line should ________________________________________________.

6. Abbrev, IMHO • Restrict abbreviations to those _________________________:

7. Signatures • Since most email addresses can be cryptic, in business emails, _____________________________. • Signature files usually contain ___________________________ • Job title, organization, ____________, _______________, __________________.

8. Signatures and Quotes • Avoid _______________________________ in your signature • Not matter how wise or witty they seem to you, they’ll probably seem moronic to most people. Piscator non solum piscatur Where there is smoke, there may be smoked salmon.

9. Your own address • Whenever business is involved, use a _________________________________ like yourname@hotmail.com.

10. Re: • Should _______________________________. • Be brief--don’t use a complete sentence • Call ______________________________.

11. Re: • Subject lines avoid _____________________________. • Avoid using punctuation (especially !) in subject lines, since this tends to trigger spam filters.

12. Guidelines for E-mail: Tone • Watch your tone: e-mails can sound ____________________________________. • Your first e-mail should be ________________: provide context and organize details for discussion • If an interchange develops, __________________ • Avoid putting __________________ in e-mail. • Don’t use “smileys” (emoticons) in business: 

13. Format • Keep paragraphs ___________________ • If you are sending a report to multiple recipients, put more detail into the email to avoid ______________________________. • The fewer the people there are on the recipient list, __________________________. • Try to keep everything on one screen, about twenty-five lines of text.

14. Quoting • Avoid including a __________________________________ with a one- or two word reply in your email. • Instead, use ____________________. • >and do you agree with the proposal to hire Ms. Ross to >handle our legal services? Yes. Please make the necessary arrangements.

15. It’s Fast, But… • Don’t assume email gets read immediately. • Don’t notify colleagues via email ___________________________________________________________. • If you’re pressured, flag messages as priority/ask for a confirmation when mail is read.

16. Priority • Don’t send messages high priority unless __________________________________________________.

17. Concision

18. Concision • Concision involves compressing what you mean into the ______________________. • Don’t state what your readers can easily infer. • Be aware of ___________________in English.

19. Concision Principle 1 1. Avoid ______________________. each and every full and complete hopes and desires hope and trust first and foremost

20. Concision Principle 2 2. Avoid ____________________________. completely finish past memories future plans future goals basic fundamentals personal beliefs

21. Redundant Categories • Specific words imply general categories, so you need to state only ____________________, not the category to which it belongs. educational process bright in color heavy in weight shiny in appearance

22. Concision Principle 3 • 3. Don’t Use __________________ • To understand negatives, we must translate them into affirmatives. • Negatives only imply what to do by _______________________.

23. Throat-clearing • We use some modifiers as verbal tics, which mean __________________. to all intents and purposes generally at this point in time really very in kind In order to ______

24. Next Week Coherence Mid-term - bring #2 pencil The quiz is also open-note but not open-book