Completing Business Messages

1. Completing Business Messages Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

2. The Three-Step Process • Planning • Writing • Completing Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

3. Moving Beyond the First Draft • Evaluating content, organization, style and tone • Reviewing for readability • Editing for clarity and conciseness Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

4. Evaluating Content • Is the information accurate? • Is the information relevant? • Is there enough information? • Are generalities balanced with specific information? Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

5. Evaluating Organization • Are all points covered logically? • Do important ideas receive sufficient space and are they placed properly? • Could the message be arranged in a more convincing sequence? • Are points repeated unnecessarily? • Are details grouped together logically? Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

6. Evaluating Style and Tone • Does the writing meet the audience’s expectations? • Is the writing too formal or academic? • Is the writing too casual? • Does the message focus on the audience’s needs? Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

7. Reviewing for Readability • Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score • Flesch Reading Ease Score Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

8. Increasing “Skim” Value • Sentence length • Short paragraphs • Lists and bullets • Headings and subheadings Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

9. Editing for Clarity • Break up overly long sentences • Rewrite hedging sentences • Impose parallelism • Correct dangling modifiers Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

10. Editing for Clarity • Reword long noun sequences • Replace camouflaged verbs • Clarify sentence structure • Clarify awkward references • Moderate your enthusiasm Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

11. Editing for Conciseness • Delete unnecessary words and phrases • Shorten long words and phrases • Eliminate redundancies • Recast “It is/There are” starters Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

12. Revising with Technology • Revision tools • Spell checker • Grammar checker • Thesaurus • Style checker Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

13. Producing the Message • Multimedia elements • Design elements Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

14. Multimedia Elements • Presentation software • Graphics software • Video clips and sound bites • Hypertext markup language Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

15. Designing for Readability • Improve the effectiveness of your message • Influence the perceptions of your audience Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

16. Design Elements • Consistency • Balance • Restraint • Detail Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

17. Design Techniques • White space • Margins • Justification • Typefaces • Typestyles Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

18. Using Technology • Templates and style sheets • Page setup • Column formatting • Paragraph formatting • Numbered and bulleted lists • Tables and textboxes • Pictures and objects Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

19. Business Letter Format • Letterhead stationery • Date • Inside address • Salutation • The message • Complimentary close • Signature block Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

20. Memo Format • Memo title • Headings • The message Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

21. Proofreading Your Message • Quality assurance • Undetected mistakes from the writing, design, and layout stages • Mistakes that crept in during production Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

22. Proofreading Advice • Make multiple passes • Use perceptual tricks • Double-check high-priority items • Get some distance • Stay focused and vigilant • Print out electronic documents • Take your time Excellence in Business Communication, 8e

23. Distributing Your Message • Cost concerns • Convenience • Time constraints • Security and privacy Excellence in Business Communication, 8e