Tips on Writing Effective Paragraphs By Jonathan Koshko

Please Press Play!



Get a Voki now!




Citations:

Oliu, Walter E., Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred. Writing that Works Communicating Effectively on the Job. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006.

Analyzing Your Audience by Zarah Boyer

When writing a work it is extremely important to consider your reader and analyze your audience. It is extremely important to consider their likes and dislikes, what motivates them, what kind of activities they enjoy and what they need or want in a work. These are just some of the thing to ask yourself when analyzing an audience. Audiences can be fickle and pleasing them can be very difficult because sometimes they don’t even know what they want. You must consider how to approach a topic, especially a sensitive one, or one that has great weight on society. It is hard to determine what they want but you can figure it out exactly what your audience wants and what points you want to get across by asking yourself a few simple questions.
· What is my purpose in writing this work?
· What action do I want my readers to take after reading it?
· Who are my readers?
· Is there a secondary audience?
· What do my readers know and how do they feel about the subject I’m addressing or the idea I’m proposing?
· Does my audience include international clients or colleagues? ( this one is EXTREMELY important because certain things in our culture may be very offensive to other cultures. For instance the color red in America may mean passion or power but in South Africa red is symbol of mourning.)

Asking yourself these questions will facilitate the analysis of your audience and further ensure the effectiveness of your writing.

Citations:

Oliu, Walter E., Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred. Writing that Works Communicating Effectively on the Job. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006.

The Role of Instant Messaging By Geoffrey Hart

Using Instant Messaging or IM is a great tool when it is used properly and by the right people. Instant messaging is much like a telephone call as it is live; however you communicate through typed words instead of spoken words. It also serves as real time e-mail because it allows you to communicate on a phone through this when you don’t have access to e-mail.

The use of instant messaging should be limited to informal situations and to cover brief conversations. When using instant messaging it is appropriate to use abbreviations and be informal in you conversation. However you still must always consider your audience and who you are talking to, make sure that everyone you are communicating with will understand your abbreviations and what you are talking about. Also since instant messaging has limited screen space messages should be brief and get right to the point of what you are trying to say, and also remember that speed is essential.

Citations:

Alfred, Gerald J., Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu. Writing That Works Communicating Effectively on the Job. 3rd ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.

Picture:

http://www.melovillareal.com/images/instant-messenger-skills-work-at-home.jpg

Creating and Delivering and Creating Effective Presentations by Colleen O'Hara

The main purpose of any presentation is communication. It’s educating, convincing, or conveying information to one or more people. To communicate effectively, you must be simple, crisp, and interesting. People are more willing to learn and retain knowledge when the learning is supported by visualization.

Visuals can entertain, excite, and even shock your audience by the proper addition of visual images into almost any exchange of information. Appearances that may be normally considered boring can be enhanced and more enjoyable that really grabs the attention of the audience. Simple, clear, concise images, that are smartly sprinkled with attention-grabbing graphics will help support your words in a positive manner.

Visuals should be used for support your information not replace it. Concepts that are difficult to grasp can be communicated quickly and easily through the use of visuals. They allow you the freedom to communicate more complex subjects in a more efficient manner, adding support and impact to what your trying to present.
Finally, your presentation should be entertaining. Leave the audience feeling enlightened and relaxed when they leave.

Key Steps in Effective Presentation

1. Know the Subject
While this may seem obvious, it is very important that you research every degree of your subject. Read and look up information about the subject with the specific purpose of writing a presentation. Your ability to present a subject with confidence, directly affects your audience's impressions and will help keep their attention.

2. Know the Audience
Researching the makeup of your audience will help you decide on what is appropriate for them or not. Knowing who you’re presenting to will also help you better understand how this information effects them and if it actually would appeal to them.

3. Know Your Limits
We all push our limits and willingly bite off more than we may be comfortable handle from time to time-- this is how we learn and grow. Knowing a few of your limits, however, might avert disaster, or at least embarrassment. Just because someone else can present a joke or situation to be funny doesn’t mean you can.

4. Develop a Theme
All presentations, regardless of their complexity, have a single purpose. Whether that purpose is to sell, educate, or to entertain always keep the purpose in mind.

5. Have a Script
For some, simple notes on 3 x 5 file cards with key points you want to make are very helpful. Make sure not to read from them the whole time. They are just for reference and to help your presentation flow. Any presentation script, regardless of density is like any other message. It should consist of an opening, body, summary and closing.

6. Select Proper Visual Aids
With the script developed and the audience researched, this decision should be easy. When properly planned, simple, well designed graphics add professionalism and impact to virtually any presentation.

7. Prepare an Outline
An outline does not have to be complicated to prepare. Its main purpose is to give a general view of the presentation and communicate the important items you wish to cover. It should include your script, what you plan on saying, and the visuals that go along with it. This will help you see the flow of your presentation.

8. Produce the Visuals
This should be the easiest step. After you have imagined what your visuals should be, it’s time to create them. Handouts and PowerPoint are very useful tools in displaying graphs, charts, and images. PowerPoint is sometimes the best way of showing a photograph or image to a large group of people. Handouts are best when you have graphs or something dealing with numbers that you wish your audience to keep for future reference.

9. Rehearse!
Your final script and outline allow you to rehearse your presentation even before the visuals are completed. This assures that when your final images are prepared and ready, you will be as well.

10. The Big Day

On the day of the presentation, you should arrive early to allow yourself enough time to set up. Have extra copies of the handout material nearby and make sure that if you use PowerPoint that it is showing on the overhead properly.
Remember to speak clearly and authoritative. A little humor, if tastefully added, can help break the tension of a moment. There should be no surprises. Make sure that the audience’s questions have been addressed, and of course, thank everyone for attending.

Citations

"The Key Steps To An Effective Presentation" byStephen Eggleston

http://www.the-eggman.com/writings/keystep1.html

Formal Reports by Eusebio Moreno.

“Formal reports are written accounts of major projects. Formal reports contain various components that make up the parts of the report.

1. Title Page. It includes the following information: (1) Full title of the report; (2) name (s) of the writers, (3) the date the report was issued, (4) the name of the organization for which the writer works, and (5) the name of the organization or person to which the report is submitted.

2. Table of Contents. Lists all the headings of the report in their order of appearance, along with their page number.

3. Abstract. Is a condensed version of a longer work that summarizes and highlights the major points.

4. Foreword. Is an optional introductory statement written by someone other than the author that generally provides background information about the publication’s significance and places it in the context of other works in the field.

5. Preface. Is an optional statement used to announce the purpose, background, or scope of the report.

6. Body. Is the section of the report that describes in detail the methods and procedures used to generate the report, demonstrates how results were obtained, describes the results, draws conclusions, and, if appropriate, makes recommendations. It includes the following:
a. An executive summary, that provides a more-complete overview of the report’s primary points.
b. An introduction, that provides your audience with any general information required to understand the details of the rest of the report.
c. The text (including headings, tables, illustrations, and references), it presents the details of how the topic was investigated, how the problem was solved, how the best choice from among alternatives was selected, or whatever else the report covers.
d. Conclusions, this section pulls together the results or findings presented in the report and interprets them in the light of its purpose and methods.
e. Recommendations, they suggest a course of action that should be taken based on the results of the study.

7. Works Cited (or References), this section cites the sources used to create the report.

Remember that the purpose, scope, and complexity of the project will determine which components will be included and how they are organized.” (Alfred, Brusaw and Oliu, p.372-397)

Bibliography:

Alfred, Gerald J., Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu. Writing That Works Communicating Effectively on the Job. 3rd ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.

Tips for Writing Effective Meeting Minutes By Craig Crumbly

Meetings in the workplace are a part of everyday life. Although meetings are not exciting, there are ways to making sure meetings are more efficient, which includes writing meeting minutes, or notes. When proper meeting minutes are not recorded, business associates tend to be lost and sometimes reschedule meetings with the same purpose which gets less accomplished. Make sure the minutes writting answer the following ten questions:

1. When was the meeting?
2. Who attended?
3. Who did not attend?
4. What topics were discussed?
5. What was decided?
6. What actions were agreed upon?
7. Who is to complete these actions?
8. Were materials distributed at the meeting?
9. Is there anything else the minute reader should do?
10. Is a follow-up meeting scheduled? if so, when?

By following these ten steps, confusion will be avoided and more productive and effective meetings will be produced.

Cited:

Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/2006/01/tips_for_writin.html