9 Rules of Business Writing

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:33:21 +0000

How to write effectively

Nowadays business is 80% is communication with people (colleagues, clients, partners). Most often communication is in written form. There are different forms of business writings: e-mails, letters, presentation, proposals and other documents.

The skill of writing will be gained with the experience. There some rules to make getting experience easier.

1. Write less, say more

Today is a century of information. Everyday we read a lot of texts. We have no time to read big texts. Write short letters. Do not use long phrases. Make your text easy to read.

2. Do not use jargon and smiles

Business has etiquette: jargon and smiles are not allowed. Using jargon you complicate your message. Reader may not understand you.

3. Check your writing

Read your letter. Put it off for an hour (better for a day). And then reread it again. Mistakes and misprints are inadmissible.

4. Be attentive with the names, titles, and genders

Precise name and title of your addressee. Do not make a mistake. Some people feel hurt when writer spell their name wrong.

5. Make templates

In business many things repeat. The same letter to many clients, typical proposal for partners etc. Create templates to save your time. But make each letter unique.

6. Rule of 5W+H

Your message should be logical and clear. When you write something ask yourself 5 W question and one H: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? If your writing answers all these questions it is clear message.

7. Don’t give many choices

It is best to not give any choice. If your set a time for reunion give a single time. Generally there are two options. You don’t limit the choice you help to choose. When someone has a lot of choices it leads to decision paralysis.

8. Arouse interest

The effectiveness of your letter is the aroused interest of your addressee. Write about benefits.

9. Write often

If you want write good business writings write more, as often as you can.

7 Rules of Speaking in Public

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:51:34 +0000

7 simple rules how to perform before a large audience.

There are many situations in our life when we need to talk in public. The skill of public speaking is important in our everyday life and in building our career. Follow 7 next rules to speak without fear and to capture the attention of audience.

1. Admit nervousness

Admit that you are a bit nervous. When you do this, the audience will be more forgiving if you show your nervousness later. And now you feel yourself more relaxed because you know that the public doesn’t expect an ideal presentation.

One of the best way to do this is by joking about it.

2. Redefine your audience

Change your opinion about the audience. They are not lecturers who are evaluating you. Convince yourself that they are all fellow students or other lecturers who are going to present after you. It means that they are all nervous like you. So there is no reason why you should be too.

Do not think that nobody is around. It is very hard to convince yourself that no one is around when you are actually speaking to them.

3. Visualize your speech

Create a good presentation. Use slides, pictures, diagrams, tables etc. Half of the time, the eyes of audience will not be on you. When somebody looks at you, change your focus to other person who is not looking.

4. Make mistakes intentionally

Drop “accidentally” your papers on the floor for example. While picking them up, you warned the audiences that the presentation will be more confusing after this.

What for? You gain control of your audience. Make them laugh and be more interactive with you, and your presentation will have that casual feel to it which will make it more memorable than others.

5. Speak to one person at a time

The easiest way to overcome the fear of crowd is to speak to one person at a time.

Choose one listener of all the audience and present your speech to him or her. If someone asks you a question, change your focus to him and answer the question.

6. Be impressive with personal opinion

Include in your report your personal thoughts on the matter. That will differentiate your presentation from the rest, and when you see the interested look on the faces of your audience, it will elevate your presentation to another new level, a level where you start having fun.

7. Have fun experimenting

This is the most important rules of all. Have fun with the audience. Try new ways to give the best presentation to your audience. Experiment. Try out a new funny approach, or walk around the hall instead of being static on the stage. Have fun with experimenting on human behavior and you will see that public speaking is not that bad after all.

Rules of Speaking in Public Mind Map

Download:
7rspeaking.mmap (33 kb)
7rspeaking.pdf (11 kb)

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