A quick guide to email and corporate etiquette.

1. Meeting and
email Etiquette

3. What just happened?
What were unhelpful behaviors?
Is this restricted to only virtual meetings?
Are we, at some point or the other, guilty of some of these?

4. Meetings –In-person
and Virtual
Face to face meetings have elements of spoken
communication, body language, facial expressions,
gestures, tea, coffee and cookies – all of which makes it
far easier to understand and make yourself understood, to
put across your point of view, convince and persuade others
and build relationships.
Virtual meetings lack non-verbal communication elements.
However, can save time if used effectively

5. Both virtual and In-
person meetings
require Planning,
co-operation and self-
discipline

6. 1
2
3
BEFORE THE MEETING
IN THE MEETING
AFTER THE MEETING
1
2
3
Let’s break it down

7. Before the meeting
▪ Dress professionally always
▪ Come prepared to the meeting – pre-reads, all data, questions,
suggestions, ideas, notebooks, pens!
▪ Check for and put away all distractions – mobile phone, meeting
alerts, urgent tasks etc.
▪ Reach 5 minutes early – will give you time to settle down

8. Before the meeting
(virtual)
▪ Chose a neat professional corner. View your “chosen corner”
from the camera lens to know what the others will see.
▪ Look straight at the camera, not the screen or the keyboard
▪ Natural lighting is the best. Sit facing the light or with the light
on your side. Do not sit with the window behind you.
▪ Make sure that the headset, audio-video is working before the
call starts

9. In the meeting
▪ Help the organizer start and end on time
▪ Have clarity of thought, speech and tone
▪ PAUSE – when needed
▪ Take notes (in a note pad) to ensure you cover
your action items
▪ Build relationships – make small talk
How do I do that?

10. Why is small talk
important?
- Builds a professional network
- Helps you know get to know others and
others get others to know YOU
- An opportunity to make your elevator
pitch

11. What is an elevator
pitch?
The purpose of the elevator pitch is to
present a clear picture of your
thoughts and make the other person
interested in it to further the
conversation

12. Structure of an elevator pitch

13. Why is it called an elevator pitch?

14. Activity: Make an elevator
pitch and share with all
Situation: Explain your current new
assignment to the Account Manager who
is part of the meeting

15. In the meeting
(Virtual)
▪ Identify yourself each time you speak
▪ Be present; at all times - do not multitask
▪ Mute the phone when not talking and
(remember to) unmute when talking
▪ Do not eat on the call (If drinking tea/coffee,
let others know)

16. In the meeting
(if you are the organizer)
▪ Introduce self and the others on the call
▪ If the team is meeting a vendor, request others to introduce
themselves (name and role)
▪ Set ground rules: For eg:
Questions accepted through the chat box or at
the end of the meeting
▪ List out the agenda and the expected outcome(s)
▪ KISS - Keep it short and simple

17. After the meeting
▪ Share the minutes of the meeting (if you are
the organizer)
▪ Ensure follow up and closure of your tasks on
time
▪ With vendors, drop them an email and
schedule the next meeting

18. What is email Etiquette?
▪ Is how a person should behave when writing, answering and sending emails
▪ Can be different depending on the nature of the email being sent

19. Why is it important?
▪ Enables you to convey professionalism in a business setting
▪ Ensures your emails are straightforward and easily
understood
▪ Can prevent potential mis-understanding and lawsuits
associated with inappropriate emails sent in a work setting

20. Let’s start with some
communication basics

21. The
communicati
on
process
SENDER RECIEVER
CHANNEL
Codes Decodes
Decodes Codes
The Communication Process

22. SENDER RECIEVER
CHANNEL
Codes Decodes
Decodes Codes
What can go wrong? Why?

23. Do you think an email
could be a barrier to
communication?

24. Let’s write an email
You are working from home. You have to deliver phase one of the
project before noon and are unable to login to the VPN . Write an
email to the IT helpdesk.

25. De-brief
▪ Who are your stakeholders?
▪ What should your email contain?
▪ How can you ensure that you do not have to
go back and forth?

26. Effective written
communication
- Pre-empt questions / information required
- Provide complete information
- Write in bulleted points for ease of reading
- Be specific
- in in the information, you share
- your ask from the person
- Follow email etiquettes

27. Email etiquette
▪ Be Professional
▪ Do not use abbreviations and jargons
▪ Avoid gendered language
▪ Edit your mail before sending / do a spell check
▪ Add the email address last (preferably)
▪ Use simple classic font, sentence
case and not bold
▪ Watch your Tone

28. What is the right tone to adopt for an official e-
mail?

30. Start right - Salutations
Ms. Sharma
Mr. Sharma
Dear Sir/ Ma’am,
Dear Shalini,
Hi,
Hello,
Hey,
Hi All,
Dear Manish, Subodh and
Vivek,
Dear Vivek, Subodh and
Manish,
Hi!

31. How would you address your
Manager?
Whenever in doubt, be
formal!
… and your Colleague?
... what about your Director
Operations?

32. Email structure
▪ Clear and effective subject line
▪ Profession salutation
▪ Brief and specific body (the reason for the
email)
▪ Detailed next steps
▪ Professional signature – official signature

33. When do you use To/cc/ Bcc?

34. Spot 6 mistakes
To frame email
Use gender neural language
Subject line
Salutations
No capitalization
to call attention.
Use emojis with caution
Unclear ask

35. Let’s write an email
Write an email to your Manager giving him an update of your
weekly project status.

36. What did you do well this time?