1. Business writing
 Effectivewriting does not come
by chance. It does not just
happen. It requires a set of skills
to write SIMPLY, CLEARLY,
ACCURATELY, AND BRIEFLY.
 Youhave to learn and acquire
them as you have earned your
professional knowledge and
experience

2. Purpose of writing
Writing to inform
Writing to persuade

3. Writing to inform
 Presents facts, data,
statistics, reports,
accounts of facts and
written with maximum
objectivity.
 It
is also called expository
writing because it
expounds or expresses
ideas and facts.

4. A check-list
 Does it focus on the subject
under discussion?
 Does it primarily inform rather
than persuade the reader?
 Does it offer complete and exact
information?
 Can the information be
ascertained?
 Does it present the information
logically and clearly?
 Does it make good reading?

5. Writing to persuade
 Persuasive writing aims at
convincing the reader about a
mater
 It is at times called
argumentative. The matter
has two or more sides to it.
The writer seeks to influence
and convince the reader
 It focuses on the reader and
does more than just state an
opinion

6. A check-list
 Does it basically seek to convince
rather than inform
 Does it support its view point by
giving information or valid
reasons
 Does it clearly follow a logical
arrangement of thought and
reasoning
 Does it finally evoke the intended
response from the reader


7. The audience/receiver
 Recognize the needs,
expectations, fears, and the
attitudes.
 Writtencommunication is
one-way till such time the
reader responds. So the
challenge is to get the
written communication right.

8. Planning saves time
and effort
 Ingood business writing
carefully think about what
you plan to say, and spend
even a bit more time
thinking about the people
to whom you’re going to
say it.

9. Plan writing in writing
 Always plan in writing, not just
in your head. If you write your
plans down, you’ll not only
remember them more clearly-
you’ll also be less likely to be
thrown off when you do multiple
projects at the same time.
 Referto document planning
sheet till it comes as a reflex

10. Early criticism kills the
creative process
 We are often crass and cruel to
ourselves when we write. We tend to
feel and think that our thoughts are
not appropriate or phrased or spelled
correctly even before we put our pen
to the paper
 This early criticism is one of the chief
causes of writer’s block and of a
general dislike for writing. It is also a
costly waste of productive time.

11. The brainstorming
attitude
 Like you brainstorm
among your colleagues
/friends/family for ideas,
you brain storm within
before you embark on
writing.
 Brainstorm now, organize
and perfect later.

12. Brainstorming
guidelines
 Write as fast as you can
 Start anywhere
 Free yourself
 Accept every idea, even weird
ones
 Record as many ideas as possible
 Write everything down; use
abbreviations

13.  Ignorespelling, punctuation,
sentence structure, etc.
 Prevent all self- criticism
 Jump freely among ideas
 Write until you burn out;
rest; repeat till you achieve
what you set out to do

14. Time for writing
 Writing business documents,
like any high-concentration
activity, is much easier if you
can work uninterrupted.
 A 1minute interruption from
a writing task might require
as much as 20 minutes of
recovery time before you can
resume the flow

15. Suggestions for reducing
writing distractions
Curtail internal phone
calls, meetings, and
visitors except for
emergencies.

16.  Come in early or stay late if you
can go to lunch half an hour late.
Find quiet time when you are
least likely to be disturbed
 Schedule writing appointments
with yourself. If someone asks to
see you during your scheduled
time, say “sorry, I have an
appointment. What other time
would be good for you?”

17.  Hang up a “do not disturb
until…” or an “in conference
until…” sign on your door,
and tell people you insist.
 Turnyour writing space away
from the entrance to your
workplace. Especially if you
have no office door. This will
reduce interruptions

19. Executive time
Listening-45%
Speaking-30%
Reading-16%
Writing-9%

20. Use white noise
In noisy and open offices,
get a softly playing radio
or a small fan minimize
the distracting
conversations floating
over your partition

21. Make your office less
appealing to visitors
 Sit in front of a bright window,
put books on visitors’ chairs, or
remove visitors’ chairs
altogether. Be very careful
when using such techniques to
be especially friendly to your
colleagues when you finish
your writing session

22. Ignore the phone
Forward your calls, or
have a secretary screen
them, or take phone off
the hook, which signals
that you are busy- which
you are

23. Promise call backs.
If you are writing and
some one calls or pops
in, quickly say, “can I
get back to you in say
about 15 minutes”?

24. Find a hiding place.
Try an empty office, an
unoccupied conference
room, a storeroom, or
even your car in the
parking lot.

25. Don’t be an interruption.
Be sensitive to other
people’s need for private
writing time. Be observant
and flexible when
balancing your needs with
their time.

26. Getting it right
The last phase in
producing a good
piece of writing is
revision.

27. “big-middle-little” revising
 Revising isn’t easy, partly because
writing isn’t easy. Written language
involves word choice, tone,
punctuation, spelling, organization,
connection, formality, ambiguity,
visual formatting, sequence of
tense, pronoun agreement,
conciseness, and technical
language- to name just a few

28.  All of these factors are elaborate
systems of constantly evolving
linguistic conventions.
 Are we supposed to think of all
that, as we read through
 No way. That’s why we need to
break up revising into three
manageable chunks.

29. Big revising
 Skim through your document, looking
for the big picture- the overall content
and organization of your work. Eyeball
the text from a distance: does it look
easy to read (with lots of marginal
white space, clearly marked sections,
and so on) or does it look like a brick
wall of unbroken words?
 If a memo looks hard to read, it IS hard
to read, and it may not be read at all.

30. Middle revising
 Next, quickly read for simplicity,
clarity, and conciseness. Do your
readers absolutely need to know
everything you’ve written? Can
you leave phrases, paragraphs, or
even whole sections out? Can you
simplify the language in what’s
left? Are your ideas clear and to
the point?

31. Little revising
Next, look for the details- the
grammar, spelling, and
punctuation. Leave this
small but very important
detailing to the last. Why
correct the spelling of a
word you might end up
eliminating.

32. Headlines for instant clarity
 Headlines also known as subject lines
must be complete. For example
“MANAGEMENT MEETING.” What’s
this memo’s point? Is it an invitation to
a meeting? An agenda? A suggestion
for the next meeting? A complaint?
You can’t tell; you’d have to read the
fine print. In a way, this subject line is
an incomplete headline

33. x
 To make your memos more clear,
think: subject line=purpose +topic.
For example: “request to cancel
the next management meeting.”
this headline is instantly clear
because it states the memo’s
purpose (request to cancel), then
the topic (next management
meeting).

34. Add breathing space for
reader friendliness
 A true story: a few years ago an old friend
decided to start a new life. He just picked up
and moved from Chennai to Mumbai. He
arrived, wrote up a resume- a one-pager,
crammed edge-to-edge with everything he’d
ever done- and started looking for work.
Months went by: no job. Puzzled and worried,
he revamped his resume, spreading the same
information out over to two pages and
making the pages breezier, and much easier
to read. The next week he found a job

35. What happened?
Somebody finally read
his resume!

36. Revise for reader
friendliness
 Frequent paragraph breaks: even use
occasional one- or two- line paragraphs
for important thoughts
 Lists: readers find listed information
easier to organize, so they look at lists
almost immediately. Lists can also
condense documents by allowing the
use of phrases instead of sentences

37. c
 Wide margins: readers find shorter text
lines easier to read than long, edge-to-
edge text lines, and wide margins give
readers more room for writing notes
 Section headlines: headlines allow
readers to scan for main ideas, read
selectively or in any order they wish,
and easily review the document at a
later time.

38. Simplify and clarify your
document
 Eliminate nonessential ideas:
distinguish what readers need to
know from what would be nice to
know.
 Write to express and not to
impress: the purpose of business
writing should not be to show off,
but to inform. Pompous writing
often alienates busy readers.

39. Write as if your readers
were 12 years old: Albert
Einstein said that
everything should be
made as simple as
possible, if not simpler-
sums it up

40. Think proverbial: proverbs
are memorable because they
are short and vivid. To make
your writing memorable,
plan to write simple, vivid,
memorable sentences rather
than long, abstract
dissertations.

41. Reduce or eliminate big
words
 Beware of three-, four-, and five-
syllable words. Change “ our
contemporary organizational
structure possesses the
prerequisite autonomous
functioning capabilities” to “today
we have the strength we need to
stand alone”. Try to use the
simplest words that work.

42. Use personal pronouns
 Instead of, “it is recommended that
this procedure be implemented,”
write “WE recommend YOU
implement this procedure.”
personal pronouns can help make
sentences simpler, less abstract,
and more personal. They also
clarify the important issue of who
does what.

43. There-it goes
 Reduce or eliminate
unnecessary uses of THERE
and IT in phrases such as “it
is”, “there was”, “it will,” “there
has been,” and so on. Change “
it is true that there was anger in
the crowd” to “true, the crowd
was angry.”x

44. Advantages of E-mail
 E-mail, like death, taxes, and TV, is probably
here to stay. It is a wonderful medium- it’s
quick, immediate, generally inexpensive,
fairly easy to use, and even environmentally
friendly when it saves paper. E-mail is almost
universal among modern business
professionals, which adds another
advantage- the ability to send the same
message to many people at once. Moreover,
e-mail messages can often be kept
permanently in computerized files

45. Disadvantages of E-mail
 E-mail can reduce live human
interaction, leading to oddly
impersonal business
relationships. Employees send
personal e-mails on company
time. E-mail encourages sloppy
writing. Communicating quickly
does not mean you don’t have
to communicate well

46. Make your E-mails reader
friendly
To make the most of e-
mail technology and write
e-mail it is worthwhile
considering the following
suggestions

47. Beware of confidential
subjects
You can never be sure
where your messages
will be forwarded, how
long they will be kept,
or by whom.

48. Know how to brainstorm
Maybe you’re most
efficient when you
brainstorm and organize
on paper first, then write
the e-mail. Paper is still
OK, you know. What
works best for you.

49. Assume high standards
Many readers are put off
by bad writing in any
form, e-mail as well as
hard copy. Write as well
as you can, whenever you
can.

50. Select your readers
When messaging to
many, be selective: send
copies only to those who
absolutely, positively
need to see it.

51. Don’t assume what you see
is what you get
 If your reader’s systems are
different from yours, your line
lengths may spill over and
cause an annoying text wrap
effect on their screens. To be
safe keep your line lengths to
55 or 60 characters, including
spaces.

52. Avoid typing in all caps.
 It’s easier to type, but IT SURE
SOUNDS LIKE SHOUTING,
DOESN’T IT? Also, “all cap”
writing slows reading by
inhibiting recognition of
acronyms, proper names, and
sentence starts, which all
depend on upper/lower case
contrasts.

53. Use informative subject
lines
 Readers may screen their e-mails by
scanning subject lines, discarding
without reading messages that don’t
seem relevant or clear. To get your e-
mails read, don’t use subjects like
“management meeting” or “project
xyz” if you can use “request to
reschedule meeting” or “how project
xyz will save $500000/year.” these
longer subject lines communicate even
if your whole e-mail isn’t read.

54. Keep it short
Try to get your whole
message on one
screen .it is one the
best ways to ensure
very high readership

55. If you can’t keep it short,
forecast the structure
On your readers first screen,
summarize your message
and then forecast its
structure by listing all your
section headings. This helps
readers scroll quickly to
sections that may interest
them.

56. Use emphasis devices
 Even though some e-mail
systems don’t yet allow many
word processing options, you
can still facilitate reading by
using headings, white space,
occasional all caps, indents,
lists, simulated underlines, and
other devices

57. Beware of acronyms and
emoticons
Don’t over use e-mail jargon
or those cute little “smileys”
like  or  . Even though
they can communicate
quickly, make sure your
readers accept them before
you them

58. Print out long ones
If you print out long e-
mails, your scanning for
important sections may
be easier than if you roll
or scroll on screen

59. Reply quickly to your
messages
Don’t negate one of the
main advantages of e-
mail, which is speed.
Check your e-mail
frequently and reply
promptly

60. Change the subject line of
your reply
Your reply is not the same
message as the original e-
mail you were sent, is it? So
if you can change the
subject line. Reply to
“request to reschedule
meeting” with “meeting
rescheduled to May 30”

62. Presentations
Plan to speak to listeners
on their terms
Many professionals suffer
from a common
communication malady:
the “specialist’s fallacy.”

63. The Specialist’s Fallacy: How
Presentations Go Wrong
 The specialist’s fallacy assumes that
the listeners are just as familiar with
your subject as you are. If you assume
this you may lose your audience. With
this false assumption, presenters give
talks that are too long and full of
digressions, contain too much detail,
and over use specialized terms
 Presentations given this way may be
misunderstood- or even disregarded

64. Where the Specialist’s
Fallacy Originates
 The specialist’s fallacy comes from
mistaking familiarity with a subject
for an intrinsic simplicity of the
subject. “if I understand it,
everyone under stands it”. We
assume that what we know is
common knowledge and that
everyone will understand us if we
just say what we know. The result:
they don’t understand us.

65. The solution: Plan to Speak to
Listeners on Their Own Terms
 To avoid the specialist’s fallacy
and plan your presentations for
your listeners, use the
presentation planning form.
 This will help you create
presentations that tailor your
message to your listeners, avoid
the dreaded fallacy, and
communicate clearly.

66. Use a recipe to begin with
confidence
Say hello and say your
name. Greet the audience
with a strong, clear voice.
If anyone in the audience
doesn’t know who you
are, say your name

67. 2. Name your topic
Tell them right away what
you will be discussing. Don’t
trust the technique of
starting with a joke. Humor
is tricky; you’re safest to get
right down to business and
name the topic.

68. 3. Give your topic
credentials
 Imagine that your audience asks
you, “why are you qualified to
speak about this topic?” don’t
detail your whole resume- just
enough to credential you in this
topic. Don’t brag about yourself,
either- just state your experience.
This section should take no more
than two or three sentences.

69. 4. Emphasize the benefits
Emphasize the benefits
the audience will gain by
listening to you. This is a
sometimes neglected but
crucial part of an effective
business presentation

70. 5. Forecast the structure of
your talk
Briefly outline the agenda
points you will cover.
Don’t detail them yet, just
list them. If you wish,
show the audience a
visual agenda to
accompany your words.

71. 6. Suggest question-
answer rules
Tell the audience when
you would like them to
ask their questions-
anytime, after sections,
or after the entire talk.

72. 7.Start agenda item #1.
Simply say, “now let’s
start with point #1, and
you’re in.

73.  Think carefully about your
business audience’s interests and
concerns. Find ways your
presentation will benefit your
audience, and make sure they
know, right from the start of your
talk, what those benefits are. When
you see that your audience is
listening with interest, you’ll more
easily deliver a powerful,
persuasive presentation.

74. Use “quick specifics” for
high credibility
 Remember mother Mary who knew
Latin or uncle Sam who is great at
bridge!
 We think this way because we have
a tendency to generalize from
specific experiences. We tend to
assume, rightly or wrongly. That
behind any specific behavior is a
general pattern of knowledge, skill
or similar behavior.

75. In presentations: the quick
specifics
 And so it is with professional
presentations, especially persuasive
ones: if you give your audience
specific names, facts, examples,
statistics, stories, or analogies-
especially lots of them in rapid-fire
sequence – the audience is likely to
assume that for each specific you gave
you could have had more to say, and
therefore your evidence must be
overwhelming and your point valid

76. Think “many and quick,”
instead of “few and deep”
 Many audiences will respond best to
many specifics quickly stated, rather
than few specifics explored in depth.
Audiences are generally impressed
with a wide sweep, an over view of the
evidence. They may eventually require
more depth, so an excellent
presentation strategy might be to give
your wide sweep of quick specifics,
then go back and develop one of your
specifics in detail.

77. The audience will then
assume that every one of
your specifics could go just
as deep, and they will feel a
sense of the breadth and
depth of your point, even if
you don’t have the time to
detail all your evidence.

78. A final word: know the breadth
and depth of your evidence
 The “many and quick” strategy could
lead to abuses. A few bits of knowledge
can be made to deceive
unsophisticated audiences. The best
presenters know their material broadly
and deeply and are always prepared to
offer fuller explanations. The wisest
audiences know that behind a
presenter’s quick, specific evidence
must lie a depth of understanding; if
they have any doubts about a
presenter’s knowledge, they must ask
for more depth or risk being misled.

79. Use the BEST recipe to
organize your points
 After you have brainstormed
the evidence you want to use in
your speech, you need to
present these specifics in an
organized fashion. A handy
recipe for organizing a speech
is the BEST formula: bottom
line, evidence, summary,
transition.

80. B= bottom line
 To open each section of your
speech, state in 25 words or
less the point you wish to make
in that section. Use a signpost
phrase like “ my next point
is…” or “point #3 of my
presentation is…”, this gives
the audience a clear sense of
where you are in your talk.

81. E= evidence or examples
 List the best evidence, examples,
statistics, stories, and analogies you
have to support your point. A good
technique is to signpost these
specifics with a statement such as, “let
me give you some examples,” or “here
are some statistics you may find
helpful.” To support you may tell
stories about people you have met; tell
jokes; and mention shah rukh khan,
mahatma Gandhi, Bernard Shaw,
Rajneesh… just make sure your
evidence is quick and convincing

82. S= summary of bottom line
 Restate your point so the
audience knows that you are
emerging from specifics into a
general statement. You can
signpost your point’s summary
with ‘to summarize this point…(
do not say “in conclusion”
unless you are at the end of
your talk)

83. T= transition to next point
Lead the audience to the
next point with a natural
transitional statement,
such as “that leads me to
the next point,” or “now
let’s move on.”

84. Use a recipe to conclude
with power
The most effective
conclusions are a
combination of logical and
emotional elements crafted
into a clear sequence. To
fashion a solid, uplifting
conclusion, try this recipe.

85. 1.Announce a stop sign
 A stop sign is an unmistakable verbal
signal that your talk is about to end.
Classic stop signs include the phrases
“in conclusion” or “in summary”. Say
your stop sign in a clear firm voice, and
your audience will perk up- not
because they’re glad you are finished,
but because they know that they are
about to hear an important statement :
your final words.

86. 2. Summarize your main
points
Recap the main ideas you
have covered in your talk.
Don’t say too much; just
give a brief bullet point
list of your bottom- line
points.

87. 3. Motivate the listeners
Even in low key
presentations, you may find
that an optimistic, team
building feeling would be
appropriate as you
conclude. To achieve this
emotional, motivational
effect, experiment with the
following terms:

88. Challenge, difficulty, effort
Tell the audience that the
ideas you have proposed
may not be easy to
implement. Challenge
them to take on the ideas
anyway.

89. Optimism
Express as much sincere
confidence as you can. Be
willing yourself to take on
the challenges. Predict a
realistic success.

90. The future
Refer to times to come.
Even use the word
“future” as you predict
a brighter day

91. Pronouns
 Make your talks personal. Use
the words I, me, or mine- refer
to your own commitment. Tell
how you feel; risk a bit of self-
disclosure. Use the word you
refer to the audience- or even
better, use we, us, or our to
refer to yourself and the
audience as a team.

92. A final uplifting phrase
 Make the very last words you say
turn upward, not downward. Do not
end with a statement like, “we will
look forward to a brighter future
and avoid the serious problems of
the past.” Rather, say “we will
avoid the serious problems of the
past and look forward to a brighter
future”. Leave the audience
moving upward with your last
words.

93. 4. Pause and say thank you
Thank you signals the
finish, and therefore the
moment listeners can
react. The phrase is, in
fact, an applause cue.

94. 5. Pause again and solicit
questions
Make sure your pause is
long enough to allow for
the listeners’ applause or
appreciative nods. Then, if
appropriate, solicit and
answer questions.

95. Handle questions with care
 Answering questions well can
be a major key to the success
of your presentation, because
the Q&A session is where the
audience finds out how much
you really know about your
topic and therefore whether
they can believe in your ideas
 Some useful guidelines

96. Anticipate questions
Before the presentation,
brainstorm 10-12 tough
questions you think you’ll
be asked. Prepare good,
solid answers.

97. Specify when you want the
Q&A session
 In your introduction, request
questions any time, after
sections of the talk, or at the
end of the talk. Questions
during your talk may make your
talk longer and harder to keep
focused, but they can make
your talk interactive and more
engaging.

98. Listen carefully to
questions
Don’t complete
questioner’s thoughts-
that can be insulting.

99. Always support
questioners
Never put anyone down for
asking questions, even poor
ones. Put downs only make
enemies. Presenters can
insult questioners without
realizing it by making an
unintentionally hurtful
comment…

100. For example, suppose
someone asks a question
and you say, “I thought I
explained that, but I’ll go
over it again for you”.

101. Beware of saying “good
question”
If you say to Kareena,
you’ll have to say it to
everybody, or risk making
people think their
questions aren’t as good
as Kareena’s

102. If appropriate, repeat
(or restate) the question
 …especially if the
question is complex, or
if the room is so big that
all listeners can’t hear
the questions posed to
you.

103. Break out multiple-part
question
 If someone asks you a three- or
four- part question, don’t panic.
Answer only the first part if the
question and then say, “now,
what was your second
question?”
 Handling the questions one at a
time is much easier and just as
effective.

104. Answer briefly
The fewer words you
say, the more of them
are remembered.

105. Involve the entire audience
in your answer
Even though one person
asked the question, you
should answer to every
one, with only a bit more
eye contact directed at the
asker

106. If you don’t know the
answer, don’t bluff
 Simply say you don’t know,
promise to get back to the
asker with an answer, and do it
ASAP. You may be better off
this way than if you knew the
answer right off; getting back
quickly shows a “customer
service” attitude.

107. Techniques for using
Laptops or LCD’s
Don’t overdo visual
effects; don’t make a
visual for every single
thought.
If possible, index slides
for quick-reference
tailoring on the fly.

108. Rehearse carefully.
Get there early; check
everything twice
If using a TV monitor, use
at least a 27” screen

109. If using a LCD panel and
reflective screen, try to
get a super-high
luminosity overhead
projector
Allow sufficient
setup/boot up time

110.  Ensure the image is large
enough to be seen at the back;
if necessary, use the image
sizer on the over head projector
 Make sure the image is bright
enough, but try also to leave
the room bright enough for
good eye contact

111. If presenting in a darkened
room, emphasize your voice
dynamics
If you anticipate long
discussions on any slides,
turn off the screen saver
feature

112.  For verbal- visual cooperation,
use cascading bullets or
progressive highlighting.
 For commands, use a remote
portable mouse as opposed to
tapping laptop
 Create a “dark slide” effect so
you can occasionally speak
without visual aids