business writing: digital communications presented by shannon...
TRANSCRIPT
Business Writing: Digital
Communications
Presented by
Shannon Andrus, Ed. D.
CM13
4/3/2017
1:15 PM – 3:15 PM
The handouts and presentations attached are copyright and trademark
protected and provided for individual use only.
1
Business Writing: Digital Communication
Dr. Shannon H. Andrus, Ed.D
Agenda
• Introduction
• Using email effectively and strategically
• Composing an email
• Managing your inbox
• Beyond email: Managing your digital
presence
2
Using Email Effectively and
Strategically
3
When to Email
• Consider your colleagues’ personal time
and lives
• Set your email up for success – try to send
email between 6am-10am
• Send emails Monday-Thursday
4
What to Email
• Pause to consider if email is appropriate
for the task or question at hand
• Respect your colleagues’ professional time
• Do you want a digital record of the
information in the email?
5
What to Email
• Do not use email to criticize an employee
or coworker about his or her performance.
• Email should not be used to terminate an
employee
• Email can and should be used to create a
paper trail when appropriate
What to Email
• Poor: Pat, your work has been terrible
lately. I don’t know what’s going on with
you. Try harder!
• Better: Dear Pat, As per our discussion
this morning, here are the five areas in
which we would like to see improvement.
6
What to Email
• If you have a request or question send it to
one person per email.
– Poor: Dear Finance Team, Will someone
please send me the July figures?
– Better: Dear Dan, Can you please email me
the July figures?
More Netiquette
• Use Reply All sparingly
• BCC is a wonderful tool
• Do not forward without permission
• Respect other’s time
– Do a search before you ask for information
– Don’t email about sending an email
7
Composing an Email
Subject Lines
• Brief
• Specific and Informative
• Key Words on the Left
8
Subject Lines
Poor: Important!
Better: Meeting Changed to Tues
Poor: Wanted to talk to you about the
Walker case
Better: Walker case question
Subject Lines
• Update Subject Lines as Needed
– Re: Walker Case, SHA thoughts 11/22
– Re: Hanson Meeting & Info about filing
9
Salutations
• Use a salutation
– Dear Ms. Corning,
– Hello Water Study Committee,
– Hi Rick,
• Use a closing
– Consider office norms
– Regards, Sincerely, and Thank you are good
professional standbys
Salutations
• Signature Blocks
– People want and need to know how to
contact you
– Consider having several for different
recipients
– If it contains an attachment, use it
sparingly
10
Content
• Be professional
• Adhere to the styles of the written form the
email is replacing
• Be brief
• Use bullets when appropriate
• Bold important information if appropriate
• End with concrete requests and next steps
Style and Tone
• Err on the side of formality
• Use standard fonts, text sizes and colors
• Emojis and text-style abbreviations should
not be used for work
– Poor: U psyched??
– Better: I’m so glad we get to go to the ALA
conference.
11
Style and Tone
• Explain what you mean.
– Poor: Well, that’s just great. (Sarcasm?)
– Better: I am disappointed that she has not
revised the brief. Please call me when you
have the new draft.
– Poor: Cool.
– Better: I’m glad you can meet tomorrow. I look
forward to seeing you then.
Managing Your Inbox
12
Separate Accounts
• Work email should be used for work
• Consider creating a “spam n’ bacn”
account for your personal use
Prioritizing
• If possible “only touch it once”
• Use “mark as unread”
• Organize emails in folders
• Multi-tasking is a myth
13
Managing your Digital Presence
Step 1:
14
Ways to Create and Manage
your Online Presence
• Company/Firm Website
• Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Personal website
• Blog
• Be consistent with your name
• Use a high quality professional picture
• Connect your online presence to
individuals, companies, and material
strategically
Ways to Create and Manage
your Online Presence
15
Thank you!
Your opinion matters!
Please take a moment
now to evaluate this
session.