HOW TO START A

CONVERSATION
 TIPS

1. Go for the obvious

2. Be interested
3. Be authentic
4. Be active
5. Be professional
Things to remember

2.Eight Categories of
1.Culture Definition cultural differences

3.Four general guidelines for

adapting to any business 4.SEvEN STEPS TO improve
culture intercultural communication
skills
Three steps writing
process
Lecture 3 - Chapter 4,5,6
 Optimizing your writing time

1. Planning = 50%
2. Writing = 25%
3. Completing = 25%
Three step writing process
1.1 Plan - ANALYZE THE SITUATION
● Define your purpose
○ General purpose: inform, persuade, collaborate
○ Specific purpose: What you hope to accomplish, what the audience
will do, what the audience will think
● Analyze your purpose
○ Will anything change as a result of your message?
○ Is your purpose realistic?
○ Is the time right?
○ Is your purpose acceptable to your organization?
● Develop an audience profile
○ Who: demographic factors (sex, age, occupation, income)
○ How: reaction
○ What: pain points, needs, interests, benefits
1.2 Plan - GATHER INFORMATION
● Accurate
● Ethical
● Pertinent/ relevant

Planning
• Analyze the situation
• Gather information
• Select best medium and channel
• Organise the information
1.3 Plan - CHOOSE MEDIUM AND CHANNEL

Planning
• Analyze the situation
• Gather information
• Select best medium and channel
• Organise the information
● Richness
● Formality
● Media and channel
limitations
● Urgency
● Cost
● Audience preferences
● Security and privacy
1.4 Plan - ORGANIZE INFORMATION
1. Define your main idea
2. Limit your scope
3. Choose between direct and indirect approaches
- The direct approach :main idea (such as a recommendation, a
conclusion, or a request) and follows that with supporting evidence.
- The indirect approach: the evidence and builds up to the main idea

Planning
• Analyze the situation
• Gather information
• Select best medium and channel
• Organise the information
 4. Outline your content
a. Main idea
b. Major points
c. Examples and evidences

Planning
• Analyze the situation
• Gather information
• Select best medium and channel
• Organise the information
2. Creating
● Adapt to your audience
● Compose the message

Creating

• Adapt to your audience

• Compose your message
2.1 Write - ADAPT TO YOUR AUDIENCE
● Being sensitive to audience needs
○ Use “YOU” Viewpoint
○ Emphasize the positive
It impossible to fix your computer now
Your computer can be fixed on Friday
● Build strong relationships
○ Establish your credibility
● Control your style and tone Creating
○ Use a conversational tone • Adapt to your
○ Use plain language audience
○ Choose active or passive voice • Compose your
message
 2. 2 Write - COMPOSE THE MESSAGE
● Powerful words
○ Correct
○ Effective
○ Balance between concrete and abstract words
○ Strong, precise, familiar words
○ Use jargon carefully
● Effective sentences
○ Mixture of 4 sentence types: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
○ Using sentence style to emphasize key thoughts
● Coherent paragraphs
○ Topic sentence - Support sentences
○ Transitions
○ Illustration, comparison or contrast, cause - effect, classification, problem -
solution
 3. Complete
● Revise the message
● Produce the message
● Proofread the message
● Distribute the message
Complete
• Revise the message
• Produce the message
• Proofread the message
• Distribute the message
 3. Complete - REVISE THE MESSAGE
● Evaluate the first draft : content - organisation - tone
●● Is the information accurate?
●● Is the information relevant to the audience?
●● Is there enough information to satisfy the readers’ needs?

●● Is there a good balance between general information (giving readers enough background
information to appreciate the message) and specific information (giving readers the details they
need to understand the message)?

●● Are all the points covered in the most logical order?

●● Do the most important ideas receive the most space, and are they placed in the most
prominent positions?
●● Would the message be more convincing if it were arranged in a different sequence?
●● Are any points repeated unnecessarily?
●● Are details grouped together logically, or are some still scattered through the
document?
3. Complete - REVISE THE MESSAGE
● Evaluate and revise the work of others

● Your job is to help the other succeed, not to impose your writing style
● Make sure you understand writer’s intention before you begin suggesting/making
changes
3. Complete - REVISE TO IMPROVE READABILITY
● Vary sentence length
● Keep your paragraphs short
● Use lists to clarify and emphasize
● Add headings and subheadings
3. Complete - EDIT FOR CLARITY AND
CONCISENESS
3. Complete -
EDIT FOR
CLARITY AND
CONCISENESS
3. Complete - PRODUCE THE MESSAGE
Designing for readability

● Consistency
● Balance
● Restraint
● Detail
Complete
• Revise the message
• Produce the message
• Proofread the message
• Distribute the message
3. Complete - PROOFREAD YOUR MESSAGE
3. Complete - DISTRIBUTE THE MESSAGE
Choose a means to distribute the message

● Cost
● Convenience
● Time
● Security and Privacy
Complete
• Revise the message
• Produce the message
• Proofread the message
• Distribute the message
3 step writing process
 Any
QUestions?