Writing Email, Memo and Minutes

Rezwanul Huque Khan, PhD

Associate Professor
IBA, University of Dhaka
 Email

 Explosive recent growth

 And the growth to continue

5-2
 Difference: No nonverbal cues

 No nonverbal cues, which account for

___________ percent of message
Nonverbal cues

 No nonverbal cues, which account for 65

- 93 percent of message

 Only words and :-)

“It is how you looked when you said it,
not what you actually said.”

 The impact of a message comes from:

 About 7 percent verbal (words only)
 38 percent vocal (including tone of voice, inflection, and
other sounds), and
 55 percent nonverbal

 In face-to-face situations, we make our final decisions

more on what we see than what we hear.

 “The most important thing in communication is hearing

what isn’t said.”-- Peter Drucker
Difference: Tone
 No nonverbal cues
 Writing Tone becomes crucial
 In Germany and Britain, 23 percent and 14 percent
respectively [of respondents to aDaily Mail survey]
admitted confrontations with colleagues because of e-mail
misunderstandings.
Structure of Email (1 of 3)
 Standardized elements
 To
 Cc
 Bcc
 Subject
 Message
 Attachments

5-7
 Write An Effective Subject Line

 To catch reader‘s attention

 Brief and specific
 Avoid UPPERCASE
 Ineffective Subject Lines

Subject: Date:

Hi 9:17 am

questions 10:11 am

Meeting 12:44 pm

One more thing........... 3:02 pm

Some thoughts 4:21pm

 Effective Subject Lines

Subject: Date:

Party planning meeting rescheduled for 3pm 9:17 am

Help: I can’t find the draft for the Smith Paper 10:11 am

Reminder: peer-review articles due tomorrow (3/30) 12:44 pm

Questions about Sociology 210 project 3:02 pm

Congratulations to Jennifer for winning Nobel Prize 4:21pm

 Structure of Email

 The beginning
 Depending on the formality of the relationship
 Name of recipient (first name if acquainted)
 Generic greeting sometimes used (“Greetings”)
 Letter salutations rarely used!!! (Dear Mr. Fox)
 Hello Monica, Hi, Ms. …..
 To Whom It May Concern

5-11
 Formality of Email Writing

 Range is from highly formal to highly

informal.

 Three general writing styles:

 Casual
 Informal
 Formal

5-12
 Casual Writing

 Acceptable between acquaintances

 Highly informal
Example:“Hi ole buddy! Read your super
proposal. IMHO, it’s in the bank.”

5-13
 Informal Writing

 Retains some casual qualities (personal

pronouns, contractions)

 Corresponds to proper conversation

Example:“I’ve read your excellent proposal. I
predict the administrators will approve it.”

5-14
 Formal Writing

 Maintain distance between writer and reader.

 Avoid personal references.

Example:“The proposal is excellent. The

executives are likely to approve it.”

5-15
Thank the recipient
 Replying to client‘s inquiry
Thank you for contacting ABC company

 Find anything to thank for

Thank you for your prompt reply
 Structure of Email (Body)

 General rules:
 Always follow KISS principle (keep it short and simple)
 One topic per email
 Present information in descending order of importance
 Use paragraphs (not more than 5-8!! sentences each)
 Minimize references from previous communications, use quote
if required. >………. < / >>> ….. <<<
 Limit the content to one screen, if possible.
 Use subheadings, numbers and bullets, if relevant, to make your
content easy to understand.
 Do not write in AllCAPS as this is perceived as shouting!!

5-17
 Closing the Email Message

 If possible, thank again

 Refer to future contact
 Usually just the writer's name is sufficient.
 In more formal messages, closing statement may be
appropriate (“Thanks ,” Regards
“ ”).
Thank you and Regards’ does nothing for me. It just tells me
writer has given no thought to putting his personality into the
message and just wants to be like all his colleagues and not
stand out at all.
 Traditional letter closes (“Sincerely ”) sometimes used
in formal messages.
5-18
 Automatic Signature

 Use an appropriate signature

 Brief (4-5 lines)
 Informative
provide all contact information
 Professional
do not include pictures, quotes, animations
 Automatic Signature

Steve Edwards, Marketing Manager

ABCD Inc.
Tel. +555-7654321
Fax +555-7654378
steve.edwards@abcd.com
www.abcd.com
Remember!!
 Before you hit ‘send’, ask yourself these important questions:
1. Could I say this to the reader’s face?
2. Am I violating any policies or laws?
3. Would I want this message forwarded to someone else?
4. Is the information in a logical order and easy to read?
5. Am I writing this while angry or upset?
6. Will the reader know clearly what to do in response?
7. Will my message give a good impression of me?
8. Is email the best way to deliver this information?
9. Is email more appropriate than phone or face-to-face communication?
10. Will my message get the right results?
If your answers are ‘yes’, you can now hit ‘send’!
 Professionalism

 Complete the “TO:” line last

 Set your email program to delay
sending
 SAMPLE MEMO

 Internal
 Half to full page
 One to three paragraphs
 Conversational tone
 Example?
 SAMPLE MINUTES

 Internal/External
 Follows Meeting agenda
 Example for components
Happy emailing!