MAKING MESSAGE

EFFECTIVE

Module: 4
 Making Messages Effective
Clear
Complete
Correct
Save reader’s time
Build good will
 PAIBOC
Purpose
Audiences
Information
Benefits
Objections
Context
 Bias-free Communication
 Managers and their wives will…
 Managers and their spouses will…
 Manpower – Personnel
 Man-hours – Hours or working hours
 Manning – Staffing
 Workman – Worker, employee, writer
 Chairman – Chair, chairperson
 Gender Bias
 Plural nouns and pronouns
› Supervisors must…their departments.
 Use you.
› You must work for your department.
 Substitute with article or revise sentence
› Supervisor...time sheet for the department.
› The nurse will fill out the accident report.
 Planning Business Messages

• Basic tasks in composition process

• General and specific purposes of messages
• Testing message purposes
• Audience profiles
• Determining message main ideas
• Channels and media for transmitting
messages
 Composing Processes
• Planning
• Composing
• Revising
 Planning Activities
• Defining purposes
• Analyzing audience(s)
• Establishing main ideas
• Selecting channel and medium
 General Purposes Of
Business Messages

• Informing
• Persuading
• Collaborating
 Audience Analysis

• Who are they--demographics?

• How might they react to the message?
• What do they already know about the subject?
• What do they need to know?
• What is the audience’s relationship to you?
• Are there additional audiences who will see the
message?
 Composing Business
Messages

• Characteristics of well-organized business

messages
• How organization benefits both audiences and
communicators
• Logical subdivisions of main ideas
• Direct and indirect message patterns, and when
each is appropriate
 Composing Business Messages

• Style and tone appropriate for subject,

purpose, audience, and format
• You-attitude
• Appropriate e-mail formats
 Well-Organized Messages

• Get to the point quickly

• Excise irrelevant material
• Note points according to relative
importance
• Include all necessary information
 Why Good Organization
Matters

• Helps audience understand your message

• Encourages audience to accept your message
• Saves audience time and attention
• Simplifies the writer’s task
 Defining and Grouping
Ideas

• Prewriting techniques to generate content

• Visualizing how ideas fit together
• Deciding on main idea
• Deciding on major points that support main
idea
• Illustrating with specific evidence
 Messages That Follow
A Direct Approach

• Most appropriate when audience is receptive

• Direct requests
• Routine messages
• Good-news messages
• Goodwill messages
• Longer direct messages use informational
pattern or conclusions/recommendations
 Messages That Follow
Indirect Approach

• Most appropriate when audience is likely to

resist message
• Bad-news messages
• Persuasive messages
• Longer indirect messages use logical
arguments as support
 Establishing Good Audience
Relationships

• Use appropriate tone

• You-attitude
• Emphasize the positive
• Establish credibility
• Be polite
• Project the company’s image
 Shaping E-mail
Messages

• Tailor message for audience

• Organize points in easy-to-follow sequence
• Be brief
• Include interesting typographic details when
appropriate
 Revising Business
Messages

• Edit for content, organization, style,

readability, and word choice
• Choose correct and most effective words to
make your point
• Rewrite sentences to clarify relationships
between ideas and to add interest to your
writing
 Revising Business
Messages

• Identify paragraph elements

• Develop well-structured paragraphs that
address only one main idea each
• Design documents that will reach your
audience
• Proofread for mechanics and format
 Editing Content And
Organization

• Have you covered all points in the most

logical order?
• Do the most important points appear in
prominent positions?
• Have you provided enough support and
evidence?
• Can you cut wordy or redundant passages?
 Elements Of Readability
• Word choice
• Sentence length and structure
• Organization/paragraphing
• Document’s physical appearance
 Assessing Word Choice

• Correctness
• Effectiveness
• Plain English
• Connotations
• Concreteness
• Length
 Bias-Free Language Avoids
• Cultural bias
• Gender bias
• Racial/ethnic bias
• Age bias
• Disability bias
 Three Sentence Types
• Simple sentences
• Compound sentences
• Complex sentences
 Effective Sentence Styles

 Keep sentences short

 Rely on active voice
 Eliminate unnecessary words or phrases
 Avoid obsolete, pompous, or overblown language
 Break up strung-out sentences
 Express parallel ideas in parallel form
 Emphasize key thoughts
 Elements Of Coherent
Paragraphs

• Clear topic sentences

• Each sentence relates to topic sentence.
• Transitional elements show relationships
between sentences.
 The Case for Effective
Communications
What Happens when You’re Misunderstood?
 Answer more phone calls
 Write more explanatory emails and letters
 Make explanatory documents

Effective communication means you will:

 Write with more impact
 Get better results
 Provide better service
 The Benefits of Plain Language

• Reaches people who do not read well, or who do not

have time to read well
• Helps all readers understand information
• Avoids misunderstanding and errors
• Saves time, because it gets the job done well the first
time
 You Know You’ve Used Plain
Language if…

Readers can:

• Find what they need

• Understand what they read
• Use what they read
 What Is Plain Language?
Writing Pointers:
1. Write Like You Talk
2. Common words
3. Short sentences
4. Active voice
5. Easy-to-read layout
6. Logical organization
 1. Write Like You Talk

• Use “you” and other pronouns

• Avoid artificial language

• Sound like yourself

 1. Write Like You Talk: Caution
• Avoid regional dialects and expressions
• Use complete sentences
• Spoken English is sloppy
• Written English requires more care
than spoken English
 2. Choose Common Words

“I never use a word like metropolis when I

can get the same price for city.”

- Mark Twain
 2. Common Words

• Prefer the plain word to the fancy

• Use familiar words
• Avoid jargon
 2. Common Words

Prefer the Plain Word to the Fancy

Instead of: Use:
accomplish do
ascertain find out
endeavor try
facilitate help
formulate form
optimum best
utilize use
 3. Short Sentences
Cut Out Unnecessary Words
• Avoid cluttering phrases
• Cut out surplus words
• Avoid roundabout construction
 3. Short Sentences
Cluttering phrases:

Instead of: Use:

At the present time Now
For the purpose of For
In very few cases Seldom
With regard to About
 4. Active Voice

• It emphasizes the action

• It’s stronger and shorter than passive voice
– Avoid passive voice
 4. Active Voice

The test was performed.

or

ABC performed the test.

 5. Easy-to-Read Layout

Keep Paragraphs Short

• Use white space
• Separate topics into paragraphs
• Use lists and tables
 6. Logical Organization

• Know your audience

• Write to be understood
• Avoid ambiguity
 6. Logical Organization

Know Your Audience

• Write to everyone who is interested

• Engage your reader

• Anticipate the reader’s questions

• Organize to meet your reader’s needs

 6. Logical Organization
Write to be Understood - Not to Impress
• Don’t be arrogant
• Business communications should seek only to
communicate
• Provide enough information for your reader to
take action
 Email Pointers
• Start with a salutation.
• Ask for a response.
• Use Spell Check & proof read.
• Treat it like a business letter.
• Avoid emoticons & Internet abbreviations
• Create a professional “signature” at the end of the
email that includes your name, professional title,
business name, phone number, and email address.
 Using these tips will help you:
• Reach people who do not read well, or who do not have
time to read well
• Help all readers understand information
• Avoid misunderstanding and errors
• Save time, because it gets the job done well the first time
• Write with more impact
• Get better results
• Provide better service