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Professional Communication

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Agenda

■Communication

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♦Analyze the writing situation• Personal• Business

–E-mail, Memos, Letters

♦Editing your work

Analyze the Writing Situation■ Consider the following

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♦ Subject♦ Audience and Purpose♦ Development♦ Draftingg♦ Revising and Editing♦ Collaboration

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Communications: Foundation

■Personal (PACT)

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( )♦Purpose♦Audience♦Content♦ Tone

■Business♦Same

E-mail

■ Introduction

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♦Sets tone and prepares recipient for intended message

♦Useful subjects lines♦ Information requests♦Quoting documents

http://www.webfoot.com/advice/email.context.html

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E-mail: Useful Subject Lines

■ Allow for mental shift to receive message

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■ Be brief■ Note urgency when appropriate

1. Subject: need 3 MPNs complete by Tues

2 Subject: URGENT: need transcript evaluated to clear2. Subject: URGENT: need transcript evaluated to clear student

3. Subject: REQ: turn in Financial Literacy Workshop comments

E-mail: Information Requests■ Using the word ‘information’

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Subject: informationPlease send me information about UIUC.

This gives very little clue as to what the person wants to know about: admission application deadlines? The number of students? The acreage? The number of buildings? One could send paper documents or give URLs? However, in order to be p p g ,effective more detail is needed. With e-mail like this one has to ask for further context. Mail like this would have been much better as...

Subject: UIUC historyAre there any Web pages about the history of the U of I?

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E-mail: Quoting Documents■ Be explicit when responding to an e-mail

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■ Use reply to sender and include message

Instead of sending an e-mail that states:Yes I did.

Use:Use:> Did you get all of MPNs completed by Tuesday as needed?

Yes, I did. Thanks for checking.

E-mail

■Greeting

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♦Elements to include♦ Introduce yourself, if necessary

Good morning, Mr. Smith:

My name is Annette Jones, the account manager for College of the Deserts to ensure our student’s accounts are current and in good standing. . .

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E-mail■ Content

Good morning, Mr. Smith:

My name is Annette Jones, the account manager for College of the Deserts. I am primarily responsible for helping students make payment arrangements to ensure our student’s accounts

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♦ Why is the recipient receiving this e-mail?

♦ If a problem or another situation needs to be resolved, what led up to this point?

♦ What did the recipient request that the

p y gare current and in good standing. I would like to meet with you next week to discuss a student payment option, developed for your region. As you know, our student account averages have increased over the past quarter. Our department has decided to develop a new strategy to reverse these numbers.

Because you had success in this area as the southwest region t I ld i t i t th t tsender is now completing?account manager, I would appreciate your input on the strategy

you designed. I would like to have a teleconference with you and my account team next week. Please let me know your availability over the next week so we can discuss your strategy in more detail.

E-mail

■ Content requestM i i b d d ll f

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♦ Many recipients are busy and may not read all of the way to the end of the e-mail

♦ Many recipients will skim an e-mail to decide its priority. If the request is urgent and important but not emphasized until the end of the e-mail, it can easily be overlooked and set aside

♦ Including the request twice—at the beginning and at the end of the e-mail—helps to emphasize the importance and increase the probability the request will be completed

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Good morning, Mr. Smith:

My name is Annette Jones, account manager for the College of the Deserts, southeast region. I am primarily responsible for d l i t t i f i ll ’ t d t tdeveloping strategies for ensuring our college’s student accounts are current and in good standing. I would like to meet with you to discuss the student retention strategy you developed for your region. As you know, our student retention has decreased over the past quarter. Our department has decided to develop a new strategy to reverse these numbers.

Because you had success in this area as the southwest regionBecause you had success in this area as the southwest region account manager, I would appreciate your input on the strategy you designed. I would like to have a teleconference with you and my account team next week. Please let me know your availability over the next week so we can discuss your strategy in more detail.

E-mail■ Conclusion

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♦ Simply list your name♦ Business e-mail use signature line

*Captive audience add-onsAnnette JonesAccount Manager, Southeast RegionCollege of the DesertsPhone: 555-555-5555E-mail: annette.jones@cods.com

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Good morning, Mr. Smith:My name is Annette Jones, the account manager for the College of the Deserts, southeast region. I am primarily responsible for developing strategies for ensuring our college’s student accounts are current and in good standing. I would like to meet with you to discuss the student retention strategy you developed for your region As you know our student retention has decreased developed for your region. As you know, our student retention has decreased over the past quarter. Our department has decided to develop a new strategy to reverse these numbers. Because you had success in this area as the southwest region account manager, I would appreciate your input on the strategy you designed. I would like to have a teleconference with you and my account team next week. Please let me know your availability over the next week, so we can discuss your strategy in more detail.Annette JonesAccount Manager, Southeast RegionCollege of the DesertsPhone: 555-555-5555E-mail: annette.jones@cods.com

■ Effective memo outlineTO: (readers' names and job titles)

Memorandums

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♦ Heading♦ Introduction

• Problem • Assignment • Purpose of statement

TO: (readers names and job titles)

FROM: (your name and job title as well as your initials if the memo is to be delivered to the recipients)

DATE: (current and complete date)• Purpose of statement(cu e t a d co p ete date)

SUBJECT: (what the memo is about)

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Memorandums

■ Summary

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♦ Provides brief information of the key recommendations you are making

■ Discussion♦ Provides any necessary details to support

your recommendationsy

■ Conclusion♦ Use a courteous ending to state the action

you want your audience to take

MEMO

TO: Robert Carroll, Personnel AssistantFROM: Susan Smith, Personnel ManagerSS

DATE: October 1, 2008SUBJECT: Performance Objectives

Your responsibilities are important to the human resource services we provide to theYour responsibilities are important to the human resource services we provide to the university. In addition to the feedback I have provided in your performance evaluation, I am writing this memo to summarize the specific performance objectives for you to accomplish over the next year. It is important that you meet or exceed the following objectives:

1. Recruitment Planning: Planning the recruitment involves a defined action plan discussed in your performance evaluation report.

2. Recruitment Files: A recruitment file must be created for each applicant according to the itinerary discussed in your performance evaluation report.

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3. Turnover Report: You must create a computer-generated report that provides quarterly-information on employee turnover. The report must contain the specific information listed in your performance evaluation report.

We will discuss these objectives again on November 1. At that time, please address any questions or concerns you may have on these objectives with me. We will be meeting monthly to review your progress and ensure you meet these goals.

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Letters■ Heading

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College of the Deserts1234 Palm Canyon Dr.Palm Springs, CA 92241October 1, 2009

<Space>ABC CABC Company5678 Madison AvenueNew York City, NY 98765

LettersMy name is Annette Jones, account manager for College of the Deserts, southeast region. I am primarily responsible for developing strategies for

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g p y p p g gensuring our college’s student accounts are current and in good standing. I would like to meet with you next week to discuss the student retention strategy you developed for your region.

As you know, our student retention has decreased over the past quarter. Our department has decided to develop a new strategy to reverse these numbers.

Because you had success in this area as the southwest region account manager, I would appreciate your input on the strategy you designed. I would like to have a teleconference with you and my account team next week. Please let me know your availability over the next week so we can discuss your strategy in more detail.

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Letters■ Introduction

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♦ Salutation• Same as inside address• To Whom It May Concern• : or ,

Dear Mr. Simmons:

Letters■ Closing

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♦ Formal closing♦ Signature placement♦ Supplements

Regards,

Annette JonesAnnette Jones

Annette Jones

Cc:Encl.

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College of the Deserts1234 Palm Canyon Dr.Palm Springs, CAOctober 1, 2009

XYZ Corporation1234 Business DriveRevenue City, NY 12345

Good day, XYZ Corporation:

Thank you for sending my catalog order. I received the first items, silver letter openers, and it is just what I wanted for our WASFAA awards ceremony.

However, the second item, a glass vase, was broken in two places. I am returning it with this letter. I would like a replacement for the defective vase. If the vases are no longer in stock, I would like a refund to my account. My account number is 12345678.

Thank you for your quick response regarding this matter. I enjoy purchasing from your company and would like to continue doing so

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and would like to continue doing so.

Regards,Jacquie Student

Jacquie Student

Encl. defective vase

Revising Your Work: The Details■ Questions to ask?

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■ Is my purpose clear to recipient?■ Is my writing unified?■ Is my writing coherent?■ Will the recipient be able to follow the

organization?organization? ■ Are there enough details, examples or

other necessary specifics?■ Is my tone appropriate?

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Editing Your Work: The Details■ Questions to ask?

D h b k h l i i t

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■ Do paragraph breaks help recipients grasp related information?

■ Do transitions make appropriate connections?

■ Are sentences smooth and concise?■ Do words say what I mean?■ Are grammar and punctuation correct? ■ And last but not least

♦ Are any words misspelled?

Editing Your Work: The Details

I cdnuolt blveivee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatard

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what I was rdanieg, the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to a rseearcher at Cmabridge Uinervtisy, it doesn’t mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a problem. y pThis is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzaning huh! yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!

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Wrap Up

■ Share one item you will change and why

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■ Share one item you will change and why

■ Follow-up questions