Business Communication Report Writing

1. Business CommunicationReport Writing

2. Agenda • What is Communication? • Defining Technical Writing • Types of Reports • How to Write Reports • Computer Reports • Anatomy of a Report • Sales Proposals • Future of Reports

3. What is communication? In simple words we can say that ““just to convey the message” If we go in more detail we can say that “ communication is the process of transmitting & Receiving Messages.

4. Components of Communication • Context • Internal Means • External Means • Sender (Encoder) • Message • Medium • Receiver (Decoder) • Feed Back

5. Communication Process

6. How We Communicate • CVs, Resumes • Email, Web site, FAQs • Letters, Newsletters, Brochures, Articles, Catalogs • Advertisements, Notice Board, Pamphlets, Signs, Press Release • Presentations, multimedia, talks • Reports, Manuals, Proposals, Books

7. Defining Technical Writing Technical writing is communication written for and about the business and industry. Technical writing focuses on products and services and how to manufacture them, market them, manage them, deliver them and use them.

8. Types of Correspondence Memos and electronic mails Letters Reports Proposals Brochures Newsletters Websites Online help

9. Technical Writing Reports • Proposals • User Manuals • Technical Manuals • White Papers

10. Classification of Reports • Formal Reports and Informal Reports • Information Reports • Analytical Reports • Recommendation Reports

11. 5 Steps to Report Writing1 • Define the problem • Gather the necessary information • Analyze the information • Organize the information • Write the report

12. Organizing Reports • Comparison/contrast • Problem-solution • Elimination of alternatives • General to particular • Geographic or spatial • Functional • Chronological

13. REPORT PREPARATION AND PRESENTATION PROCESS

14. Specific audience Objective and plain language Clear organization Brief writing style Visual aids Characteristics Of Technical Writing

15. I. Title pageII. Letter of transmittalIII. Table of contentsIV. List of tablesV. List of graphsVI. List of appendicesVII. List of exhibitsVIII. Executive summary a. Major findings b. Conclusions c. RecommendationsIX. Introduction a. Background to the problem b. Statement of the problemX. Approach to the problem XI. Research design a. Type of research designb. Information needsc. Data collection from secondary sourcesd. Data collection from primary sourcese. Scaling techniquesf. Questionnaire development and pretestingg. Sampling techniquesh. Field work XII. Data analysisa. Methodologyb. Plan of data analysis XIII. Results XIV. Limitations and caveats XV. Conclusions and recommendations XVI. Appendixa. Questionnaires and formsb. Statistical outputc. Lists Most research reports include the following elements:

16. Report Body • Introduction • Purpose and Scope;Limitations, Assumptions, and Methods • Background/History of the Problem • Body • Presents and interprets data • Conclusions and Recommendations • References or Works Cited • Appendixes • Interview transcripts, questionnaires, question tallies, printouts, and previous reports

17. Letter of Transmittal • Background • Summarize conclusions and recommendations • Minor problems. Thank those who helped. • Additional research necessary • Thank the reader. Offer to answer questions.

18. Sales Proposal • Budget • Objectives • Strategy and Tactics • Schedule • Results • Closing

19. Document Design • Use nomorethan5fonts. • Use no more than 5 colors. • Use glossy paper. • Use white space. • Use templates. • Use parallelism. • Avoid double emphasis.

20. Future Reports Proposals • 50-page reports • 25-minute oral presentation • 1-page summary Reports • Multi-media • Web