This "Business Communications" presentation was given at the recent Vancouver Nuts & Bolts Conference organized by Meeting Planners International.

1. Business Writing:Communicating the Right Message, the Right Way, the Right Time

2. Takeaways Know how to adapt your written message to your audience Learn about email guidelines Learn tips for a clear, concise and effective writing style

3. Why me?

5. Overview

6. Why care?

7. “Business is competition. To give your business the competitive edge, you need to be perceived as the more knowledgeable, competent and professional over those who may be viewed as your direct competitors.”

8. There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception. -Aldous Huxley

9. Perception is the impression given by the presentation and content of your business writing

10. Writing Effectively

12. Writing Process

13. 5 Key Aspects to Writing

14. Purpose What are you trying to communicate? What do you want the audience to know, feel, and do after reading your writing?

15. Decide what % of each

16. Audience Who is going to read your writing? Know your audience:

17. Audience Analyze your audience: -Who are they? -How big is your audience (does that influence your style/content)? -What do they know about you? -What do they know about the subject already? -What should your audience know? -What do you want the audience to do with the information you provide?

18. Exploration What ideas should you consider? What message are you trying to get across?

19. Organization How can you best arrange your ideas?

20. Details and Examples How can you support your point? Important role: To provide information, to verify an assertion, to illustrate an idea or concept

21. Email

22. 1971 First Email? ARPANET Ray Tomlinson

23. First email message? quertyiop

24. 2.9 billion 2014 1.4billion 2009

25. 25 - 60 emails a day 6,000 – 14,000 emails a year

26. Email Do Interoffice memos Making requests / inquiries Keeping in touch Conducting routine business transactions Providing status and news Seeking ideas or input-Giving simple feedback

27. Email Don’t After previous emails get little or no response To address sensitive issues When you need to resolve concerns and conflicts Sharing business information / contracts of proprietary nature When you are angry or upset

29. To: field

30. Cc: field

31. Bcc: field

32. From: field

33. Subject: field 69% -Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC)

34. 5 Things to Remember Keep it short, specific Write an informative subject line Avoid SPAM words like ‘free’, ‘discount’, ‘!’, ‘50% off’ Personalize when possible Be clear about what is being delivered “Would you open your email?”

36. Forgetting to adapt the previous Subject: field to reflect the content of your email

37. Typing in all small case or all caps

38. Having a vague phrase that doesn’t accurately reflect the content of the email

40. 3 Things to Remember

41. Your Writing Is Creating a Perception Proovrede! Is Your Email Times Square ‘Billboardable’?