Lesson 2. Planning Your Message.

What are the techniques for generating creative ideas?

1. Brainstorming. Generate as many ideas as you can without criticizing or organizing, then look for patters and connections, organize them in clusters that are major issues and will bring out the most important idea. 2. Journalistic approach. Asks who, what, when, where, why and how questions. 3. Question-and-answer chain. What is audience's main question and what do they need to know? Write down questions and answers. From thinking from audience perspective you are more likely to define main idea. 4. Story teller's tour. Easier for some people to record voice. Record as you were speaking to a co-worker then listen, tighten and clarify, then rerecord. Rinse and repeat. 5. Mind mapping. Used for generation and organizing ideas through graphic method.

Name two components of analyzing the situation?

1. Defining your purpose clearly. 2. Understanding the audience's needs.

What are 4 most common information organization mistakes?

1. Taking too long to get to the point. 2. Including irrelevant material. 3. Getting ideas mixed up. Group similar ideas and present them in a logical way where one idea leads to the next. 4. Leaving out necessary information.

How to uncover the audience's needs?

Ask questions. Think of relevant info your audience may have not expressed yet. Use your judgment in revealing that info.

What is primary audience?

Key decision makers.

What are efficient business messages?

Messages that are making the best use of your and your audience's time.

What are effective business messages?

Messages that are meeting the audience's needs

Briefly discuss gathering info for simple and complex messages, journalistic approach, identify 4 ways to gather info and 3 attributes of quality info.

Simple messages - may already have all needed info, for more complex messages - need to do considerable research and analysis. Four ways to gather info: 1. Consider other viewpoints. View yourself in other person's place to understand their feelings, thinking and planning. What info they need to get stirred in the right direction? 2. Read reports and other company documents. 3. Talk with supervisors, colleagues or customers. 4. Ask audience for input. Keep in mind that admitting that you do not know the answer and asking meets needs and impresses more than guessing and getting it wrong. When asking audience for input: ask questions to narrow the focus and think of alternatives they may have not thought of and introduce them. Be ready to satisfy audience needs completely. Best approach is journalistic: message must answer who, what, when, where, why and how. Three attributes of quality info: 1. Be sure the information is accurate. Check ALL data, your conclusions and assumptions. 2. Be sure the information is ethical. Accuracy partially takes care of it. If an honest error, contact the recipients immediately to correct. It is unethical to omit info. Include enough detail to avoid misleading audience: offer as much info as you believe fits your definition of complete (doesn't work for people with OCD lol) and offer to provide more upon request. 3. Be sure the information is pertinent (=relevant). Audience will appreciate efforts to prioritize info they need and filter out info they don't. Also, keeping focus on important stuff increases focus on important info, increasing chances to reach your goals. If audience is unknown: use common sense to find point if particular interest. Use clues of age, job, location, income and education. Use accessible format and style.

Explain why there is a need to plan effectively.

Trying to save time by skimping on planning usually costs you more time in the long run.

Explain factors to consider when choosing the most appropriate medium.

1. Media richness: (1) convey message through more than one informational cue (visual, verbal, vocal). (2) facilitate feedback (3) establish personal focus. Face-to-face is the richest: immediate verbal and non-verbal feedback, conveys emotion, is personal. Interactive - enable audience to participate. Leanest media - no feedback. Use richer media for complex messages to humanize your presence, communicate caring; use lean media to send routine messages or messages that do not require significant explanation. 2. Message formality. Printed memo or letter is more likely to be perceived as formal. 3. Media limitations. E.g. can't send complex messages through IM. 3. Urgency. If urgent, choose more instant medium. If less urgent, respect ppl and choose less instant. 4. Cost. Expensive video can sent a signal of sophistication and professionalism or careless spending of budget. 5. Audience preferences. What is your audience accustomed to?

Describe the three step writing process.

1. Planning your business message. (1) Analyze by defining your purpose and think of profile of your audience, then (2) gather info that will meet audience's needs, (3) then select the right medium, (4) then organize the information by defining your main idea, limiting your scope, direct or indirect approach, outline content. 2. Writing business message. (1) Adapt to your audience. "You attitude", polite, positive, bias-free, credibility, projecting company's image, conversational tone, plain English, appropriate voice. (2) Compose the message. Precise language: effective and coherent. 3. Completing business messages. (1) Revise the message. Effective content, readability, conciseness, clarity. (2) Produce the message. Effective design, layout, clean. (3) Proofread. Error check in layout, spelling and mechanics. (4) Distribute the message. Deliver through medium, confirm that all was attached and successfully sent.

Explain 4 points of effective message organization.

1. Recognizing the importance of good organization. Helps in three ways: (1) helps understand - clear main point, supporting info. (2) helps to accept - well written mean person was carefully, info is likely trustworthy (3) good organization saves time - only relevant ideas. To sum up, saves time and consumes less creative energy, facilitates career. 2. Defining your main idea. Main idea is a specific statement about the main topic. Sometimes it is derived from interconnected batch of info, sometimes you won't know what it is until you sift through all info. 3. Limiting your scope. The scope is the range of information you present, the overall length and the level of detail. The fewer, but strong points to get point across the better. Length depends on topic, audience's familiarity with the subject, your credibility, receptivity to your conclusions. 4. Choosing between direct and indirect approaches. When audience is receptive to your message use direct approach: state main idea, then supporting evidence. When audience is skeptical or resistant use indirect approach: start with evidence, then main idea. Except: use direct approach for long messages, otherwise to long and confusing. Type of messages also influence direct or non-direct approach: (1) routine (neutral) and positive messages. State main idea first, putting audience in good mood, then details, then reemphasize main point. (2) negative messages. Use indirect approach - put the evidence first and build up to main idea. Close cordially. Open with neutral statement that serves as a transition to bad news, then give reasons to justify negative news, announcement or info before they give bad news., close cordially (with warmth). Be honest, but kind. focus on an aspect that makes negative news easier to take. (3) persuasive messages Capture audience's attention and get them to consider your message with an open mind. Make interesting point, provide supporting facts to sustain attention. For most persuasive: open with readers benefit or refer to problem, or pose a question, or mention an interesting statistic. Body builds interest in subject and inspire to comply, then introduce main idea, warm closing with request of desired action.

Explain outlining your content.

1. Start with main idea. Main idea: (1) Summarizes what you want your audience to do or think (2) why they should do so. 2. State the major points. Major points clarify and are more direct, therefore prove your message and motivate audiences to act. You can divide major points based on physical relationships, the description of a process, the components of an object or historical chronology. 3. Provide examples and evidence. They confirm, illuminate or expand. Support, but not distract.

Explain optimizing writing time.

1/2 time for planning, 1/4 for writing, 1/4 for completing. However, if familiar with the subject, it may take much less time.

What is knowledge management system?

A centralized database that collects experiences and insights of the employees throughout the organization.

Explain medium types.

A medium is the form through which message is communicated: face-to-face, voicemail, blog etc. 4 categories: oral, written, visual, electronic (combines several types usually). Medium types: 1. Oral media. Oral communication is best when you need to encourage interaction, express emotions, or monitor emotional responses, in situations in which questions may me asked, in important situations. In tough situations, avoiding oral media, may make you look weak. 2. Written media. Memos, report, letters etc. Memos are brief, day-to-day exchange if info. Now largely replaced by electronic media. Letters are brief written messages sent to outside of the organization. Form letters are personalized standard letters. Also reports and proposals. 3. Visual media. In some situations the message that is predominantly visual with text used to support the illustration can be more effective than a message that relies primarily on text. Infographics - messages that combine powerful visuals with supporting text. Infographics are effective: save time, easier to grasp for complex ideas, lowers communication barriers, easier to remember. 4. Electronic media. Powerful, because it combines interactivity, animation, audio and video, delivers messages quickly to wide and dispersed audiences. Difficult, as combining all these resources is more complicated. Employees get frustrated with lack of integration - have to keep track of multiple overlapping sources of info. Types of electronic media used in business: (1) Electronic oral media. Skype, Voip, teleconferences, voicemail. etc. Cannot replace richness of face-to-face interaction. However, still convey tone of voice, pace, laughter, pauses etc. (2) Electronic written media. Email, blogs, wikis, IM etc. Email is getting replaced by blogs, texts, IM etc - faster and more accessible. (3) Electronic visual media. Presentations, animation, video. Multimedia - two or more media to craft message, e.g. audio and video; can be used to create augmented reality.

Explain general and specific purpose, and list four questions that can help you test that purpose.

General purpose is to inform, persuade or collaborate with an audience. Specific purpose identifies what you hope to accomplish with your message and what your audience should do or think after receiving your message. Four questions that help define the purpose: 1. Will anything change as a result of your message? Example: if you just wanna complain, don't. 2. Is your purpose realistic? 3. Is the time right? Example: if department is overwhelmed by work, wait to send the message. 4. Is your purpose acceptable in your organization? Example: does it conflict with organizational values?

Compare highest to lowest level of content in a message.

Highest - main idea - abstract. Lowest - supporting evidence - very detailed.

Describe the importance of analyzing your audience, and identify 6 factors you should consider when developing an audience profile.

The more you know your audience's needs, values, expectations, the more effectively you will be able to communicate with them. 6 factors to consider when creating an audience analysis: 1. Identify your primary audience. Address concerns of key decision makers first, but don't disregard others. 2. Identify the secondary audience. The people who will receive the message from the primary audience. 3. Determine audience composition. Similarities and differences in culture, language, age, education, rank, status, attitudes, experience, motivations, etc. Also important to think of who wants to know what based on job they do. 4. Gauge audience member's level of understanding. If your audience's background is very different, you may will have difficulty understanding you. Therefore, limit to the essential purpose to avoid overwhelming. If lvls of understanding vary, target primary audience - key decision makers. 5. Understand audience expectations or preferences. Do they want details or summary of points? Generally, the higher up - the less details. 6. Forecast probable audience reaction. If favorable, state conclusions and recommendations up front and with min. supporting evidence. If skepticism, introduce conclusions gradually with more proof.