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• What’s the best structure for your document? • Consider reader reactions and ‘news value’ of content. • Informing? º Lead with your ‘big news’. Backfill with content in descending importance, based on likely reader reactions. º Add key points lists and relevant images. º Consider Hourglass structure: Big news first, then ‘story’/chronology/logical flow. • Instructions/procedures? Give a reason/relevance. Follow logical sequence. Use pictures. • Reports? Exec. summary is critical. Consider ROPED: Rapport >> Overview >> Pain >> Evaluation >> Decision. • Persuading? 6 steps. 1. Attention >> 2. Problem/Solution >> 3. Credibility >> 4. Benefits/Implications >> 5. Low-risk offer >> 6. Action. • Difficult message? Talk first, write later. Be diplomatic, empathic. Use passive voice. • Signpost your structure with clear headlines/subheads (e.g. announcement/news, curiosity, benefits) to help busy skim-readers. Do your subheads tell the story? • Get the logical flow right. Read from start to finish. Will it make sense to your reader? • Beware cognitive load. Complexity kills trust. • Brevity = impact. Use the RAZOR: º Remove redundancy º Active voice, not passive (say who/what is doing things) º Zero nominalised verbs (e.g. ‘recommend’ not ‘recommendation’) º One idea per sentence (average 16 words/sentence) º Regular, natural language (WARTTS: What Am I Really Trying To Say?) • Watch your tone, especially in emails. Write, then put aside and check later (’Good writing is rewriting, with fresh eyes’). • Check spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct. • Layout: Does it look attractive to read (white space, fonts, graphics)? Does your layout present your message clearly? • Proofreading: After putting it aside for a while (for fresh eyes), check for content, style and correctness. If it’s important, ask someone else to proofread it, too. • Adopt the right attitude. To get what you want, help readers get what they want. • What’s your objective? What strategies can you use to achieve it? • Focus. Distractions make you 10% dumber! • Start early. Chunk it down. Plan your time. • Who are you writing to? What’s important to them? Step into their shoes. • Consider their personality type. Is your reader a Driver, Analytical, Amiable or Expressive? • Dig for gold to turn on your readers (and you), e.g. interesting facts, bring numbers to life, learn more about your reader’s needs. • Write as if they’re lazy and busy; e.g. use graphics, captions, subheads, bullets, small chunks. • Try to use ‘you,’ ‘yours,’ their name, etc., more than ‘I,’ ‘me,’ ‘our,’ ‘we,’ etc. • What medium would work best? e.g. email, letter, screencast, instant message, phone call. [email protected] www.magneto.net.au
