Think about your objectives.

a. What will be the change you wish to bring about in your audience?

b. Do you want to inform them, amuse them, persuade them or train them? Or a combination of these?

Think about the audience.

a. What type of people are they?

b. How many will there be?

c. What mood will they be in?

d. What is their level of knowledge on the subject?

e. What is their level of understanding of English?

Think about the time

a. How much time do you need for your presentation?

b. How much time does the audience have for your presentation?

c. How long can they concentrate?

d. Then balance the equation.

Think about the location

a. Will you be on a platform, in an office or in a conference room?

b. How far will you be from the audience?

c. Will you need to raise your voice?

d. Will you need to use a microphone?

e. Do you plan to use visual aids? Will all the equipment be there? Who will operate it?

Think about your budget - especially in terms of time

a. How much time do you need to spend on preparing your talk and visual aids?

Planning Your Presentation

A quick checklist:

1. Why do you want to speak to this audience?

2. What will they expect to get out of it?

3. What main points do you want to make?

4. What is the best order to present them in?

5. What sort of relationship do you wish to establish with your audience?

6. How would you like/expect them to react?

Preparing Your Presentation

Five easy steps

1. Collect your material/ideas, jotting them down as they come to you on a piece of paper or a board. Be as wide-ranging as possible.

2. Select the points which seem most relevant for the situation you have defined.

3. Group the points which have some common thread, each group having a rough heading for the moment ('historical background’, 'features of the product', 'practical problems', etc.).

4. Sequence these groups into an order which will make most sense for the audience.

5. Consider ways oflinking the groups together, by a common idea, an analogy, a visual.

Making and using notes

1. Consider placing your groups of information as headings arranged horizontally on the page, with the points listed vertically underneath. If the points are arranged in order of importance, this will allow omissions from the bottom of each column if time is short.

2. Make a note on the plan of the position of any audio-visual material, planned asides, anecdotes or questions. Use different symbols or colours.

3. Prepare any recordings or visual materials: overhead projection (OHP) transparencies, flipcharts, slides, samples. Make sure that visuals are visual, arrange them in such a way as to have visual impact.

4. Make a list of all the practical requirements (machinery, pens, number of sockets) you will have on the day, and make sure these are known by your host.

5. Decide what kind of notes you are going to work from on the day: none, headings, key phrases or substantial chunks. Use as few as possible. Use large writing, underlining and colours where suitable.

The introduction

1. Prepare your introduction. Include at least four pieces of information:

a. What you're going to talk about

b. How long you'll take

c. What your main groups or sections are

d. Whether you'd welcome questions during your talk, or only at the end.

This could take as little as 45 seconds, but it will give you time to establish contact with the audience. This is when they are at their most receptive, so don't only impress them by your organisation and obvious preparation, go out of your way to make some comment on the present situation (excellent lunch, weather, lack of time - anything which shows awareness of the world outside your subject). Beware of jokes, but make as much eye contact as possible. If necessary, give a few facts about yourself and the purpose or background of your talk.

2. When your talk is ready, practise speaking it into a tape recorder and listen to yourself.

On the day

1. Make sure all the facilities you require are available and ready: machinery, materials and notes. Then forget about them.

2. Brief your chairman/presenter about who you are, what you're going to talk about, how long you'll take, time for questions, etc. Ifs/he makes a mistake, refer to this later, light-heartedly, rather than straight away.

3. Assess the amount of room available for movement, change of posture, gesture. Consider the role of this, in view of your own style.

4. Have ready some final comment which will end on the right note, perhaps based on the immediate situation, such as weather, time, length of talk, quality of questions or what you yourself have learnt from your presentation.

Report Writing

Background

Peter Drucker has written: 'Effective communication has four parts - something we have known since Plato and Aristotle - only our businessmen never seem to have heard of the task. One has to know:

what to say

when to say it

to whom to say it

how to say it

If one of those elements is missing, there cannot be communication.' (Communicate^ Parkin-son, C. M. and Rowe, N., Prentice Hall, 1978). This is as true for report-writing as for other forms of management communication - both oral and written.

So, what exactly is a report? It is:

a written statement

prepared for the benefit of others

describing what has happened or a state of affairs

normally based on investigation

So, what are the elements of an effective report?

1. The effective organisation of the information.

2. The effective presentation of the information.

3. The effective style of delivery.

4. The effective use of language.

And, before you start. . .

5. Decide why you are writing the report (the purpose).

6. Plan the content and the structure (the planning stage).

7. And finally never forget your readers.

Now let's expand points 1-4 to identify the skills and techniques you need.

1. Organisation оf information

a. Transparency of structure (from title page to appendices).

b. Organisation of content (identify clearly main points and supporting points).

c. Level of information (start in the readers' area of interest).

2. Presentation of information

a. Ease of reading (layout, headings and indentations; use of spaces; use of paragraphs).

b. Ease of understanding (language and visuals).

3. Style of delivery

a. Clarity (content and follow-up).

b. Simplicity (appropriate to the readers' level of knowledge).

c. Conciseness (appropriate length).

d. Company style.

e. Personal tone.

4. Use of language

a. Vocabulary (choose the right word in written language rather than spoken language).

b. Grammar (assemble the sentences correctly in terms of language forms.

c. Phraseology (choose appropriate expressions for the business/technical area).

d. Spelling (make sure it is correct and consistent - either Br.E. or Am.E.).

e. Linking and punctuation (use them to help readers with the relationships between ideas and the structure of the text).

f. Fog Index (do not exceed 12 )- (see below).

Checklist of operations

1. Plan your report.

2. Collect the information.

3. Select the information.

4. Organise the information.

5. Produce a plan and visuals.

6. Write the first draft.

7. Read the first draft and check for tone and content.

8. Write a summary.

9. Write final draft.

Planning your report

1. Think about your objectives

a. What is the change you wish to bring about in your readers?

b. Do you want to inform them, change their ideas, elicit ideas or amuse them? Or a combination of these?

2. Think about the audience

a. What type of people are they?

b. What is their present level of knowledge on the subject?

c. What do you want them to know after they have read the report?

d. What is their level of understanding of English?

3. Think about the time

a. How much time of you need in order to prepare your report?

b. How much time do the readers have in order to read your report?

c. Then balance the equation

4. Think about the information

a. How much in essential?

b. What is the best length of individual items?

5. Think about the structure and presentation

What is the best way to organise and present the report so that it achieves your objectives?

Structuring your report

The standard pattern

If you are writing a formal report, the standard pattern is:

1. Title page

2. Table of contents*

3. Summary or abstract*

4. Introduction

5. The main part of the report

6. Conclusions

7. Recommendations

8. Appendices*

9. Bibliography or references*

10. Exhibits

You can leave out those marked with an asterisk (*) if you don't need them. Although the above pattern is standard, it is not universal. Some people like to put the conclusions and recommendations before the introduction; others like to put the summary, conclusions and recommendations after the introduction.

There are two possible numbering systems: traditional and decimal.

Traditional

First level: use cardinal numbers -1.2,3, etc.

Second level: use letters in brackets — (a), (b), (c), etc.

Third level: use Roman numerals in brackets - (i), (ii), (iii), etc.

Decimal All levels: use cardinal numbers, separated by decimal points, e.g.

First level: 1, 2,3, etc.

Second level: 1.1,1.2.1.3, etc.

Third level: I.I.I, 1.1.2,1.1.3, etc.

1. The title page. This should give:

the subject of the report

by whom the report is made

the date of the report

the file, serial or reference number

All this should be clearly laid out. Uniformity in the style of cover and title pages is an advantage and the standard pattern of the area or department should be used.

2. The table of contents. As in a book, this lists all the headings in the report and the pages or, in short reports, the paragraphs. It should show the relationship of headings and subheadings by indentation or by different types or size of print.

3. Summary or abstract. This gives the substance of the report in a nutshell - mainly the important conclusions. It should serve to catch the interest and focus the attention of those to whom the report is addressed. It can enable others, who may be interested, to decide whether they wish to read the report.

4. The Introduction (or terms of reference and methods and procedures). This tells the reader why the report was written (including a clear statement of the problem or problems to be considered), who asked for it, who did the investigation, who wrote the report, what the scope and limitations of the investigation and report are, where the information was obtained, any special methods used and acknowledgements of help given. It sets the scene before the reader gets down to the body of the report.

5. The main part of the report. This gives the facts, discusses them and makes certain deductions about them. If it is a large subject, the facts may be split up under a number of sub-headings and discussed in turn. After the facts and the deductions comes an examination of possible courses of action with an accurate assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of each. Such things as cost, manpower and equipment will need to be taken into account and discussed. The continuity of the report should not be interrupted by material which could go into an appendix.

6. Conclusions. These are the conclusions based on the evidence and alternatives given in the previous part of the report. Sometimes this section is only a reiteration of conclusions stated at the end of each subsection of the main body of the report. No new material should appear in the conclusions. Everything must flow logically from the facts and discussion and alternatives shown in the previous part of the report. Conclusions should be clear and concise. Remember that some people will read only the introduction, conclusions and recommendations so they must be intelligible and in a logical order.

7. Recommendations. These state the action which the writer of the report advises on the strength of the evidence, discussion and conclusions. The recommendations made should be developed from the views expressed in the main part of the report. A person who chooses to read only the introduction, conclusions and recommendations ought to be able to go back to the main part of the report and see the evidence for these. Recommendations which have no roots in the main part of the report should not appear. Each recommendation must be given a letter or number.

The Fog Index

After you have drafted your report, make sure you check it thoroughly. Check the total report for fluency, logic and comprehensibility; check all sentences for clarity and length. Remember, longer sentences are usually harder to understand than shorter ones. One way to measure the readability of your report is to use Robert Gunning's “Fog Index”. This is a mathematical guide based on sentence length. You calculate the index as follows:

F = 0.4 (A 4- L) where

F = Fog Index

A = Average length of sentences (a full stop, colon or semi-colon equals the end of a sentence)

L = Number of long words per hundred words of text. A long word has three or more syllables, but excludes the following endings:-ed, -es, or-ing.

The resulting index shows the number of years of education needed to understand the text. In the UK, education starts at the age of five. Therefore, when writing for the general public, writers should aim for a Fog Index of 10; when writing for a professional public, an index of 14-15 is acceptable, though 12 is preferable.

Safe and unsafe topics of conversation

The range of acceptable topics of conversation will depend on:

where you are

who you are with

your relationship with the people

Here is a list of safe topics for conversation with Britons:

House and home

Life at home

Education and career

Work

Free time and entertainment

Travel