Writing for Results

Know Your Audience with AIR

Audience Analysis

• Name of one person to represent the audience
• What role do they have?
• How long have I known them?
• How receptive will they be?
• How much knowledge do they have?
• Likely questions?
• What's in it for them? WIIFT
• What do you want the reader to Do/Decide/Know

Intention

Why are you writing?

• Inform/Explain
• Humour
• Create dialogue
• Stimulate ideas
• Motivate
• Repair relationship
• Change opinion

Response

What do you want your audience to…

• Do
• Decide
• Know

How can you make it clear how reader should respond? Is it obvious what the next steps are? How could you include a call to action?

Developing Structure, STARR

• Situation, Set the context
• Task, Be specific about the task/project
• Action, Report the actions taken
• Results, Describe the outcomes (so far)
• Recommendation, Reflect and propose next steps

AIDA

• Attention, The opening
• Interest, The body of the writing
• Desire, Fanning desire
• Action, End (securing agreement/prompting action)

Sharpen Your Style

Active vs Passive Voice

• Passive: Object-Verb-Subject. 'The door was slammed by the client'
• Active: Subject-Verb-Object. 'The client slammed the door'

Clear and Concise

• Remove Fillers: They don't add anything
• Weak adjectives: Very good, Really bad, Extremely wrong
• Repetition: The the, 9am in the morning

Be More Objective

Adjectives are imprecise and don't contribute to decisions

• Sales increased significantly in Q4, Unit sales increased by 40% in Q4 2019
• We made the application much faster, We reduced server delay from 10ms to 1ms
• This will make the endeavour extremely successful, This will increase output by 2.5%

Emails and Proofreading Tips

Communicating by email

Put the call to action in the subject heading ie. Your opinion required by 16.00 today

Put the purpose in the first paragraph. What you want the reader to DO, DECIDE or KNOW

This helps them to prioritise and action your email

Proof Reading Tips

• Always leave time to proofread your work
• Try reading aloud or reading backwards
• Double-check facts, figures, and proper names
• Ask for help, Can someone give your work a read?
• Avoid distractions, proofread somewhere quiet
• Have regular breaks to improve concentration
• Hold a ruler under each line as you read it

Editing and Proofreading in Word 365

• Go into Review on your toolbar
• Put your cursor at the beginning of your document and then select 'Read aloud', your document will be read aloud to you in a real voice
• Editor will check your document for the following and give you a score:

1. Spelling and grammar corrections
2. Refinement suggestions for clarity, conciseness and formality