From the Bad language Blog by Matthew Stibbe
There are many voices calling for the death of the press release What is needed is not execution but reform. Here are my tips and suggestions for doing it.
Read the list
Showing posts with label business communication. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business communication. Show all posts
Friday, 15 April 2011
Thursday, 14 April 2011
10 Tips on How to Write Less Badly
Most academics, including administrators, spend much of our time writing. But we aren't as good at it as we should be. I have never understood why our trade values, but rarely teaches, nonfiction writing.
Rachel Toor and other writers on these pages have talked about how hard it is to write well, and of course that's true. Fortunately, the standards of writing in most disciplines are so low that you don't need to write well. What I have tried to produce below are 10 tips on scholarly nonfiction writing that might help people write less badly.
1. Writing is an exercise.
2. Set goals based on output, not input.
3. Find a voice; don't just "get published."
4. Give yourself time.
5. Everyone's unwritten work is brilliant.
6. Pick a puzzle.
7. Write, then squeeze the other things in.
8. Not all of your thoughts are profound.
9. Your most profound thoughts are often wrong.
10. Edit your work, over and over.
Full Article
Rachel Toor and other writers on these pages have talked about how hard it is to write well, and of course that's true. Fortunately, the standards of writing in most disciplines are so low that you don't need to write well. What I have tried to produce below are 10 tips on scholarly nonfiction writing that might help people write less badly.
1. Writing is an exercise.
2. Set goals based on output, not input.
3. Find a voice; don't just "get published."
4. Give yourself time.
5. Everyone's unwritten work is brilliant.
6. Pick a puzzle.
7. Write, then squeeze the other things in.
8. Not all of your thoughts are profound.
9. Your most profound thoughts are often wrong.
10. Edit your work, over and over.
Full Article
Using Stories to Persuade
f you need to make an argument about an issue about which you feel very strongly, don't use rhetoric. Tell a story instead.
Effective storytelling can serve anyone in leadership who seeks to persuade others to his or her point of view. Opinion-based rhetoric is often more polarizing than persuasive, while statistics are often go in one ear and out the other. But a careful blending of rhetoric and facts, woven into the right story, can change minds.
Know your message.
Find the right example.
Weave your narrative.
Convey passion.
Support with facts.
Read this HBR blog post
Effective storytelling can serve anyone in leadership who seeks to persuade others to his or her point of view. Opinion-based rhetoric is often more polarizing than persuasive, while statistics are often go in one ear and out the other. But a careful blending of rhetoric and facts, woven into the right story, can change minds.
Know your message.
Find the right example.
Weave your narrative.
Convey passion.
Support with facts.
Read this HBR blog post
How to Succeed in Business Writing: Don't Be Dickens
The lesson for business communication here is that whatever you write, however you write it, is okay — as long as you accept that your audience will be reduced for every slice of yellow fruit you add to your tomato sauce. In other words, if you do not conform to the norm, people will stop listening to you not because of what you are saying, but because of how you are saying it.
The proper use of paragraphs.
Simple sentences.
The primacy of the first sentence.
Reading vs. scanning.
Tone of voice.
Humor.
Read this HBR blog post
The proper use of paragraphs.
Simple sentences.
The primacy of the first sentence.
Reading vs. scanning.
Tone of voice.
Humor.
Read this HBR blog post
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