University of Phoenixmyresource.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/COM295r2/C… · Web viewTopic 2: Technology and Visuals in Reports and Proposals Incorporate high-quality multimedia elements

Week 3 Course Connect: Lesson 9: Composing Business Reports and Proposals

OVERVIEW

There are probably any number of things people would prefer doing than reading a business report, perhaps including reading almost anything else. So while you may have the reader’s eyes, you may not have the reader’s attention. It’s up to you to present your information in a compelling way, even if the only persuasion you do is persuading the reader to follow you through to the end. Reports are not, by definition, dull. However, lack of attention to quality may make them that way.

Gone are the days when business reports and proposals were paper-based, black-and-white documents with pages and pages of text. Multimedia technology has opened a world of possibilities for presenting long, technical reports in more appealing formats. Now we can use visuals and media such as tables, bar and pie charts, flowcharts, maps, animations, videos, and photos to bring our reports to life and connect with our audience.

Although it may help to add the wow factor, you can’t rely solely on technology in your business communications. It’s still crucial that you follow a basic plan when organizing and drafting reports and proposals. You must adapt your tone, style, and content to your audience’s needs as well as organizing your reports into an opening, body, and closing. You need to include specific elements to ensure your writing is effective and organized. Following the guidelines for drafting reports and adding visuals will undoubtedly make your reports less time-consuming, and more appealing and effective.

Topic 1: Drafting Business Reports and Proposals

An introduction compels your reader to follow your report to the end, by introducing the subject in a broader context.

Effective reports are accurate, complete, balanced, clear and logical, and documented thoroughly. Unlike with a novel or a screenplay, you should take a more direct approach in leading your reader through your main and supplemental points, to the conclusion. You can use the “you” approach, but to what degree often depends on your audience. For an internal proposal, for instance, your readers may already know you personally, and you can be liberal with your “you” pronouns. You may choose to be more conservative with external proposals, where too much “you” can make you sound accusatory. When writing a report for readers in another culture, you may need to omit “you” altogether.

The content of a proposal is similar to that of a report, except its purpose is to persuade and influence the reader to take action. You can use the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) model to convince your audience.

Topic 2: Technology and Visuals in Reports and Proposals

Incorporate high-quality multimedia elements into your presentation to make it more appealing and effective.

Only in the last few years has a report with video and sound been something your audience can hold in their hands. Using technology to add visuals to your report makes the experience of reviewing it more interesting and appealing to your audience. Visuals can enhance your message, clarify points for a diverse audience, convey important points effectively, and hold your audience’s attention.

However, keep in mind that too many visuals have the opposite effect and can reduce the impact of your report. The key is to select relevant, well-crafted visuals that support your report instead of overpowering it. You might include tables, bar and pie charts, flowcharts, maps, animations, photos, or other visuals. Be sure your visuals are accurate, honest, properly documented, and carefully integrated into your report. Word processors and multimedia tools, when used properly, can make your composition time more productive.

OBJECTIVES

Topic 1: Drafting Business Reports and Proposals

Identify parts of a business report or proposal Produce a business report

Topic 2: Technology and Visuals in Reports and Proposals

Develop effective visual aids for a business proposal

TOPIC 1

Adapting to Your Audience

Because business reports can often be complex and lengthy documents, the “you” attitude takes on even greater importance with these messages. It is your job to help your readers find their way through the material so that they understand the critical information.

Whether your report is intended for people outside or inside the organization, you need to adapt your style and your language to reflect the image of your organization. And whether you are writing a report or a proposal, you’ll need to decide on the appropriate style or tone.

Composing Reports and Proposals

A report or proposal has three unique parts: 1) the introduction or opening, 2) the body, and 3) the close or summary. Learn more about each part of a report or proposal:

Drafting Report Content

A successful report is a report that it accurate, complete, balanced, clear, logical, and properly documented (the same things could be said of the accomplished reporter). Learn more about each aspect of a successful report:

Drafting the Report Introduction

For many people, the hardest part of writing a report is starting, so if you get the introduction on paper as soon as possible, you’ll have conquered the hardest part.

The introduction of a report often includes the following elements (and you will need to choose the best ones to include in your report):

Authorization—when, how, and by whom the report was authorized Problem/opportunity/purpose Scope and background Sources and methods Definitions and limitations Report organization

(Memo: http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/products/coco/business_communication/1256915068/media_assets/bus_comm_l09_lm_report_intro.jpg)

Drafting the Body of a Report

As with the introduction, the report body should contain only enough information to convey your message.

The topics commonly covered in the body of a report include the following:

Drafting the Report Close

In the close of your report, you can spell out exactly what should happen next (if your report is intended to lead to action), include separate sections for conclusions, recommendations, and actions (for long reports), and number and list conclusions, recommendations, or actions (if you have several).

The nature of your close depends on the type of report—informational or analytical—and whether you take the direct or indirect approach.

Drafting Proposal Content

Proposals also have an introduction, a body, and a close. When writing a proposal, the content and length of each element depends on the source of your proposal. For unsolicited proposals, you have some latitude. For solicited proposals, you are governed by the request for proposal (RFP).

When drafting a proposal, your writing is similar to that used for persuasive sales messages:

Your proposal must sell the audience on your idea, product, service, method, and company.

You use the AIDA model to gain attention, build interest, create desire, and motivate action.

1. Drafting the Proposal Introduction (http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/products/coco/business_communication/1256915068/media_assets/bus_comm_l09_lm_personal_intro.jpg)

a. A proposal’s introduction typically includes:i. The background or statement of the problem (in an unsolicited

proposal, your introduction must convince readers that a problem or opportunity exists)

ii. A solutioniii. The scopeiv. The organization

2. Drafting the Body of a Proposal (http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/products/coco/business_communication/1256915068/media_assets/bus_comm_l09_lm_personal_intro.jpg)

a. A proposal’s body typically includes the following elements:i. The proposed solution

ii. A work plan. A work plan describes exactly how you will accomplish the solution presented in the proposal. It explains the steps you’ll take, the timing of the steps, the methods or resources you’ll use, and the person(s) responsible

iii. A statement of qualifications. A qualifications statement describes your organization’s experience, personnel, and facilities

iv. The costs3. Drafting the Proposal Close

(http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pls/products/coco/business_communication/1256915068/media_assets/bus_comm_l09_lm_personal_intro.jpg)

a. A proposal’s close typically does the following:i. Summarizes key points

ii. Emphasizes the benefits readers will realize from your solutioniii. Summarizes the merits of your approachiv. Reemphasizes why you and your company are the ones to do

the workv. Asks for a decision from the client

At all times, be aware of your writing tense in your report. Don’t confuse readers by altering your time frame or flipping from tense to tense. Instead, carefully observe the chronological sequence of events.

Helping Readers Navigate the Report or Proposal

Effective report writers give their readers a preview or road map of a report’s structure, clarifying how the various parts are related. Putting previews and reviews in bulleted-list format increases your document’s readability. Think about all the bulleted lists you have digested in these online lessons. Now you know why.

To help readers navigate your report or proposal, use three tools:

REVIEW

When composing a report or proposal, remember to adapt to your audience’s needs and to follow your company guidelines regarding tone, style, and format. Like most business communications, reports and proposals have an opening, a body, and a close. The opening introduces the subject, previews the main idea, and establishes the tone. The body presents, analyzes, and interprets information and supports the conclusions. The close has four main functions and also leaves a clear message and lasting impression on the audience.

Compose persuasive proposals using the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) model to make your points strong and compelling. Once your report or proposal has

been drafted, review it to determine where you can add organizational features such as headings and hyperlinks, smooth transitions, and preview and review paragraphs. Text layout elements will help readers organize and navigate your contents, making them clear, concise, and easy to understand.

TOPIC 2

Using Technology to Craft Reports and Proposals

Technological tools reduce the mechanical work involved in developing long reports and proposals:

Effective Visuals

Well-designed visuals can be a powerful way to get your message across, bringing life and action into your report. Well-designed visuals do the following:

Selecting Appropriate Visuals

After you’ve identified which points would benefit most from visual aids, you must decide which type of visual to use for each message point.

The visuals most commonly used to present data include the following:

Tables Line and surface charts Bar chart Pie charts

The visuals most commonly used to present information, concepts, and ideas include the following:

Flowcharts and organization charts Maps, drawings, diagrams, and photographs Animation and video

Designing Effective Visuals

Computers make it easy to create visuals, but this ease also means that many visuals are ineffective, distracting, and unattractive.

When creating computer graphics, keep these basic design principles in mind:

Continuity Contrast Emphasis Simplicity

Experience and expectations

Verifying the Quality and Integrity of Your Visuals

To integrate visuals with your text, position them as closely as possible to the text they illustrate, refer to them by number, and write effective titles, captions, and legends that explain the meaning of various colors, symbols, or other design choices.

When checking completed visuals, proofread them carefully, and ask yourself:

Is the visual accurate? Is the visual properly documented? Is the visual honest?

Hint: Remember that your facial expressions, gestures, body language, and clothing are your most fundamental visual aids in presentations, so use them to your advantage.

REVIEW

Use templates, electronic forms, linked and embedded documents, and multimedia documents to reduce repetitive or time-consuming tasks when writing reports. A template saves you tremendous time because it presents you with paragraph styles and margins, heading styles, and proper positions for included graphics and charts, as problems already solved.

Including quality visuals to enhance your reports is equally important, not just for their own sake, but because graphics help the reader to digest your text. Visually appealing charts, graphs, photos, animations, flowcharts, and other media can support your points. You can integrate visuals into your presentation by adding captions and headings that help the audience understand your data. With a spreadsheet like Excel, you can embed a data table or a chart into your report in Word. Evaluating visuals for relevance, value, and effectiveness will help make your presentations appealing and interesting for your audience.

SUMMARY

Oftentimes, the most appreciated reports are the ones that look good from a distance. Executives prefer reports that are not only well-written and relevant, but tastefully styled. One reason they’ve been among the first to invest in tablets is so they can read reports with embedded video and sound, is so they can have their employees write reports that go beyond what’s possible with print on paper.

High-quality photos, videos, charts, graphs, animations, and other media can help make a connection with your audience and hold their attention, as well as enhance your message and clarify technical or complex points. Media should be smoothly integrated using numbering, captions, and titles.

Although media can enhance a business report or proposal, it still needs to follow a format that includes an opening, a body, and a close. A strong opening that introduces the subject and compels the reader to continue. The body that presents and analyzes the main information. The close that compels the reader to action.

Each section must include particular elements for your report or proposal to be effective, and for a proposal, each section should be written using the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) model. Organize reports using text features such as bullets, and chapter headings so readers or audience members can find and understand the information. To reduce tedious tasks when drafting reports, remember to take advantage of word processing tools such as templates, linked or embedded documents, and electronic forms.