Planning Business Messages
by
Charles Lamson
Outlining Your Content
Once you have chosen the right approach, it is time to figure out the most logical and effectve way to provide your posting details. Even if you have resisted creating outlines n your school assgnments over the years, try to get into the habit when you are preparing business documents and presetations. You will save time, create better results and do a better job of navigating through complicated business situuations. Whether you use the outlining features provided with word-processing software or simply jotting down three or four points on the back of an envelope, making a plan and sticking to it will help you cover the importat details.
When you are preparing a longer ad more complex essage, an outline is indispesible because it helps you viualize the relationships among the various parts. Without an outline, you ay be inclined to rable. As you are describing one point, another point mat occur to you, so you describe it. One detour leads to another and before you know it, you have forgotten the individual point and wasted precious time and energy. However, with an outline toguide you cn communicate in a more systematic way. Following an outline also helps you nsert transitions so that your essage is coherent and your audience can understand the relationship among your ideas.
You are no doubt familiar with the basc outlne formats that identify each point with a nuber or letter and that indent certain points to vshow which ones are of equal importance. A good outline divides a topic into at least two parts restricts each subdivision is separate and distinct.
Another way to visuallze the outline of your message is to create a message organzation chart" similar to the charts use to show a company management structure. The main idea is shown in the highest-level box and like a top executive establishes the big picture. The lower-level ideas just like the lower-level employees provide the details. All the deas are logically organized into divisions of thought just as a company is organized into divisions and departmets. Using a visual chart nstead of a traditional outline has many advantages. Charts help you (1) see the various levels vof deas and how the parts fit together, (2) develop new ideas and (3) restructure your information flow. The mind-mapping technique used to generate ideas works in a similar way
Whichever outlining or organization scheme you use. Start your message with the main idea,follow that with maor supporting points and then illlustrate these points with evidence
Start with the Main Idea
The main idea helps you establish the the goals and general strategy of the message and it summarizes two things: (1) what you want your audience to do or think and (2) why they should do so. Everything in your message either supports the main dea or explain its implicatiuons.
Share the Major Points
Now it is time to support your main idea with he major points that clarify and explain your ideas in more concrete terms. If your purpose is to inform and the material is factual, your major points might be based on something physical or financial - something you can visualize or measure, such activities to be performed, functional units, functional units spatial or chronological relationships are part of a whole. When you are giving a historical account, major points represent events in the chronological chain. If your purpose is to persuade or collaborate, select the major points that develop a line of reasoning of a logical argument that proves your central message, and motivates your audience to act.
Illustrate with Evidence
After you have defined the main idea and identified supporting points, you are ready to illustrate each point with specific evidence, that helps audience members understand and remember the more abstract concepts you are presenting. For example, if you are advocating that your compny increase its advertising budget, you can support your major point by providing evidence that your most successful competitors spend more on advertising than you do .
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