Professional Communication: The Corporate Insider’s Approach Chapter Thirteen The Long Report: Negotiating a Complexity of Purpose, Audience, and Design

Reasons for a Long Report Need to refine or redefine business Need to respond to a specific business problem or opportunity Need to submit special or periodic reports to auditors, oversight agencies, shareholders, or investors Need to go after new business or business markets

Primary Types of Long Reports Business plans Business/technical reports Annual reports Proposals

Business Plan Strategies Market strategy Production strategy Research and development strategy Organization and management strategy Financial strategy

Sections of an RFP Ground rules—purpose of RFP and expectations of proposal Requirements—the work to be done Evaluation criteria—how the award decision will be made Format requirements—standards for preparing the proposal

The Four Strategies of Argument Business plan = proposition Business/technical report = analysis Annual report = evaluation Response to RFP = proposal

The Real Challenge of Long Reports The challenges lie with recognizing and responding to the relationship among the unique sets of audience expectations, the document purposes, and the report structures.

Basic Questions for the Business Report Where are we now? Where are we headed? How do we propose to get there? How will we know when we’ve arrived?

Principal Parts Title and cover page Executive summary Table of contents Introduction Body Recommendations/conclusions Appendixes

Two Functional Goals of Titles The two functional goals of a report title are To increase the probability of a first reading To increase the probability of subsequent retrieval

Criteria for Table of Contents Logically structured Complete enough to illuminate the road Meaningful language and vocabulary Help fulfill the responsibilities to inform and educate

Questions for the Introduction What is the problem? Why is it important enough for you to spend time on it? What were the objectives of the work? How does this work fit in with what has gone before? What is the scope of the job? Where did it start and stop?

Developing the Body To develop a body for a report that is a reasoned and integrated discussion, you need to keep in mind The general line of reasoning The appropriate organizational principles The appropriate pacing

The Five Things You Want to Happen Potential readers: Notice/open the report Readers: Consider the substance Executives: Take some action Peers: Appreciate background and urgency, understand, concur, and agree Staff: Accept bases of conclusions and recommendations

History of the Annual Report Era of the financial analyst—financial emphasis Era of the design house—Public relations emphasis Province of the communicator—communication/ credibility emphasis

Objectives of an SAR Encourage readership by making the report easier to understand Provide relevant and concise information Improve the quality and effectiveness of financial communications Enhance shareholder relations and management credibility Bring production costs down Design document with multiple purposes in mind

Guidelines for Annual Reports Define the message and themes Speak to your audience Face up to disappointing results Admit there are competitors Make productions real, substantive, and meaningful Use clear language and visuals Use a design that reinforces the message and corporate identity Invite “partners” into the discussion

Long Report—The Lessons Challenges of long reports: Integration of form and function, message and design Multiple audiences Diverse purposes