1. Organizing and Writing Business Messages

2. The 3 X 3 Writing Process Analyze, Anticipate, Adapt
Research, Organize, Compose
Revise, Proofread, Evaluate

3. Some Questions about Your Writing
How do you generate ideas?
Do you use diagrams and outlines?
Do you have to be in a special setting (e.g., a quiet room)?
Do you use a computer from the start?
Do you build much time into the process?
What do you find most difficult about writing?
Some Questions about Your Writing

5. Half-truths about Style
Never use “I” or “You”
Never begin a sentence with “And” or “But”
Never end a sentence with a preposition
Big words impress people

6. Building a Better Style
Try reading your writing out loud
Ask others to read your writing
Read widely and write a lot

7. Mission Statement:
Our mission is to professionally integrate diverse catalysts for change to allow us to seamlessly customize interdependent meta-services to stay competitive in tomorrow's world.

8. Please give immediate attention to insure that the pages of all documents prepared for distribution are numbered sequentially and in a place of optimum visibility. This is needed to facilitate our ability to refer to items during meetings.
Remember to number your pages.

9. Jane, I’m not sure we’re right for each other.
Jane, I’ve done a lot of thinking about the extensible value proposition in our relationship, our synergies and whether we could seamlessly leverage our repository of spiritual assets.

10. Deloitte Consulting Bullfighter®

11. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
A Plain English Handbook

12. Ways of exit access and the doors to exits to which they lead shall be so designed and arranged as to be clearly recognizable as such. (26 words)
An exit must be free of signs or decorations that obscure its visibility. (13 words)
Make sure exits are clearly marked and unobstructed. (8 words)

13. Federal Directive to Regulate the Price of Cabbage
Ten Commandments
297 words
Bill of Rights
463 words
Federal Directive to Regulate the Price of Cabbage
26, 911 words

14. Write Like Abe Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address: 701 words:
505 one-syllable words
122 two-syllable words
March 4, 1865

15. Eliminate Wordiness Ameliorate  improve Commence  begin
Enumerate  list
Finalize  finish
Prioritize  rank
Utilize  use
Viable option  choice

16. Spot Redundancies Close scrutiny Past work experience New innovation
Free gift
Triangular in shape
Present status
Advance planning
Completely finish
Major disaster
Cooperate together

17. Verbal Deadwood Due to the fact that In a great many instances
Is of the opinion that
On a yearly basis
Hold a discussion
At this point in time
In this day and age
In the near future
Prior to the start of
In regard to
Connect up together
With the exception of
Give careful consideration to

18. Verbal Deadwood Due to the fact that In a great many instances
Is of the opinion that
On a yearly basis
Hold a discussion
At this point in time
In this day and age
In the near future
Prior to the start of
In regard to
Connect up together
With the exception of
Give careful consideration to

19. Clear Out Verbal Deadwood
Heavy rains throughout most of the state have given an optimistic outlook for lessened fire danger for the rest of the season. However, an abundance of lightning maintains a certain amount of hazard in isolated areas that have not received an excessive amount of rain. We were pleased to have been able to help Nevada with the suppression of their conflagration.

20. Heavy rains throughout most of the state have given an optimistic outlook for lessened fire danger for the rest of the season.

21. However, an abundance of lightning maintains a certain amount of hazard in threatens isolated dry areas that have not received an excessive amount of rain.

22. We were pleased to have been able to help Nevada fight fires with the suppression of their conflagration

23. ►Delete ► Replace ► Simplify
Heavy rains throughout most of the state lessened fire danger for the rest of the season. However, lightning threatens isolated dry areas. We were pleased to help Nevada fight fires.

24. Euphemism Inoperative combat personnel Pre-dawn vertical insertion
Inappropriate intimate contact
Pre-need memorial property
Energetic disassembly

25. Business Euphemisms Displaced inventory Non-consensed items
Facilities compression
Sub-optimal performance
Negatively impact

26. Dehired
Outplaced
Deselected
Redeployed
Separated
Transitioned
Prematurely retired

28. Oxymoron
“Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!” (Romeo and Juliet, I.i.173)
“interim final temporary rule”
(SEC description of a new regulation on short selling)

29. Acronyms
TVA, CCC, WPA
TARP
RAT
LUST
FCCCER
SHT

30. Use Concrete Language Compare: A period of unfavorable weather set in.
It rained every day for a week.
Our initial consultation will occur soon.
I’ll call you on Friday.

32. George Orwell
“Politics and the English Language”

33. George Orwell on Concrete Language
Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must inevitably be taken into account.

34. Orwell (Cont.)
I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all.