Email Etiquette & Business Writing Skills

To earn credibility and get results you want, you have to write with clarity and conviction.  Good writing is a skill that gets action, the email that says what a phone call cannot. 

In business writing, language is concrete, the point of view is clear and the points are well expressed.  Email is the source of a lot of communication.  A good email etiquette can reduce or eliminate most issues related to digital communication. 

Objectives:

• Learn how to organise your thoughts when writing a letter or email.
• Adhere to basic rules of email etiquette.
• Define best practice to plan and structure writing
• Review communication style to adopt the appropriate focus and tone
• Explore techniques in keeping your messages short and simple.
• Describe the benefits of plain English.
• Perform a calculation using the FOG Index.
• Learn how to grab your reader’s attention with a strong opening line.
• Apply the fundamental pillars of business writing for achieving the required results.
• Practice the skills of writing clear, concise, well-structured professional emails.

Outline:

• The purpose of communication
• The reasons for good writing
• Choosing appropriate communication channels
• Overcoming barriers to communication
• Identifying common grammatical errors 
• Using appropriate tone
• Difference between U.S. and U.K. language
• Using clear, specific, objective and positive language
• The importance of good sentence and paragraph construction
• Punctuating appropriately
• Email etiquette guidelines
• Writing concise emails – the key questions to answer before writing
• Defining your objective before writing
• The four stages of business writing – planning, drafting, revising, proofreading
• Organizing content to match your target audience
• Structuring your draft – what must you include?
• Active and Passive voice in written communication
• Practicing writing effective emails with work related scenarios
• Communicating effectively in a crisis situation – staying objective and conveying the facts
• How Foggy is your writing
• Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases
• Sentence length and Formatting 
• Personal action plan