Business reports are a company’s primary tool to disseminate information and support critical decision -making ideas. A well-written report is one’s best advocate for almost any course. It takes a great amount of skill and practice to communicate information in a document. This course has been designed exclusively to coach participants on writing a report with ease and great style, whilst learning the secrets of writing a perfect report.
Objectives:
Upon completion of this training programme, participants will be able to:
- Analyse their audience and tailor the content to their specific needs
- Gather data efficiently and select the relevant information for the readers
- Use best practice in structuring the document by using a number of easy-to-learn report-writing techniques
- Avoid the top-10 catastrophic mistakes made during report writing
- Ensure that their reports are well-structured
- Create reports that flow logically and look professional
- Assess the best places to use graphics, and choose the right image to support your content
- Produce reports that enhance the image of both the report writer and the organisation
Outline:
1. The Objectives of Report Writing
- Reports- The Definition
- The Purpose of Reports
- The Type of Reports
- Setting Clear Objectives
2. The Audience
- The Wide Array of Readers
- What Readers want to Read
- Understanding their Preferences
- Reaching Out to the Masses
3. Planning the Report: The Structure, Outline & Design
- The Backbone- A Great Structure
- Mind Mapping the Outline
- Deciding on the Burger- The Introduction, Body & Conclusion
- Organising the Content in Accordance to the Objective
4. The Data Collection Process
- The Mind & Data Dump
- Gathering Data Efficiently from Various Sources
- Data Consolidation- What’s Needed and What’s Not
5. Developing a Great Style
- K.I.S.S (Keep it Short & Simple)
- Simplistic, Not Bombastic
- Get them Hooked (The Hook)
- British versus American
- The Top 10 Mistakes
6. The Drafts
- Staying Focused to the Objectives
- The Four Step Drafting Process: Prepare, Draft, Relax & Polish
- Using the Right Headings to Capture the Reader’s Attention
- Coherence & Cohesion
- The Graphics: Adding bullets, tables, charts, graphs, diagrams
- Crediting the Sources: Cross-Reference & In-Text Citations
7. The Front & End Matters of Reports
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Abstract & Executive Summary
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Contents
- Appendices
- Glossary
- Reference
8. The Finale
- The Final Glance Over
- Strategies for Proofreading
- Spell-Check, Punctuation-Check, Grammar-Check & Vocab-Check
- The Perfect Report Checklist: The Last Glance Over
Method:
- Presentation
- Discuss
- Case Study
- Evaluation
Who should attend:
Anyone who produces reports and needs them to be understood and acted upon.