How to Properly Plan a Meeting By Stephen Sherburne

Planning a meeting can be a difficult and time consuming task. If planned and carried out successfully can make the meeting a success leaving your attendee’s with more knowledge and or experience then what they came in with. There are 6 simple steps that take you through the planning process to help make your meeting productive.

1. Find the purpose of the meeting. It should answer the question of those who are attending what they want to know, believe, and to be able to do as a result of this meeting.

2. Who should attend this meeting? Invite only the participants who will achieve the goals that you have set out for the meeting to achieve.

3. Decide when the meeting should be held. Once you have decided who the key participants in the meeting will be, decide on a time were the key participants are available and can attend. The length of the meeting is important, make sure it is not to long but, still covers what you need to get done.

4. Decide where the meeting should be held. If it is a first time meeting, then meet at a neutral zone, an off-site meeting place that is not any of the member’s business locations. If you have met more then once and you are hosting the meeting use one of your locations.

5. Once you have decided the above steps you need to make an agenda for the meeting. An agenda is an outline of what is going to be covered in the meeting and the amount of time each item is going to be discussed. This should also be sent out a few days prior to the meeting to give the attendee’s time to prepare and be ready for the meeting.

6. Delegate somebody in the meeting to be taking the minutes of the meeting, or another words take down what is being discussed in the meeting. Either rotate this task or have this task be assigned to a person like somebody’s secretary for example.

Works Cited
1. www.cartoonstock.com/.../jsi/lowres/jsin86l.jpg

2. Walter E. Oliu, Charles T. Brusaw, Gerald J. Alred. Writing That Works: Communicating Effectively on the Job. . Ninth Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007: 499-502.

Analyze That Reader! By Meg L. Bostick

When analyzing your reader, it is important to figure out what they know and what their skills are. Let’s face it, we are not all alike and some have strengths where others don’t! The more we know about our reader as far as their skills and what information they are able to relate to and what may be over their head, the easier it is to write something in which they can relate to.
Take for instance someone who is athletic, yet has no sense of artistic flare. If the writer composes a piece of writing based on Michelangelo and his famous portraits, for he/she to read, they are most likely going to have no idea about what the writer is referring to because they cannot relate to what is being said. Therefore, the writer has not analyzed the reader well enough to know what he/she understands.
If you are looking to write for a variety of readers, a way to accommodate all is to write in such a way that is universal and easy to understand. In other words, don’t go overboard and in extensive detail on a certain subject, as it will most likely be too much for many of the readers to handle, especially if they do not know much about the topic.
A great way to make sure you have written for either a “specific” reader or a “universal” reader is to have someone within that category read your piece and find out if they understand what is being said.

A guide to Writing Technical Instructions by Jonathen Peck

Writing Technical Instructions is basically trying to teach someone how to do something that they don't know much about. It is usually very challenging due to all of the things you have to consider. These thoughts that need to be considered when starting this process are who is your audience, what is your purpose, context, how lengthy they will be, and how complex these instructions are going to be. Technical writing is a profession in its own. You may think these specialists usually write their own but most of them actually only review the documents technical writers design to make sure things are correct

A good way to go about starting this process is to ask yourself a few simple questions.

1. Who will be the audience for your instructions? Why are these readers the best audience?
2. How will you have to tailor your instructions for this audience?
3. How long will your instructions be? How many different parts will you have to explain for your audience?
4. Will you need to include pictures or diagrams in your instructions? How many pictures will you need? What will those look like? Why are these important?
5. How might your finished instructions look? Will they be 1-page long or more? Will it look like a book or a pamphlet? How else might it look?

A great rubric that shows how well your documents are put together and how clear they are can be found here. http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson1101/SampleRubric.pdf. This rubric is based off of how well you define your audience, purpose, visual design, and how complete your work is.

Personally I don't think I have ever written instructions for an audience but going through school and work your experience this more than you realize. There is basically a list of instructions for almost everything you can learn.

Sources:
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1101
http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson1101/SampleRubric.pdf
http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson1101/PlanningSheet.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_writer

Review an Article in Business Writing by Leandro Caputo

Business article reviews should expend the most time to summarizing the information and highlighting the important concepts. The rest of the review should focus on analyzing the value of the article. The grammar and punctuation plays an important role when reviewing an article, it tells whether the writer was focus and use the right words to express himself on the article. Also, poorly organized ideas that the reviewer thinks that are not pricesely needed or understandable on the article should be backed up by reasoning, so that the reader of the review can determine on whether he agrees with your opinion.

When reviewing an article you should follow this steps:

1. Establish your purpose, your reader's needs, and your scope.
2. Outline key points.
3. Write a rough draft from the outline.
4. Allow for a cooling period to not vent emotions.
5. Revise the rough draft, checking for sense as well as for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
6. Adjust the format.
7. Assume final responsibility on the review.

In the introduction of the article, identify the purpose of the article and include a thesis statement to identify the main points that you will be discussing in the review.

While reviewing the article, you should also described the methods that the writer was using, describe what was found, and discuss the strenghts and weaknesses of the article.

In the conclusion, summarize the previous discussion and make a final judgement on the value of the article. Also state what you learned from the article and comment on the future or implications of the research.

References:

http://technicalbusinesswriting.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_review_a_business_book

http://www.learn.maine.edu/ocls/criticalreview.php

Walter E. Oliu, Charles T. Brusaw, Gerald J. Alred. Writing That Works: Communicating Effectively on the Job. . Ninth Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007: 262-263.

Interviews with Professionals by Adam Glick

Welcome to the Big Leagues Ladies and Gentlemen

Your first interview with a professional is going to be much different than your first interview you had at the seven eleven down the street when you were fifteen.  That first interview is most likely still vivid in your memory because of all the emotions involved.  

You probably had no idea what to wear so you grabbed a shirt that was two sizes too big out of your parents closet and threw on some wrinkled khaki jeans that had been under your bed since Easter service.  You were nervous and unprepared.

Whether you were awarded the position you desired or not, you were practicing your interviewing skills for later in life.  

These skills need to be perfected by the time you have your first interview with a professional or you will most likely end up back at the seven eleven selling nachos and over-cooked hotdogs to college students at two in the morning.

There are several tips you should remember when going to your first professional interview.

Seven Successful Suggestions:

Practice Interviewing

Interview with a friend or in the mirror

Do Your Homework

Research the ideals of the company

Be on Time

Arrive at least 15 minutes early

Use Positive Body Language

Make eye contact frequently and sit tall

Ask Questions

This will show your interviewer how interested you are in their company

Relax

Try to be calm and confident

Follow Up

Always send a brief thank you note after your interview

Now remember, this is not your interviewers first time interviewing a possible new employee. You need to impress him or her enough to separate yourself from the hundreds, maybe thousands of other applicants. Proper preparation prevents poor performance. 

Sources: 

http://www.macyscollege.com/college/careers/interviewing/tips.asp

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/proper_preparation_prevents_poor_performance/201859.html

The Role of Instant Messaging by Justo Almodovar

Instant messaging is a communications service that allows the exchange of text messages in real time between two or more people on computers, cell phones, or personal digital assistant (PDAs). Instant messaging can be a fast, convenient method for exchanging messages and sharing files with collegues, suppliers, and partners and that is great because then all of your colleagues will be getting all of the information in a quickly manner. Unfortunately the one thing that may hinder the productivity using instant messaging is that you need to make sure that your colleagues have the same instant messaging software that you have because if not you would not be able to use instant messaging to transport ideas. Instant messaging can be used when an intranet for an organization is down, you can use instant messaging to communicate on how to repair the problem with the IT department of the organization, all of this according to the ninth edition of Writing That Works.

Sources

Oliu, Walter E., Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred.
Writing That Works Comunicating Effectively on the Job. ninth. Boston, MA:
Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. Print.pg. 265