Chapter 14
Book: Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques (sixth edition) by Dennis L. Wilcox
The Challenge of Managing Communication Overload
- Public Relations Writers not only communicates to a broad audience, they communicate through personal things, such as emails, memos, phone calls, and face-to-face communication.
- A smart writer follows the basic guidelines which are clarity, completeness, conciseness, courtesy, and responsibility… these things should be in all writings.
Memo’s should be on one page or less and state the key message immediately. A memo has five components: date, to, from, subject, and message.
Email is rapid and cost efficient. It is not, however, a substitute for personal one-on-one communication. Email is less formal than a letter, but more formal than a telephone call.
Increase the effectiveness of email by:
- Providing key information in the subject line
- Keeping them to 25 lines or less
- Using proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation
NOTE: Keeping things simple, short and to the point is a great way to reduce information overload.
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Comments on: "Writing Email, Memos, and Proposals" (2)
I totally understand the feeling of overload with e-mails since I have been working under Student Life. The amount of bogus e-mails, memos, voicemails,and more can be quite a lot. I do appreciate those who do leave messages for me or my department where it is not overbearing or just rediculus.
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