Writing Effective Reports and Briefings

Overview

Designed to assist staff within an organisation to produce communicative, and professionally presented reports for internal and external use. Participants will appreciate the correct use of language and produce reports that are clear, concise and effective by adopting a systematic approach.

This will cover reports or briefs for discussion at committees / meetings, external audiences and formal distribution.

Objectives

• Plan a report’s content
• Analyze the readers’ requirements
• Write accurate, brief and clear reports and briefings
• Structure and format a formal report and briefing

Content

• The features of an effective report
• General report-writing Dos and Don’ts
• Using planning tools
• Audience analysis and targeting
• Structuring reports and briefings to aid the reader
• The principles of business writing, including sentence structure, grammar and punctuation
• Using consistent formats e.g. templates
• Different report types – audiences, outcomes, styles