Reader-Focused Report Writing

Reports play an important role in any business. They are your company’s main tool to support critical decision-making. However, content-heavy reports are often wordy, unfocused and tedious to read, causing them to lack impact.

The key to success in technical writing is to keep it simple. Write to express – not to impress.

Do you have difficulty keeping to the point? Do your sentences become wordy and your paragraphs way too long? Do you have trouble with formatting and making key information stand out? Do you get overwhelmed with the amount of information you need to convey? These challenges are not uncommon.

In this practical, interactive workshop, Marianna Pascal will help you get to grips with these key skills and show you how to write reports that can be read and understood quickly.

You’ll learn formulas for writing well-crafted documents that help readers scan the report easily, and grasp as much – or as little – content as they choose. By breaking down your report into its essential components, and by learning simple techniques to tackle each one systematically, you can communicate even complex information effectively.

Using your own reports as a foundation, you will learn how to write in a clear, concise, coherent and well-organised style with a focus on the needs of the reader, and you’ll have some fun too!

Workshop Objectives

1. Adopt a reader-centred approach to report writing
2. Include clear bottom lines in every part of a report
3. Develop concise, logically organised paragraphs
4. Put data and details into writing effectively
5. Compose impactful, easy-to-read headings
6. Use grammatically correct lists to deliver information
7. Select and summarise data appropriately
8. Chunk, cluster and subordinate ideas logically
9. Write in plain English with correct syntax
10. Use easy-to-scan format and layout techniques

Methodology

Fun and Friendly: Marianna Pascal will guarantee that she will make the workshop interactive and fun. Marianna’s friendly, down-to-earth style helps to engage the audience from the start, encourage participation and stimulate interaction.

Practical: There will be theory-sharing, discussions, group work, Q&A, role- plays, and practical exercises. Participants will be encouraged to participate and share examples from their own experience.

Follow-along Workbook: Marianna will provide a comprehensive workbook to follow-along with, to work through, and to take extra notes. It’s proven that attendees learn more, and the learning lasts longer, when they brainstorm, fill in blanks and jot down their own thoughts and notes.

• How we read in today’s online world
• The key to report writing: scannability
• How to write world’s worst report – and how not to
• Keeping your eye on the whole: relating data to the key point

• Clear turn signals
• Strong subjects
• Finding hidden verbs
• How to cut long sentences
• Clustering ideas
• Using active voice

• Meeting your reader’s expectations
• Analysing your audience
• Your report in one sentence
• Designing the shape your report

• The introduction
• Think chunks
• The art of listing
• Layout clarity
• A ‘bottom line first’ approach