For writing letters and memos

1. Give your letter a heading if it will help the reader to see at a glance what you’re writing about.

2. Decide what you are going to say before you start to write or dictate: if you don’t do this, the sentences are likely to go on and on unit you can think of a good way to finish. In other worlds, always try to plan ahead.

3. Use short sentences.

4. Put each separate idea in a separate paragraph. Numbering each paragraph may help the reader to understand better.

5. Use short worlds that everyone can understand.

6. Think about you reader. You reader:

ü must be able to see exactly what you mean (your letters should be clear);

ü must be given all the necessary information (your letters should be complete);

ü is likely to be a busy person with no time to waste (your letters should be concise);

ü must be addressed in a sincere, polite tone (your letters should be courteous);

ü may get a bad impression if there are mistakes in grammar, punctuation and spelling (your letters should be correct).

While preparing and holding the meeting, one should adhere to the following guidelines:

ü The chairperson should be a good timekeeper. They should start the meeting on time, without waiting for latecomers.

ü They should appoint a time-taker to take the minute, making sure that opinions and action appoints (where participants agree to do something) are noted.

ü They should make sure each point on the agenda is allocated the time it deserves and should keep to the timetable. When the time allocated to one points is up, the chair should make sure that discussion moves on to the next point, even if the issue has not been completely covered or resolved (decided).

ü The chair should make sure that each participant has the chance to make their point, and should deal tactfully with disagreements, making sure that each side feels their points of view has been noted. They should also try to avoid digressions, where people get off the point.

ü Finally, they should ensure the meeting finishes on time, or early.

ü After some meeting, it’s necessary for the minutes to be circulated, especially if there are action points that particular people are responsible for.

ü At the next meeting, the chair should ask for the minutes to be read out and see if all agree that it is an accurate record of what happened, and see if there are any matters arising (any points from the last meeting that need to be discussed). And they should check what progress has been made on the action points from the previous meeting.