OrganizingYour Message.

Organization

Most Important

Least Important

Everythingshould be important to your audience

So what?(What do they need to know?)

Key MessageShould go first.

THINKUrgency!

CALL 911Think about what is truly important to your audience.

Caveat toUrgency!

BAD NEWS!

Think Interest(And its relationship to time and effort)

Low Interest High Interest

High Effort

Low Effort

More Time

Less Time

Think Structure(Appropriate structure can increase usefulness)

Inverted Pyramid(Model for deductive structure)

General

Specific

Audiences NeedGeneral information first.

Inte

rest

Audience Interest Declines

Reader InterestDeclines fast.

General

Specific

Inte

rest

Introduction

(So what?)

Purpose(What were you asked to do?)

Acknowledgesthe needs of the audience.

Bottom-line(What was the result?)

Think Importance(What was your key finding?)

What do they need to know?

Summary(Support the bottom-line.)

Roadmap

Which indices supported your bottom-line?

ParallelStructure

General

Specific

Inte

rest

Introduction

(So what?)

Body(What is the story?)

Expound on the information provided in

your introduction.

General

Specific

Inte

rest

Introduction

(So what?)

Body(What is the story?)

NextAction(What should

do next?)

Return Response

Findings

Recommendations

Conclusion

General

Specific Inte

rest

Introduction

Body

NextAction

Executives

Managers

Technicians (Outside the Field)

Technicians (Inside of the Field)

Multi-Section(Same rules apply.)

Inte

rest

Introduction

Body

NextAction

Repeat Section By Section

Part 1

Part2

Part 3

Part 4

Introduction(Same rules apply.)

Body(Same rules apply.)

Next Action(Same rules apply.)

Becomes Transition

Context(What does the section mean for the audience?)

Look Forward