Page 13 - Mini-Module 11

Getting the Message Across — Layout

1. Tell a Story
This should be coherent, logical and well sequenced. The best advice is
to learn to tell a good story! If the report is disjointed and one section
not relating to the next, it will not be easy to read and definitely not
compulsive reading. You need not write miniature novels in a literary
style, but you will find it advantageous to develop a ‘storyline’.

2. Put the End at the Front
Put the end at the front; that is, put the main conclusions and
recommendations at the beginning so that the busy reader can decide
whether she is sufficiently interested to read on. You must 'hit' the
reader with the crucial points right away. This can be done in the
executive summary, which for many (come on, be honest) is the only
part of the report to be read. This makes it all the more important that
the key messages are placed near the beginning.
Where you have bad news for the recipient however, you may decide
to delay your recommendations a little by outlining a few of the
problems of the situation first. If the person who asked for the report
set up an inventory system a few years ago and you have found it to be
an unworkable disaster, it may be best to break it to them gently!
These points are about the structure of the report and we will look at
this in detail later. Now we want to consider the visual appearance.

3. Visual Appearance
If you have one of your own recently written reports handy, take a look
at a few pages. What does it look like: something very attractive and
encouraging to read, or a document to be avoided because it looks
tedious and 'heavy'? Do not underestimate the impact of your page
layout. It is very important. How you set out your material on the page
can either have a favourable impact or can deter the reader from going
any further ‐ this is true whether it is a paper or electronic
presentation. Look at the two pages in Figure 2 and see the advantage
of one over the other of getting the information across easily.

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