Business Rhetoric Section
YOUR PERSONAL REVIEW BECOMING YOUR OWN READER
Audience:
What strategies do you observe yourself using to target, appeal to, etc. your specific audience?
Are you, the reader, feeling confident about those strategies being the best to use?
How are you positioning your argument for this audience member in general?
Organizational Structure:
Could you rehearse your argument and structure verbally from memory?
Are there sections of your structure that feel out of order, or gratuitous?
Visual Aids:
What aids are you considering? Are they appropriate? Over the top? Confusing? Too busy?
Author Investment:
When you step back to observe your work, can you see the level of investment you have put into it?
Executive Summary Source Comparitive Analysis -
Please surf to our site and download the piece on Executive Summaries
Then, please surf to the following website: https://www.garage.com/resources/writing-a-compelling-executive-summary/
After reading both, please come back to your groups and argue for which source you believe is most helpful, and why.
Come back ready to discuss.
Executive Summary - 1 Page
A clear, direct, audience-specific, "elevator pitch" summary of the proposal and the thesis (why your audience should care);
Free of jargon, complicated explanations, etc.;
Should be clear and understandable by those who will not read the whole proposal (as many folks admit to reading only the ES and the conclusion;
See "executive summary" hand out from HBS on our iSite;
Ideally, your ES should be one-page long, but it should be tightly organized and structured, with strong, economical and focused paragraphs.
Cover Letter - 1 page
Make sure to choose the most specific audience you can;
Right away, define and position yourself rhetorically; but more importantly, indicate why you are writing to him/her specifically....this last is one of the most powerful moves you can make;
Very briefly summarize your proposal;
Cite the key benefits thereto;
Cite any key challenges or obstacles that might arise and then refute them;
Ask the recipient to consider, approve, fund, clear, etc. your proposal;
Provide contact information for follow-up.
Things to consider -
Is the cover letter engaging and rhetorically positioned to reach a very specific audience?
How so? How not so? BE SPECIFIC
By the time you have read the Executive Summary your reader should know EXACTLY what problem or opportunity you are addressing, and you should know exactly what he/she will be asking for...
Are the body sections clear, direct, focused, in the most efficient order?
Are the graphics smart and well-positioned?
Does the conclusion fall flat, or resonate?
Is there material that might be better served in the appendices? What is in the appendices and why?
Body Sections -
Do you have a reason for placing them in the order you have placed them in?
Do you understand how they relate to one another?
Are they clear, focused, economical?
Are you lost throughout and just cramming information in there, or do you feel a firm sense of the "map" you have created?
Conclusions - 1 page
Proposal Conclusions are more contained than those of our CEO reports, but I would still suggest that a wider vision will be compelling.
Again, make sure to be highly audience-aware as you conclude, and keep in mind what will interest, and/or persuade, your specific audience most.
Finally, make sure to re-emphasize your "ask" and/or your purpose in writing the proposal.