Presentation on chapter 9.

1. Business Communication
Adapted from NETA PowerPoint for Essentials of Business Communication by
Lisa Jamieson
Proposals and Formal Reports

2. Proposals

3. Types of Proposals
• Informal or formal
• Internal or external
• Solicited or unsolicited
Image source

4. Components of Informal Proposals
Introduction
Background
Plan
Staffing
Budget
Authorization and conclusion

5. Preparing to Write a Formal Report

6. Formal Business Report
Research-based, written
solution
•Formal tone
•Traditional structure
•Longer document

7. Steps in the Report Process
Determine scope and purpose
Anticipate audience needs
Draft a work plan
Conduct research
Organize conclusions
Design graphics

8. Step 1: Scope and Purpose
Scope
• What’s included in the
research?
• What will not be included?
Purpose
• Goal?
• Client?
• Business context?
• Research motivation?
• Importance of research?

9. Step 2: Audience Needs
Anticipate and
profile audience

10. Step 3: Draft a Work Plan
•Problem statement
•Purpose statement
•Research methods
•Outline major
sections
•Timeline

12. Step 4: Conduct Research
• Primary information
• Secondary
information

13. Step 5: Organize Conclusions
• Organize
• Analyze
• Summarize &
recommend

14. Organizational Patterns
Chronological
Geographical
Topic/Function
Compare/Contrast
Importance
Simple/Complex
Best case/Worst case

15. Step 6: Design Graphics
•Clarify data
•Add interest

16. Components of a Typical Formal
Report

17. Formal Report Components

18. Front Matter
• Title page
• Transmittal document
• Table of contents
• List of figures
• Executive summary

19. Title Page

20. Transmittal
Document

21. Table of
Contents
&
List of Figures

22. Executive
Summary

23. Body
• Introduction
• Findings
• Conclusions

24. Introduction

25. Findings

26. Conclusions

27. Back Matter
• Bibliography
• Appendixes

28. Bibliography

29. Appendices
Image source

30. Editing a Formal Report

31. Editing Formal Business Reports
•Format
•Consistency
•Graphics
•Heading levels
•Accuracy
•Mechanics

32. Summary
• Learned how to write effective informal business proposals
• Reviewed how to write formal reports.

33. References
Guffrey, M. E., Loewy, D., & Almonte, R. (2019). Essentials of business communication
(9th Canadian Edition). Nelson.
Jamieson, L. (2019). Chapter 9: Communicating in the digital-age workplace [PowerPoint
slides]. Nelson.
Kenton, W. (2020, July 19). Request for proposal (RFP). Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/request-for-proposal.asp

34. Image Sources
Town of Blane Lake Requests for Proposals (RFP) Municipal Audit [PDF]. (2019, September
17). Blane Lake, Saskatchewan. https://blainelake.ca/wp-
content/uploads/2019/09/RFP-for-Auditor.pdf
Appendix C2: Treatment usage as reported by the survey participants. [n.d.] The National
Acadamies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. https://www.nap.edu/read/
22984/chapter/6