The slides from Gary Woodward's webinar 'How to turn your expert analysis into exceptional reports'. You can find out more about Emphasis at www.writing-skills.com

1. How to turn your expert analysis into
exceptional documents
Gary Woodward

7. The next 30 minutes
Engaging your readers and encouraging them to act
Presenting your information with maximum visual impact
Writing efficiently

8. Ask your questions in the chat box as we go along

9. Engaging your readers

10. Avoid the data dump by asking yourself
• How much do they know about the subject?
• What issues most concern them?
• Which aspects of my analysis feed into those issues?
• How important is the topic to them?
• How are interested are they?

11. Be more selective

12. Writing for a varied audience?
1. Use simple language
throughout
2. Summarise the key
points at the start

13. Structuring your document for different readers
A = info important for all
Main text
B = info important for some
only
Appendix/attachment
Box-out
Chart/graphic/table
Handout
Footnote or endnote

14. Summarising is vital

15. Drafting a simple summary: answering their questions
Why am I reading this?
Give the brief purpose and context

16. Drafting a simple summary: answering their questions
What do I need to know more than anything else?
State the key messages, headlines or ‘story’ of the longer
document

17. Drafting a simple summary: answering their questions
What do you want from us, if anything?
Be clear whether you want them to approve a course of action
or give you a decision

18. Writing a summary: top tips
Make it visually appealing – the more engaging the summary, the
more likely they are to read the detail
Make sure it can stand alone. Does it tell a story by itself?
One page is a good length, but it can be a bit more or less than
that

19. Presenting your research: don’t do this

20. Adding value to your research
Answering this
question can help you
move from information
to insight

21. Moving from data to insight

22. A new way of presenting
information?

23. Jon Moon
‘WiT’ – Words in Tables
(www.jmoon.co.uk)

25. We need to do more to promote cycling
Not enough women are
cycling
Males (of all ages) make over three times as many cycle trips as
females (28 to 9). Males cycle four times as many miles as females (95
to 22). 20% of men and 7% of women cycle more than twice a month.
Not enough people are
cycling to work
In England and Wales, 2.8% of working residents aged 16-74 cycle to
work. In Scotland, 1.4% of people in employment aged 16-74 cycle to
work.
Not enough children
are cycling to school
Travel by car for education contributes significantly to peak-time
traffic: it is responsible for about 29% of trips between 8am and 9am,
with an additional 21% escorting others to education. Around 2% of
children aged 5-10 and 3% of children aged 11-15 cycle to school.

26. Market growth: new opportunities for 2017
This is an overview of what’s going on. Here is some more text, here is
some more text. Here is some more text. Here is some more text, here is.
Challenges from 2016
Infrastructure
changes from
2016
Here is some more text explaining some details of the point to the left, and
elaborating them. Here is some more text, here is some more text, here is
some more text.
Another point This text explains the point to the left a little more. Here is some more text,
here is some more text, here is some more text.
Here is yet more text. And here is a figure: 0.9 per cent rise since 2014 means
significant thing for point to the left that reader is interested in.
We need to
consider this
This text elaborates on the thing we need to consider to the left. It doesn’t
have to be long.
And also this This text also explains the headline to the left more. You can see how this is
developing your line of argument in an effortless way. Here is some more text,
here is some more text, here is some more text, here is some more text.
Here’s a final
point
More text, you say? More text. Here is some more text. Here is some more
text. Here is some more text. Here is some more text. Here is some more text.
Opportunities for 2017
We’re doing
well
Here are some figures that show we’re doing well: we’ve seen a 20%
increase in this abbreviation, which I will explain if I’m not sure my reader
will understand why it’s relevant.
We could do
better
It’s an exciting time, but we can do even better in future. We estimate that
10,000 widgets will be sold if we make the most of this opportunity, leading
to over £1.2m in profit.
We have to
act
We cannot afford to ignore this opportunity. The public is demanding
widgets, but past trends suggest the rate of growth shown in Figure 1 will
not continue indefinitely.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug
Figure 1: 2017 will be great
2017
Diff.

27. Going from analysis to impact: summary
1. Categorise the data somehow into two more groups
2. Summarise the content of each group with a heading
3. Put the points within each group in a logical order or hierarchy
4. If possible, add a conclusion or headline at the start of your analysis
5. Put the information into columns within a table to add further visual impact

28. Don’t fire blanks: be careful with bullet points
1. Do you really need them?
2. Avoid long lists of them
3. Try to sort them into a logical order and groups
4. Keep each line short (put them in columns?)
5. Use for one hierarchy only
6. Number them instead – they are easier to refer back to

29. Let’s take one or two questions

30. Tables vs graphs: which should I use?

31. Tables vs graphs
Tables are for detailed numerical information
Graphs work better to show patterns, trends and insights

32. Let’s
transform
your tables

33. Transform your tables

34. Top tips for terrific tables
1. Put the rows and columns in a logical but reader-centred sequence
2. Remove unnecessary gridlines, especially vertical ones
3. Put the rows close together
4. Use bold and other emphasis selectively
5. Add a title and a caption

35. Transform your tables

36. Making an impact with
language

37. Good writing is invisible

38. It’s time for some style
techniques

39. Remove the mystery from your sentences

40. Technique one: put the main clause first
Owing to the state of China’s economy, fears over Brexit, a
gloomy trade forecast and increased regulation, we recommend
option one

41. Putting the ‘what’ before the ‘why’
We recommend option one because of:
• the state of China’s economy
• fears over Brexit
• a gloomy trade forecast
• increased regulation

42. Technique two: keep your ‘doing’ words doing
Nouns
Give consideration to
Make an announcement
Lead to a reduction in
Make a decision
Find a solution
Undertake the implementation
of
Verbs
Consider
Announce
Reduce
Decide
Solve
Implement

43. Verb power in action
We aim to help your company achieve reductions in costs and improvements in
efficiency through the simplification of processes (19 words)
We aim to help your company reduce costs and improve efficiency by simplifying
processes (14 words)

44. Technique three: favour the active voice
A decision will be made by the Prime Minister next week (passive – 11 words)
The Prime Minister will make a decision next week (active – 9 words)
The Prime Minister will decide next week (active – 7 words)

45. Think reader Ask reader-centred questions before you start. Be
more selective with your information. Avoid the
download.
Turn analysis into
insight
Answer the ‘so what?’ question. Categorise your
data. Start with your conclusion. Summarise your
groupings with headings.
Add visual impact Consider using ‘WiT’. Bring your numerical tables to
life. Use bold selectively for typographical contrast.
Use language
efficiently
Use verbs more than nouns. Favour the active voice.
Put the primary clause first.
Let’s recap

46. Let’s take one or two questions before closing

47. Thank you for joining us
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