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The Memo Is Dead Should We Still Teach Students How to Write One? Amy Newman, ABC, New Orleans, October 2013 Gasping for Air Mourning the Demise Resurrecting Assignments Gasping for Air Mourning the Demise Resurrecting Assignments Gasping for Air Surveyed Managers Spend No Time Writing Memos 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 37% 20% Lennox, Newman, and Wolfe, ABC Europe 2012 15% 11% 4% 4% 4% 3% 1% “Memo” Is the New Q-tip “Letters” Look a Lot Like Email Gasping for Air Mourning the Demise Resurrecting Assignments Will We Lose Learning Objectives? Formatting Paragraph development and transitions Openings and closings We need to spend more time teaching complex, multi-channel, audience-focused communication skills. New Communication Model Newman, Business Communication: In Person, In Print, Online, 9e Gasping for Air Mourning the Demise Resurrecting Assignments Breathing New Life into Assignments Complex • Add surrounding communications • Switch audiences MultiChannel AudienceFocused • Incorporate graphics • Change formats Add Surrounding Communications Team Announcing a Change Complex MultiChannel AudienceFocused • Team Presentation of Bad News • Employee Blog Comments • Team Email Response Resort or Restaurant Concept Proposal • Standalone Proposal • Cover Email • Oral Presentation • Voice Mail Message Switch Audiences Complex Internal Benefit Report and Presentation MultiChannel AudienceFocused • Report to an HR Manager Proposing a New Employee Benefit • Draft Email to Employees (Within the Report) • Presentation to Employees Announcing the Program Incorporate Graphics Complex MultiChannel AudienceFocused “One-Pager” (Written Summary) • • • • Condensed Proposal At Least One Graphic Cover Email Presentation (Meeting Format) with Handout Incorporate Graphics: Example Complex MultiChannel AudienceFocused Change Formats Complex Creative Formats MultiChannel • • • • • AudienceFocused One-Pager PPT Report Blog Posts Tweets Facebook Posts References Andrew Beaujon, “Tim Armstrong Apologizes for Publicly Firing Abel Lenz,” Poynter, August 13, 2013, http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/221096/tim-armstrong-apologizes-for-publicly-firing-abel-lenz, accessed August 14, 2013. Martin Dickman, Termination of Disability Annuities, United States Railroad Retirement Board, April 21, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/opinion/sunday/payback-on-the-lirr.html?nl=todaysheadlines &emc=edit_th_20130707&_r=1&, accessed August 6, 2013. Alison Doyle, “Resignation Email Letter Sample: Sample Letter of Resignation to Send by Email,” About.com, “Job Searching,” http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resignationletters/a/resignemail.htm, accessed August 13, 2013. Peter Kafka, “Tim Armstrong Apologizes for Publicly Firing Patch Employee,” All Things Digital, August 13, 2013, http://allthingsd.com/20130813/tim-armstrong-apologizes-for-publicly-firing-patch-employee/comment-page-1/, accessed August 14, 2013. Leslie Kaufman, “AOL Chief Apologizes Over Firing of Worker,” The New York Times, August 13, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/business/media/aols-armstrong-apologizes-to-staff-for-firing-ofemployee.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130814, accessed August 14, 2013. Cynthia King, “Introduction to the Rhetoric of Layoff Memos,” Business Communication Quarterly, September 2010, Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 320 – 322. David Lennox, Amy Newman, Maria Wolfe, “How Business Leaders Communicate in 2012: Classroom Strategies for Teaching Current Practices," ABC Europe, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, May 2012. References (cont’d) “Yahoo! Email: No More Working from Home,” BizCom in the News, February 25, 2013, http://www.bizcominthenews.com/bizcom_in_the_news/2013/02/yahoo-memo-no-more-working-fromhome.html, accessed August 13, 2013. Amy Newman, Business Communication: In Person, In Print, Online, 9e, (Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2013). Amy Newman, “JPMorgan Chase Loses $2 Billion,” BizCom in the News, http://www.bizcominthenews.com/ bizcom_in_the_news/2012/05/jp-morgan-chase-loses-more-than-2b.html, accessed August 13, 2013. Kara Swisher, “‘Physically Together’: Here’s the Internal Yahoo No-Work-From-Home Memo for Remote Workers and Maybe More,” All Things Digital, February 22, 2013, http://allthingsd.com/20130222/physically-togetherheres-the-internal-yahoo-no-work-from-home-memo-which-extends-beyond-remote-workers/, accessed August 13, 2013. Jim Stevenson, Layoff Notice, SRI Homes, May 20, 2008 http://www.castanet.net/content/1211400840ice.jpg, accessed August 6, 2013. Phillip Stover, Budget Forecasting, Layoffs and Answers to Questions, San Diego Unified School District, March 5, 2011, http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/voiceofsandiego.org/content/tncms/assets/v3 /editorial/b/26/b26ae576-4a91-11e0-a317-001cc4c03286/4d77ecd634f78.pdf.pdf, accessed August 6, 2013. United States Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, “Exhibits,” Hearing on JPMorgan Chase Whale Trades: A Case History of Derivatives Risks & Abuses, March 15, 2013, http://trendfollowing.com/whitepaper/jpm.pdf, pages 327 accessed August 13, 2013. Thank You! Amy Newman Cornell University [email protected]