MED Communication Handbook - Programme Med

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This will determine such issues as capitalisation and how to express dates and numbers. Layout guidelines should apply to text style, font and sizes, as well as presentation and capitalisation. Style consistency is a sign of professionalism and should be used not only for printed materials but also for e-mails and websites. Accuracy Check everything, including photograph captions. Be extra-careful with names, figures and unfamiliar or technical words. Check that days of the week coincide with dates. If you say a certain number of points follow, count them. Be sure not to infringe copyright or libel laws – if in any doubt, consult a superior before publishing. Energy and interest Write as if you care: if you don’t sound interested, your readers won’t feel interested. Quotes Quotations add legitimacy and emphasis to your messages. They can also inject humanity, personality, emotion, immediacy and colour – but only if they are lively and clear. Quotes are a good way to make abstract ideas seem concrete, personal and relevant to the real world. You can get away with slightly more lively, informal and opinionated language in a quote without losing a balanced tone overall. Be sure to quote people with authority over your subject matter. These can range from project managers with a broad overview to personnel with more hands-on experience where appropriate. Quotes from third parties such as people whose lives have been touched by a project can be especially valuable Journalists need quotes to bring their story alive. A strong quote is valuable to any project because it is the part of a press release that is most likely to be reproduced unchanged in print. Good quotes sound like realistic spoken language. Avoid hype, slogans, corporate buzz-words. Do not just put quote marks around written prose. Written English uses longer sentences, more formal vocabulary and more complex grammar. Spoken English uses shorter sentences and simpler, brighter vocabulary including contractions. Written English is punctuated logically; spoken English is punctuated “respirationally” – to give pauses where people naturally breathe. Use words that people actually spoke, or speak your rewritten quotes to ensure they sound natural. Talk to people as part of your research: spoken words are much more fertile ground for gathering strong quote material than written words. Encourage people to speak enthusiastically about the subject. Listen out for powerful and descriptive words and phrases that you can use in quotes. The first quote in your story is very important. It can make the difference between a reader reading on and giving up. Try to get a quote in by the third or fourth 9 � Factsheet 11: Writing Skills �
paragraph, if not the second. Delaying much longer than that without a quote can leave a piece of writing with a dry, academic tone. Double-check the spelling of the name and job title of everyone you quote. Mistakes make people angry and undermine your credibility. Don’t waste quotes on purely factual information. Use quotes to give reasons, explanations or judgments and express opinions or emotions. Quotes are for illustration, decoration and emphasis, not conveying new information. Make them personal, using phrases such as: “I believe…” or: “For me, this is…” Most people most of the time are not very eloquent. PR professionals have the luxury of rewriting and inventing quotes that sound more effective. Check that the person being quoted is happy with the quote, whether the words are theirs or yours. Adopt language and tone appropriate for the person being quoted. Don’t use too many quotes or quote too many different people. Spice up a story with a few good quotes, and keep them short. Make available a photo of the person quoted, where appropriate. “Put full sentences inside the quote marks.” Broken sentence fragments in quotes are “worse than useless to” a journalist. 10 � Factsheet 11: Writing Skills �
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COMMMUNICATION HANDBOOK
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Communication Handbook - Factsheet
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For instance, it is not sufficient
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Messages State your key messages. T
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happens when you deliberately set o
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for the individual stakeholders on
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ideas at the same time, your audien
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� Free from jargon � Strong, ac
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IN SHORT Don’t rush the process.
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Why to evaluate communication activ
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If you have a small budget it is fi
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Things to consider when designing a
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Page 33 and 34: Hosting Your website can often be h
Page 35 and 36: IN SHORT When designing or commissi
Page 37 and 38: Leaflets and brochures General leaf
Page 39 and 40: Communication Handbook - Factsheet
Page 41 and 42: Do they fit with your branding and
Page 43 and 44: IN SHORT Only spend money on promot
Page 45 and 46: There are many opportunities to hol
Page 47 and 48: Programme The format of your event
Page 49 and 50: knife and fork. For the benefit of
Page 51 and 52: Invitations Develop the invitation
Page 53 and 54: Try to get all your printing done a
Page 55 and 56: A press conference should only be h
Page 57 and 58: Event Checklist Planning � Clarif
Page 59 and 60: Presentations � Projectors , lap-
Page 63 and 64: When projects find it hard to gener
Page 65 and 66: Hard news Soft news � Novelty �
Page 67 and 68: News devices The opportunities for
Page 69 and 70: Where just two countries are involv
Page 71 and 72: Larger scale pan-European PR campai
Page 73 and 74: Pan-European PR programme template
Page 75 and 76: IN SHORT The media cares about resu
Page 77 and 78: This factsheet runs through the fun
Page 79 and 80: � When it happened � Why it hap
Page 81 and 82: Language and content Keep it simple
Page 83: Always ask whether what you are des
Page 89 and 90: Planning and preparation Preparatio
Page 91 and 92: handout; use your spoken presentati
Page 93 and 94: Link your presentation points with
Page 95 and 96: � Characters � Anecdotes and st
Page 97 and 98: � Trustworthiness � Composure
Page 99 and 100: . Hands c. Visual aid d. Charts e.
Page 101 and 102: Posture Stand or sit with a relaxed
Page 103 and 104: etween slides. Use simple typefaces
Page 105 and 106: Resist the temptation to use alcoho
Page 107 and 108: The stakes are high when you talk t
Page 109 and 110: proof - particularly when defending
Page 111 and 112: DO Push your messages. Your message
Page 113 and 114: DON’T Don’t digress. Politician
Page 115 and 116: interviewed is to talk more than th
Page 117 and 118: Victory is no longer measured in te
Page 119: and can make eyes and teeth look ye
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