Effective Report Writing Techniques

Why Attend

A technical report is more than a mere representation of facts pertaining to a situation. An effective report can move people towards taking a desired course of action. Moreover, the quality of a report can influence how its subject matter is perceived by the reader. In this course, we will describe the different types of reports. We will master the structuring and scoping of reports, from conception to completion. We will also learn to write for our specific audience with a tangible sense of purpose. Finally, we will discover a logical approach towards developing visual aids to support our representation of the facts, conclusions and recommendations that comprise the report.

Course Methodology

Participants will be required to put their acquired knowledge into practice through the development of progress, status, periodic, investigative and instructional reports. They will also practice the development of charts and performance dashboards.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Write purposeful business and technical reports that meet readers’ requirements
• Utilize different templates and report types to achieve reporting objectives
• Generate reliable conclusions effectively by researching, analyzing and organizing information
• Provide evidence-backed recommendations to support management decision making
• Use visual aids appropriately to support the presentation of information
• Apply advanced methodologies to make every report a winning report

Target Audience

All those who are required to prepare technical reports such as engineers, safety officers, technicians, accountants, managers and others.

Target Competencies

• Written communication
• Report writing and structuring
• Structured thinking
• Ability to address complex situations
• Analytical skills
• Ability to generate sound recommendations

Course Outline

• The report writing process
  • Report writing overview
  • 5 easy steps to report writing
  • Understanding your audience
  • Articulating intended purpose
  • Planning content and style
  • Employing essential writing building blocks
  • Business writing: express or impress?
• Reporting structure
  • Structuring tools
  • Arranging different sections of a report
  • Writing captivating introductions
  • Conducting research and analysis
  • Delivering evidence-backed findings
  • Deriving unbiased conclusions
  • Tools and methodologies for deriving recommendations
  • Bringing it all together: a cohesive and coherent report
  • Story telling elements
• Report types and templates
  • Recognizing different reporting structures
  • Matching reports to situations
  • 6 reporting types
    • Investigative reports
    • Progress and status reports
    • Periodic reports
    • Instructional reports
    • Proposals
    • Financial reports
  • Reporting templates
• The power of visual aids
  • Using visual aids
  • Principles for designing visual aids
  • Recognizing different visual aids
  • The role of visual aids
  • Applying principles of design
  • Using images, diagrams, graphs, charts and tables for impact
  • Integrating visual aids into a report
  • Essential visual aid checklist
• Reports that win
  • Elements of winning reports
  • Using writing tone effectively
  • Applying scientific tools and methodologies
  • Mastering the ‘so what?’
  • Building rapport
  • Mastering editing techniques