Another lesson on the bottom line

Bydr.kim
March 5 Weather

A quick story…I was working from home on slides for a presentation this afternoon. As I got ready to head to campus, my phone alerted me to a text message from a co-worker:

This state needs to invest in trucks. And salt. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow!

It took a minute, but I finally figured out the campus was closing because of winter weather. (AGAIN….sigh)

I thought it was odd that I hadn’t seen the customary email announcement.  Then I remembered I had just deleted an email about a “winter weather advisory.” I recovered it from my Trash folder and edited the bottom line placement as recommended by research–and (un)common sense.

Powered By EmbedPress

Happy Thursday from Tuscaloosa, where we have icy roads today after 80 degree temperatures yesterday!

Similar Posts

Use parallel structure in lists to increase reading efficiency
| |

Use parallel structure in lists to increase reading efficiency

Bydr.kim

Those offering advice to professionals who write have long suggested that similar ideas should appear in similar (or parallel) form. In fact, the advice appears in one of the earliest business writing textbooks, first published in the U.S. in 1916. But I’m committed to offering you guidance for writing successfully at work based on quality evidence about the…

Is your vision clear — or blurry?
|

Is your vision clear — or blurry?

Bydr.kim

I’m working on a post about research articles, but it’s not ready for the world yet. So I wanted to share a terrific piece on vision statements from Gavin over at Make A POWERful Point. He contrasts this vision statement attributed to Albertsons: Guided by relentless focus on our five imperatives, we will constantly strive to implement the…

The genre of sales letters: What counts as good advice?
| |

The genre of sales letters: What counts as good advice?

Bydr.kim

A sales letter (or email) is designed to entice a reader to become a customer of the writer. The most common approach to training writers to create a sales letter is called AIDA, standing for Attention Interest Desire Action It was developed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis based on his practical advertising experience in the US before the…

The video tutorial on paragraph unity
|

The video tutorial on paragraph unity

Bydr.kim

Pros know that chunking related text in their documents makes it easier for readers to get their message. Writers have been using visual signals to create textual chunks since the ancient Greeks. The photo is a page from Ælfric’s Grammar, written in the second half of the 11th century, with large initials and both Latin and Anglo-Saxon script. I found it…

Does essay writing help you succeed as a writer at work?

Does essay writing help you succeed as a writer at work?

Bydr.kim

Today’s post is in honor of the National Day on Writing. U.S. students spend years writing essays. They believe they know how to write. (And also often believe that writing is meaningless.) What they do not know is that different rhetorical contexts (different goals, audiences, content) give rise to different ways of organizing and presenting information in effective written messages….

One Comment

  1. How true. I just received this email from one of my 5:00 class students:

    Did the University cancel classes tonight? The email that was sent out was not clear and I want to clarify it.

    I think I’ll send my own message out, with the bottom line at the top, where it belongs!

    Cheers!

    Reply

Leave a Reply