Craft Your Message
Having an explicit, coherent message in mind will help you organize your report.
What is the main idea you want to convey to your audience?
- Are you trying to persuade your audience on a particular topic?
- Are you presenting facts?
- Is it a status update that you will revise regularly?
- Will your report have a perspective or will it be unbiased?
- Do you want your audience to take action?
Organize Your Thoughts
Write your overall report goal in one to three sentences. For example: “I want to show the daily progress metrics. Company employees will check this report multiple times a day to see how the team is doing.” This will come in handy when you begin your first draft of the report.
Break down your report goal into sub-goals, or key points. These will determine your content. What message do you want to communicate on each page?
Identify the highlights. If your audience has limited time to look through your report, ensure they get the main message. Remember that your perspective might be different from that of your audience.
Tell a Story
Storytelling helps your audience learn and absorb new information. The story of your report is the communication of your primary objective and sub-goals.
Ensure that your report tells only a single story. Each page or section of a report should support the overall story, and not communicate different messages.
Consider whether you want to control how your audience will move through the report.
- Is there a specific order in which the pages should be viewed?
- Do you want to include an introduction, the main point, and a conclusion?
- Do you want to provide summary information, specific details, or both?
- Do you want to include page links, allowing the audience to control the navigation?