Minutes 2/22/12

Minutes Wednesday, February 12, 2012

Prepared by: Jordan Peters

Attendance: Jordan, Robert, Remington, Jacqueline, Casey, Brooke, Leah, Carmen

Robert began by presenting the minutes from Monday's class.

Topic:

Adjustment letters. We began by going over our responses to the Virgin Airlines complaint letter. Suzanne informed us about a few things that we neglected in our letters. Some of us did not respond to both issues at hand in the complaint letter, being the food as well as the entertainment (video screens). Also, many of us forgot to use a real handwritten signature to sign Richard Branson's name at the bottom of the letter. This should be beneath the "Sincerely," line and above a general signature block that includes at least his name and title. We also need to remember that there is no need to mess with the letter format. Indented paragraphs or block format are both appropriate, but still to the standard format. We also discussed how spaces between paragraphs is fine for 3-4 paragraphs, but if there are more than that do not include spaces, because it is more important to have a one page letter. Make sure to maintain visual balance and separate paragraphs for separate topics, even if this means having a one sentence paragraph. Extra credit points were awarded for those who used graphics, letter head, or just had well-thought out and well-worded letters. Suzanne handed our letters back to us at the end of class. 

Discussion:

We did one of our grammar activities to keep us constantly making sure that we use proper grammar in our writing. We started by assessing a sentence individually and then as a class we talked about the problems with the sentence that Suzanne gave us. There were a few important take aways from this exercise. One was that if a sentence uses the phrase "not only", then the phrase "but also"must follow it. Another phrasing correction is that you should use "different from" rather than "different than" (although this is acceptable when talking). Also, make sure that you spell words correctly, and spell them for your audience. The British style of writing a word such as rabbit (rabbitt), may not be appropriate if in the United States. The word "however" at the beginning of a sentence can be controversial. Many believe it is grammatically correct and if it is not followed immediately by a comma, then the meaning of a sentence can change. Sentences generally flow better when you stick this word in the middle of a sentence. 

Topic:

Blogs. Blogs have increasingly become a must have for all businesses. They can provide a good lens into an organization and can be rather insightful if used properly. Blogs are a great marketing tool, because they let people outside of your organization know about what you are up to. They are great because as an organization you get to control what information you put on them, so you can highlight the positive aspects of your organization. As a class we looked at a few blogs, namely, the St. Louis Symphony's, Kaldi's, Meds & Food For Kids, Patagonia, Ben's Blog as well as The Sartorialist. We gathered that blogs with pictures, music, and other engaging features are easier for a reader to digest. Also, the blogs that are more focused on connecting people to resources, sharing stories and experiences, or keeping its audience updated on projects that are of importance to them are ways to ensure a successful blog. It is important to not have too many distractions on a page and to keep entries rather short. 

We set out own guidelines for what makes a good blog entry. You should always make sure to know your audience and use a personal voice or perspective while writing. Having good, fluid, concise writing with an appropriate length for your audience is key. The entry needs to be visually appealing to your audience and make sure that the format helps guide length as well as comprehension of the subject matter. An entry should be easy to scan/skim through and there should also be good headlines, tags, and other identifiers on the post. Lastly, each entry should only have one topic.

Discussion:

We ended class with a few housekeeping notes and real life examples that apply to topics we have covered in the class. First Suzanne reminded us that we will have a speaker on Monday's class. We are to read 5-7 blog entries on Chris' blog. He will be discussing the most effective way to blog. We will also be discussing our midterm assignment on Monday. Also, Suzanne told us about how JPL, a company at Berkley, who started having meetings while standing up. They did this in order to have a more succinct agenda and shorten their meeting length, which was getting out of hand.