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Bullet points are your friends
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How often do you contribute content to your chapter newsletter? Does your golf facility have its own newsletter? How about a Web site?
Increasingly, superintendents are expected to be more than agronomic experts, and writing skills are included in the higher expectations. Memos to the green committee, e-pushes to membership and updates on a Web site are all great ways to communicate to interested parties, but you may need to adjust writing styles depending on the medium. Even if the audience you’re writing to is the same, expectations are different depending on how the reader is consuming information.
Newsletters are more casual, and you are able to delve into the material a little more, add in a funny anecdote or include pictures. Readers expect to spend more time with something like a newspaper or newsletter, so you don’t have to try as hard to capture and keep their attention. Even if the reader doesn’t read an entire article or page in one sitting, they will still have the newsletter on a coffee table or desk, and can return to it later.
E-pushes and Web sites, however, are more likely to be skimmed. You have to boil down the information you want to get across and deliver it to the reader in concise, easily digestible chunks. Studies show that Web site readers on average only consume 20 percent of the material. They don’t want to have to hunt for the point; they want it delivered to them quickly. If you need to let members know about possible course closings because of irrigation renovation, they’re going to want to know when, how it will affect them, and how long the disruption will last. They won’t necessarily absorb the paragraph talking about how you researched different companies or how you decided on a contractor. They want to know how this will affect them, in as few words as possible.
Titles are also written differently depending on the medium. In a newsletter, you’re able to be vague, whimsical or, if you’re feeling up to it, punny. (“Water, water, everywhere,” or “Pipes and putters,” perhaps.) A newsletter will have an introductory paragraph or possibly pictures to tell the reader what the article will be about. For a Web site, readers just want to know “What is it? Do I care? Why?” Again, you have to be concise and deliver the point immediately. The idea is to capture their attention quickly, knowing that you won’t keep it long: “Irrigation change: How it affects you!”
Remember that while writing to your readers is important, writing to their expectations is even more so. Make an outline of the points and details you want to deliver, and figure out the best way to communicate those depending on where that information will be available.
Two upcoming GCSAA Webcasts can help advance your career. Top Notch Communication Skills, to be presented on Oct. 9, will help attendees learn how to communicate with boards, committees, people who work for and with you, and golfers, in the most effective way possible. The 90-minute Webcast will be presented by Mike Jousan, founder and president of Clear Communications Co. On Oct. 21, Carol Rau will present Career Marketing Tools, which will provide career tools that can be put into action immediately to position yourself for career advancement. Topics will include résumés, cover letters, portfolios and interviewing. Rau is a certified professional in human resources with more than 14 years of experience in recruiting, career coaching, résumé building and HR consulting. Are you aware of the poster requirements for employers as established by the Department of Labor? If not, the DOL provides all the information conveniently online. Designed to help employers comply with laws that require them to display official DOL posters where workers can readily observe them, the Web site offers a comprehensive list of the laws and provides the posters at no cost to employers. Find the poster information online at www.dol.gov/elaws/posters.htm. |
