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Do you find that your business writing delivers the results you intend? When people read what you've written, do they take the appropriate actions, do they respond definitively with the information you requested, or are they persuaded to agree with your point of view? When your business writing is effective, you're not only relaying messages to others but you're securing the needed results.

In this course, you will discover that successful writing requires making thoughtful choices. By applying recommended design principles to your messages, you will improve their readability and clarity. You will then practice organizing your points by using the optimal structure for your message. By the end of this course, you will have developed a toolkit of strategies for writing more effectively in the workplace.

You want to be able to adapt your written communications to achieve your goals in complex and challenging professional situations. Writing dilemmas become tougher when the stakes are high, when issues are sensitive, when you have to relay bad news, or when your audience may be resistant to the message you're delivering. By applying practical strategies for planning and executing your message, you can adapt to writing effectively in complex communication situations.

In this course, you will refine your written communication skills through a variety of challenging scenarios. You will practice adjusting your message tone, components, and structure to fit the needs of your audience. By the end of this course, you will have practiced the skills needed to plan and shape your message so that even in the most challenging situations, you have strategies on hand to help you communicate effectively.

In many cases, data is crucial to business strategy and decision making. For these situations, you will need to adapt your writing for longer, more complex messages that involve quantitative data. In this course, you will gain best practices to help you write effectively about numbers while getting your key message across. By thinking about your audience and your purpose, you will practice effectively planning and executing your communications that involve numbers and data. Beyond numbers, you will also need to think about how to use graphic elements in your writing. As you examine graphics such as tables, charts, and diagrams, you will identify the best times to strategically use each type of visual support. Finally, you will explore a type of report called a reading deck, determining when to use one, how to craft one, and how to use it effectively to communicate your message.

Regardless of your industry, you have probably used PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote to report significant data or ideas to others within your organization or beyond. Communicating this way is effective only if the presentation clearly articulates your points. The main points of the presentation, the visual aspects, and structure of your slides have to work in concert to convey your message. If the visuals are distracting, they run the risk of obscuring your insights. The pre-made templates provided by PowerPoint or other presentation tools may, in fact, be extremely visually distracting and inappropriate for many business contexts.

Creating your own template allows you to customize a briefing deck that specifically targets your audience and embodies visual integrity. And creating reading reports, or summaries, to send out to key stakeholders afterward or in place of a presentation, that adhere to the same design principles and best practices, allows you to present a visually appealing summary of your briefing deck.

So how do you create a professional briefing deck presentation as well as a standalone reading report that embodies visual integrity while integrating your key points and visual evidence? In this course from Andrew Quagliata, Senior Lecturer at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, you will discover the visual design principles and content guidelines necessary to curate a professional briefing deck and reading deck report. You will develop your own briefing deck template using the visual standards that specifically target your audience and contexts. You will have the opportunity to develop two supporting briefing deck slides with appropriate message titles and visual evidence such as charts, graphs, photographs, or artistic elements. You will employ the structural components used in briefing decks to create a sound structure that guides your audience through your points seamlessly. Finally, you will convert your two briefing deck slides into a compelling and professional one-page report.

Success in business often depends on the ability to influence others and gain their support for your objectives, but it takes more than charisma to win over your leaders or colleagues. Persuasive writing can help you present your case in a way that will secure critical stakeholder support.

This course will help you gain and strengthen your persuasive writing skills. You will be guided through the process of narrowing your objective to a very specific "ask," analyzing your audience to know how to appeal to their sense of reason as well as their emotions, and then building the evidence that you will use to present your case.

You will examine how to create a one-page proposal, step by step, and delve into basic design principles to maximize your writing's impact. Since electronic communication is so predominant in today's business world, you will also discover how to transform your proposal into an email. Through this course, you'll be on your way to becoming a stronger writer and business professional.

To be an effective leader, you must be able to articulate your thoughts and positions in a clear and concise manner.

Professor Angela Noble-Grange of Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management draws on her own extensive experience as a speaker and communicator to guide students through the preparation and delivery process. She discusses how to identify the communication purpose and analyze your expected audience. She then shares how to formulate and rehearse your message, including how to pay attention to nonverbal communication.

To fine-tune these skills, this course includes interacting with fellow students. Students will participate in discussion forums and will record and share a video of a short presentation that serves as the course project. This provides rich opportunities for students to hone their communication and presentation skills in a practical way, and to learn from the efforts of others.

Participants in this certificate need a high-speed internet connection and a computer or device that can shoot digital videos with reasonable quality. The eCornell course delivery system provides the ability to record and upload videos, so you won't need special video software.

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