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Do you outline your business writing? Many people don’t, because they have horrible memories of being forced to “outline” at school.

If you don’t outline your reports, presentations, speeches and other business writing documents however, the writing will take you much longer than it should.

Here’s a simple way to outline any piece of writing - on a sticky note that you can glue onto the side of your monitor:

* Focus/ theme/ argument

Start by writing out your focus in five to ten words. My focus for this blog post for example is “business writing’s easier when you outline.” Think of your focus as the spine of your document.

* The response required

What do you want the reader (listener or viewer, if you’re making a speech or a presentation) to do? Write it down, it’s vital - this is the brains of out outline, if we stick to the body analogy.

* Points you want to make

The points you want to make in the document will often change, while your focus won’t. Think of the points as the bones of your document.

* Your conclusion - get the response!

The easiest way to write your conclusion is to circle back to the focus of the document. Your conclusion is the also the last chance you have to get your response, so ask for the response right in the concluding paragraphs.

It’s vital to ask for the response, because no one can read your mind - they can only respond to what’s on the page. So ASK. You might think that what you want is clear, but often it isn’t. If you’re not sure whether what you want the reader to do is clear enough, get someone else to read it, and ask them if it’s clear.

Try this ultra-simple outlining method, and let me know what results you get in the Comments. If you have an outlining method that you like, post that in the Comments too. (Yes, this paragraph is me asking for a response.)

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