The relevance of the report is that it gives you all the information without you having to go through a hundred pages. If we had to limit ourselves to copy the exchanges during meetings, you would have documents of a large volume. But this is avoided when the reports are done and especially when done with the right methodology. During the workshops, seminars, missions, many points are debated, long presentations are made, heavy challenges are identified. All of this must be presented to company staff, seminarians or sponsors of operations. So, how to write a relevant report in this context? Writing it is not an easy task, especially if you have to highlight all the mandatory elements in a report.
Generalities and specificities in writing a report
The report should report in full the decisions that were made during the meeting as well as the topics that were studied. It must present the general lines that were evoked during the conversations. It is a reliable benchmark for all employees of the company. Indeed, not everyone can be at meetings at the same time because of illness or other. Therefore, the report allows to be at the same level of information as the others. The writing a report is presented in the form of a writing, it is totally different from the minutes or the simple statements of the discussions.
If documents have been presented at the meeting, these should be mentioned. Also put the sites where to find them or so, make a photocopy that you will attach to your report. When decisions have been made that actions should be taken, it will be necessary to specify who will execute them. In the same way, it will be necessary to highlight the time of execution determined during the meeting. Once these actions are defined, it will be easy to give the floor to the performers in the next meetings for summaries of what has been done concretely. Write a report, demands to take care to have an absolute neutrality, the points to be corrected, the difficulties met during the meeting must be evoked. Also present all the positives that have been noticed.
Know how to write a relevant report
Un relevant report must be written within hours of the event. If you wait the days after, it is certain that you will leave some vital information. In the same way, the immediacy of the writing allows you to put all the events in their context. Conciseness is the key word in writing a good report. All necessary information to the reader must stand out directly. Avoid the superfluous or the turns too long. Go straight to the point.
To write a good report, it is necessary to present the points which interested the agenda. Make a perfectly structured text because it will make reading more fluid. In general, the presentation in an introduction, a development and a conclusion is a suitable document. You can have as many paragraphs in the body of the report as points studied. The plan is also to be taken very seriously. You will make an analytical plan if a single concern has taken up the entire meeting. On the other hand, if many points have been settled, you will have to make a thematic plan which will present them in decreasing order of importance. At the level of the conclusion of the report, it will be necessary that the points which remain to be studied stand out clearly. The same of course for the tasks that still need to be executed. Finally, to write a relevant report, it would be preferable to have fairly precise knowledge in the field in which the questions will be discussed. This will make it possible to produce short and synthetic texts, with appropriate terminologies.
Criteria for writing a report
Respect criteria for writing a report is essential, it makes it possible to be objective and faithful to events. You should avoid giving personal opinions or liking what has been decided. You must avoid transcribing all the speeches of the participants in the meeting. You must limit yourself to mentioning the essence of what has been said, the broad lines.
To achieve this, it is your responsibility to select the information. In your sorting, avoid especially to focus on the accessory while the principal does not emerge from the report. Make a real effort to summarize and prioritize the information in order of importance.
Avoid using personal terms, in other words, avoid the "I" as well as the "WE", all that suggests the personal involvement of the author. Since you must remain as neutral as possible, do not use adjectives or adverbs. Be careful to minimize repetition in your text.
Likewise, all comments that move away from the debate must be proscribed. It's also important to monitor your grammar, vocabulary and your spelling. The French you will use must be impeccable.
Choose the style of writing a report
Before you begin, think first about choosing the report writing style that you are going to do:
- The comprehensive style for beginners
If this is the first time you need write a reportit is better for you to opt for the exhaustive style. This style is even more appropriate when presentations at the seminar or meeting have been made with PowerPoint. It will therefore be necessary to avoid reducing the information unnecessarily. However, it will be necessary to think of reworking your transcription, to avoid saying everything, which would no longer be a report. To choose this style, you must have taken care to record the seminar.
You can bring a suitable device or request the recordings made by the control room when the room is equipped. If you do not want to record, take notes by shortening as much as you can. Be efficient and fast. All documents that will be shared during the seminar must be in your possession. For these documents, you can simply attach them to the minutes. There is no need to repeat. Just make sure to include them in the body of the report.
- Mixed style
It will have a direct style and totally neutral. In debating cases, it is more appropriate to choose a nominative form. This form will make it possible to mention the name, first name and services represented by each of the speakers.
- At the form level
Highlight the date, the participants and the program that was followed during the meetings. Make sure your information is as reliable as possible by updating it as the seminar progresses.
What information should be found in a report?
To report on a meetingyou must start with the name of the company in question. Also put the coordinates of it. Subsequently, highlight the title of the document and the identity of the person who wrote it. Also add the date of your meeting, as well as the place where it is being held. In addition, it will be necessary to count the persons who actually took part in the meeting. Mention also the absentees as well as those who provided an excuse for their absence.
Of all these people, also highlight their respective functions within the company. Next, highlight the purpose of your meeting, commonly referred to as the agenda. Then, introduce the topics that were discussed by putting titles to each. It will be necessary that the resolutions taken at the end of the debates stand out clearly. Do not forget to affix your signature, it is important that we know the identity of the person who wrote the report.
Recommendation for writing a mission report
La writing the report of a mission is an even more specific task. Audit missions, humanitarian missions, chartered accountant missions or even legal missions must be condensed into a report. This summary should be sent to the mission sponsor. In this case, you must highlight your observations, but also your recommendations and your analyzes:
- The drafting phase
On the first page of your report, you must mention the name of the agents and the name of the authorized representative (s). The dates, the purpose of the assignment and the actual duration of the assignment must also appear. At the summary level, he must clearly show the most obvious aspects of the mission. It is better to make a summary, before embarking on the introduction.
The introduction should be straightforward and list in full the issues that were addressed during the mission. In the development, you must indicate the companies of the agent(s). You must also transcribe the essentials of the letter authorizing the mission. This makes it possible to highlight the framework and the budget of the mission.
- Other mentions
The object, the name of the committee of experts and their functions. The method of expertise, the difficulties which were the prerogative of the mission. All of these should be on the record. Whenever interviews will be carried out with the members of the structure, it will be necessary to carry out the corresponding reports and to insert them in the general report of the mission.
If you have guaranteed the anonymity of some of your interlocutors during your mission, you can transcribe the information they sent to you in non-nominative statistical form. Make sure to mark the spirit of the agent with a well-worked conclusion. Finally, you can attach the reports for analyses, accounts, measurements and above all, make an exhaustive bibliography.
- Small recommendations
To write a good report, the document must be concise and concise, you can use graphics, photos and even plans. If your analyzes have very detailed details, put them in appendices. Since the document can be read by everyone, avoid too technical terms and incomprehensible to the common reader. If you have to put them on, explain them quickly.
Your report should have headings and subheadings with full marks, paragraphs and numbering. Don't feel like you have to append all the documents. Essentially limit yourself to those you have mentioned in your mission report. Avoid mistakes that tarnish the professional side of your job. Download correction software like Cordial or Antidote to correct errors. Or, have someone close to you do a final reading who will also assess the relevance of your work. He can even tell you quickly if it's understandable or not.
The report can finally be shorthand or even synoptic. The one that is synoptic is done with tables in Word or Excel format. On the other hand, the stenographic one groups all the information in a chronological way by carrying out a transcription which can be sometimes integral. Write well, your report will serve as an archive and additional information for all employees.
