Writing Tips for Presidential Assistants

NAPAHE ANNUAL CONFERNCEMarch 2013

Getting Tips as Presidential Assistants

NAPAHE ANNUAL CONFERNCEMarch 2013

Functional Resume?

• What do you spend the most time doing?

Read Read Read

Stay Informed

Cultivate Your Sources

Public Relations

Think of the Audience

Who’s Talking?

Who Writes What To Whom?

• Email• Minutes• Resolutions; Citations• Letter to Government Officials• Letter to Aggrieved Parent• Letter to Aggrieved Professor (Staff)• Tuition Letter

Who Writes What To Whom?

• Policies• Op Ed• White Paper/State of the Campus• Accreditation Report• Speech to Alumni• Speech to Community

Speechwriting? Chapter 7

Keep Files

• Quotes• Ideas• News articles• Prior works

Be original, but

DRAFT!

Reciprocal Editing

Or, You show me yours…

Grammar Counts

• Subject/object/verb agreement• Impact vs. affect/effect• Repeated words

Elements of Style, etc.

• Short sentences, usually• Important points early• Topic sentences• Transitions• Read aloud• Don’t use etc.

Profread Carefully

Good [writing] comes from experience and experience comes

from bad [writing]