1. Keeping Your Foot Out of Your Virtual Mouth
Etiquette:
Keeping Your Foot Out of Your Virtual Mouth
Have had the opportunity to be a guest; happy to repay

2. How is it spelled? email Email eMail EMail e-mail E-mail e-Mail E-Mail
Spare you some of the basics--keep sentences short, because you’re professional communicators. As such, you’ll want to know about spelling. Didn’t want you distracted by wondering where the hyphen was.

3. How is it spelled? Gregg, Microsoft, and AP: e-mail Wired: email
Experience Council: is standard
Standard:
Poster: “e- anything makes you sound old-fashioned:

4. What makes email different?
The above cartoon by Peter Steiner has been reproduced from page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker, (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20) under license 21513e from The Cartoon Bank ( Format: PowerPoint; Use: Professional Conference/Seminar; Topic: Etiquette)

5. Difference: No nonverbal cues
No nonverbal cues, which account for ___________ percent of message

6. Nonverbal cues
No nonverbal cues, which account for percent of a message
Only words and :-)
“No one is quite sure how much of our communication is nonverbal. The statistics of anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell suggest it's around 65 percent, but other scientists put it as high as 93 percent.” Louise Dobson, “Avoiding Catastrophes,”

7. Difference: Tone
No nonverbal cues
Tone becomes crucial
In Germany and Britain, 23 percent and 14 percent respectively [of respondents to a Daily Mail survey] admitted confrontations with colleagues because of misunderstandings.

8. Criticisms are harsher
Messages meant to express mild displeasure can come across as tirades.
Louise Dobson, Avoiding Catastrophes (2006)

9. Tone: Example One To: Female employees From: H. Honcho Re: Dress code
Date: 1 July 2006
Clients will be visiting next week. Halter tops and jeans will not make the right impression. It’s time you started dressing for the office instead of the beach. Leave your flip-flops at home!

10. Tone: Example Two To: All staff From: H. Honcho
Re: Reminder about what to wear to work
Date: 1 July 2006
During the summer, our dress code is business casual. We think “business casual” means clothes that feel comfortable and look professional.
Men Women
•khaki pants •casual pants and skirts
•leather shoes… •leather or fabric shoes…

11. Tips: Tone Avoid terseness, which can be misinterpreted
Use face-to-face communication if issue is sensitive
Read your s aloud, looking for ambiguity
Reading aloud idea from Louise Dobson, “Avoiding Catasrophes,”

12. Difference: Humor
Humor is riskier

13. Humor: Riskier and Misunderstood
Nearly a quarter of employees have suffered problems with colleagues or clients because their use of humour in an has not been understood or appreciated, according to a survey.
Robert Jacques, “ Jokes Backfire for UK Workers” (2004)
Survey of 1,000 workers was done by the Department of Trade and Industries (DTI). “Other findings from the poll indicate that men are less adept at surviving in the 'communications jungle' than women, with 28 percent of men admitting their jokes have backfired (compared to 19 per cent of women), and 26 per cent misjudging their timing compared to just 13 per cent of their female counterparts.”
From

14. Tips: Humor
If in doubt, don’t send it. Chevron was forced to pay $2.2 million to settle a harassment case based in part on s with such subjects as “Why beer is better than women.”
Reread for ambiguities.
Signal the joke. One emoticon or <grin> per is plenty.
Chevron, for example, was forced to pay $2.2 million to settle a harassment case based in part on s with such
titles as “Why beer is better than women.” If in doubt, don’t send it. “
Halcrow and Rosner

15. Difference: Levels of formality
Most people view as
more formal than a phone call
less formal than a letter
Abrams, R. (2006, July 3). Avoid these gaffes to land the client who works best. Des Moines Register: 4D.

16. Spelling still counts Sloppiness is one of “seven deadly e-mail sins”
Bad grammar, misspelling and disconnected arguments gave 81 percent of the survey sample "negative feelings" towards the senders.
41 percent of senior managers said badly worded s implied laziness and even disrespect.
CNN.com

17. Level of Formality When in doubt, err on the side of formality.
Usually the problem is that we treat [ ] too much like a phone call and not enough like a letter.
O’Conner and Kellerman (2002)
You Send Me: Getting It Right When You Write Online (Harcourt)

18. Difference: Level of Formality
Questions to which answers are evolving:
Do I need a subject line?
Should I a thank-you note after a job interview?
Should I communicate bad news via ?
65 percent of Monster employers expect a thank-you note of some kind (36 percent indicated that they actually prefer thank you notes sent by , surpassing the 29 percent who would rather receive the traditional letter variety).
Workplace Technology Brings Changes to Job Seeker Etiquette, Polls Find; Monster Poll Finds Employers Prefer Thank-You Notes to Traditional Letters. Business Wire September t,
2002 (retrieved through HighBeam)

19. Difference: Electronic
Hit Send and it’s gone
Hit Reply All and your career may be gone
Deleted s live on
Messages can be forwarded without your knowledge or consent

20. Tip: What not to do
One of the officers convicted of beating Rodney King sent this
Oops. I haven’t beaten anyone so bad in a long time.
A transcript of the message was used at his trial.
Miller, Etiquette

21. Tip: Electronic Colonel David Russell’s rule:
Never say anything in an electronic message that you wouldn't want appearing, and attributed to you, in tomorrow morning’s front-page headline in the New York Times.
--when Head of the Information Processing Techniques Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency --
Shapiro and Anderson Towards an Ethics and Etiquette of . Available online .eth
Published byThe Rand Corporation, Main Street, P.O. Box 2138
Santa Monica, CA

22. Tip: Electronic ≠ Instant
Many expect a phone call to alert them to an labeled Urgent.
Allow a reasonable time (two days – week) for a response.
Respond before senders have to follow up or business is delayed.
Daily Mail survey: Seventy-nine percent of survey repondents said they resented having to chase up responses. A quarter said they did so for more than half the s they send. Nearly two-thirds felt business decisions were delayed due to a lack of response.

23. When would you use email?
To send confidential salary information
To address a personal hygiene issue
To get an immediate reply
To settle a conflict between two team members
To request a manual for the new phone system
To recap a conversation about a pending order
To set up a meeting next month
To keep people updated on a project’s status
Flynn, Nancy & Tom Flynn. Writing Effective Improving Electronic Communications. Crisp: 1998
Brounstein, Marty. Communicating Effectively for Dummies. Hungry Minds: 2001

24. When would you use email?
To send confidential salary information
To address a personal hygiene issue
To get an immediate reply
To settle a conflict between two team members
To request a manual for the new phone system
To recap a conversation about a pending order
To set up a meeting next month
To keep people updated on a project’s status

25. Difference: Where’s audience?
People who wouldn't dream of burping at the end of dinner post offensive messages to international forums.
Middle managers inadvertently send romantic messages to the company-wide alias.
People at computer terminals forget that there are real live people on the other end of the wire.
Virginia Shea, Netiquette (1994)

26. Nettiquette Typing in all capitals in electronic communications means
Nothing special--typing in all caps is normal.
You are shouting.
It’s OK to forward this message to others.
This message is very important.
Few score over 70% on the first try.

27. Three manners mavens: Shea
Typing in all capitals in electronic communications means
You are shouting.
Typing in all capitals in online communications is the equivalent of SHOUTING! Only type in all caps if you really mean to shout.
Few score over 70% on the first try.

28. Tip: Use BCC wisely
To keep addresses private, put your own address in the To: line and paste your mailing list in the cc: line
BCCs within an organization can create distrust

29. Tip: Leave address blank
If you’re furious and must answer an right away, leave the address line blank.
If you hit Send before you’ve had a chance to cool down, the won’t go through.

30. Anatomy of email: From Would you open mail from
Dunno

31. Anatomy of From
recipients put more weight on who the is from than any other item when choosing
which s to open
which to delete
which to complain about
Chris Baggot, ExactTarget

32. Anatomy of an email: Subject
Your subject can answer any of readers’ four key questions:
What’s this about?
Why should I read this?
What’s in this for me?
What am I being asked to do?
D. Dumain. Write to the Top: Writing for Corporate Success (rev. ed.) New York: Random House, 2004.

33. More Tips: Subject Double-check the address line before sending.
Insulted by a general from the boss, an employee sent an angry comment to a colleague (she thought): “Does she think we’re stupid?”
The reply (from her boss): “Yes, I do.”
Halcrow and Bosner (2001)

34. Anatomy of an email: Body
Before you type anything into a new message, have explicit answers for two questions:
1. Why am I writing this?
2. What exactly do I want the result of this message to be?
43 Folders (2005)
(2005)

35. Anatomy of email: Body Write so emails are easy to read
Make paragraphs 7-8 lines
Insert a blank line between paragraphs
Use headlines, bullets, and numbers
AVOID ALL CAPS; THAT’S SHOUTING
If a message is longer than 3 screens, send an attachment
Angell and Heslop. The Elements of Style (Addison-Wesley, 1994)

36. Anatomy of email: Body Subject: Noise level in the break rooms
How can we satisfy everyone?
Many of you have told me about the growing tension you feel around using the break rooms. Some of you use them to work and socialize; others need a quiet place to work.
Your ideas are welcome
What do you think we can do about this? Should we designate one room as a lounge and another as a quiet area? D. Dumaine, Write to the Top
D. Dumain. Write to the Top: Writing for Corporate Success (rev. ed.) New York: Random House, 2004.

37. Question: Do I need a greeting?
Consensus: Yes. Otherwise, you can seem brusque or unfriendly.
Five Tips for Excellence

38. Question: Which greeting?
Opinion: Divided
Some say “Hi, Steve,” is too informal.
Some say “To whom it may concern” is stilted.
For external communication, use same greeting as in letter
For internal communication, some use
Bob:
Cunningham and Greene, The Business Style Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2002).

39. Question: Which closing?
Consensus
Match greeting in tone
Formal: Sincerely, Best regards, Cordially
Informal: Thanks; All the best, Talk to you later
Use a sig line that gives your name, title, and contact information
Omit a P.S. (if the is longer than a screen, a postscript could be missed)
Cunningham and Greene, The Business Style Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2002).

40. Suggested resources Available at http://word-crafter.net/email.html
Articles
Best practices for marketing
Grammar help
Test your netiquette

41. Assignment – Cell Phone Etiquette
In a group of 4, create a list of at least 10 cell phone etiquette rules
Decide which environment you’d like to develop these rules for (ex. School, public place, waiting rooms, car, etc.)
Your rules can involve anything that a person does on a cell phone such as texting, talking, etc.
Be creative – tell us what you really think
What annoys you about cell phones?
my your list using the nettique rules in this PowerPoint
Pick a speaker from your group to present your rules