Contents -- Introduction -- Who is the book for? -- How do you use it? -- The descriptive terminology/spelling we use -- 01 Writing English for global business -- The purpose of this book -- Defining readers, customers and target audience -- Your audience can be anyone and everyone -- Understanding cultures, subcultures and approaches to businesses and workplaces -- What to write and how much to write -- The three Ss - smart, sophisticated and successful -- The three Cs - clear, comprehensible and confident -- Worksheet -- 02 Why do we write in business? -- Writing is a soft skill but not a soft option -- An outline of the history of English -- What is standard and variant English? -- English: A global language but is it a global currency? -- Defining global business English within your organization -- Using office guidelines and in-house style -- Worksheet -- 03 Deciding your business writing objectives in the digital age -- The changing face of writing in the digital age -- Describing what you and your organization do -- Focus on the message, not just the translation -- Using online or agency translators -- 'Brand you' and your organization's brand -- Worksheet -- 04 Common challenges in business English in a global workplace -- Presentation, style and fonts matter -- The pitfalls of 'instant' -- Scan reading and skim reading -- Presentations should always showcase your talent -- Anticipate what may be asked -- More tips to make business communications easier -- Worksheet -- 05 How does writing in a global economy affect us all? -- In a sense we are all selling now -- Effective writing opens doors -- Letters: A general introduction -- Specific tips on salutations and titles - how to address people -- Example of a letter asking for information -- Should the same letter go to all recipients? -- Worksheet -- 06 Writing e-mails.

Evaluate when to use e-mail -- Using e-mail efficiently -- How poorly written e-mails can undermine performance -- Instant text messaging -- Multilingual and other e-mail threads -- A corporate e-mail policy can help -- Writing effective e-mails gets 'brand you' noticed -- Worksheet -- 07 Making an impact -- The 'wow factor' sets you apart -- Word power skills -- Who takes centre stage? -- Build up a dossier of good examples and serve your customers well -- Standard written endings can wreck impact -- Worksheet -- 08 Using the global word power skills guide -- What is the global word power skills guide? -- Being correct for purpose -- Write clearly and comprehensibly -- Writing for impact -- Focus on your readers -- Worksheet -- 09 Report writing -- Are your report-writing skills right for today? -- Have you evaluated your target audience and your role? -- Checklist: Plan before you write -- Structure of reports -- Different writing styles for different reports -- Making your mark and anticipating questions -- Writing can put up unintended barriers -- Technical reports in a global context -- Executive summaries -- Worksheet -- 10 Writing agendas, notes and minutes of meetings -- The effect of the digital age on meetings -- Were we at the same meeting? -- What will go on your agenda? -- Action sheets -- Style tips for minutes -- Defining timescales will help -- Converting notes to minutes - the vital stages -- Worksheet -- 11 Personal and company promotion in the digital age -- Traditional public relations (PR) promotion and PR promotion in the digital age -- Personal promotion today -- Are you creating the right publicity? -- Standard layout of a press release -- Doing the extra to make it work -- Words to make an impact -- Writing for websites -- Advertising and promotional literature for a global market -- Worksheet.

12 Using word power skills with social networking media -- www: words, words, words -- Using a Facebook page to promote your product or service -- To tweet or not to tweet? How to write for Twitter -- Using LinkedIn to promote or share information -- The company blog - how useful is it really? -- Some writing tips for when you use images and video -- Conclusion -- Worksheet -- 13 Quality matters -- Why it matters to get it right -- Making mistakes is human, isn't it? -- Written mistakes - the impact on readers and businesses -- Some common business writing errors in global English -- To deal or not to deal with other people's mistakes -- Maintaining a mistake-free zone -- Summary -- Worksheet -- 14 Writing tips for everyday business -- Punctuation and grammar in global English -- Parts of speech -- Agreement of subject and verb -- Writing a date -- Time -- Worksheet -- 15 The kaleidoscope effect - further perspectives for global business English -- Mirrors and kaleidoscopes -- Problems other than the English you use -- Offering or requesting support -- Diversity in writing - other challenges -- Using business English to communicate change -- Using the right words to motivate -- Burying good news -- The way forward -- Worksheet -- 16 Answers to worksheets -- Answers to section A questions.