TECC 28: Nine Steps to Writing Proper and Meaningful E-mails for Engineers

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In this episode of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast, my guest, Pat Sweet, is going to give out some amazing strategies with nine specific points on writing proper and meaningful e-mails.

The Take Action Today segment of the show will show you how to get your message across in a way that’s easy for people to understand.

In today’s show, I interview Pat Sweet, a full-time electrical engineer and an MBA student living in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Sweet maintains a blog at www.EngineeringAndLeadership.com, where his goal is to teach engineers everything he knows about leadership and becoming a better engineer. Pat has held various leadership positions throughout his career already, even at a very young age.

Listen to this session and learn:

1. How to decide whether or not you really need to write an e-mail.
2. How to ensure that you send e-mails only to those who need them instead of to everybody!
3. When and how to use the “Reply All” button.
4. How to use e-mail subject lines that will ensure your e-mail is read and remembered.
5. Ways to use the To, CC and BCC fields correctly when writing an e-mail. This is one that most people do wrong; learn how to do it right.
6. Why the main point of your e-mail is what you should be focusing on the entire time you write it, and how to do that.
7. Why using proper grammar, punctuation and spelling is critical.
8. How to format your email properly, including strategies for headings, bullets, tables and lists that can make all the difference in getting your point across quickly and easily.
9. What you should include in your e-mail signature.

Resources and links mentioned in this session include:

Institute for Engineering Career Development
Special Event for Engineers in San Diego
A Five-Step Process for Overcoming Your Addiction to E-mail
“How to Write an E-mail,” from the Engineering and Leadership Blog

Click Here for Session #28 Transcription

Do you have any tips that you have used successfully in writing e-mails?

I would love to hear any questions you might have or stories you might share on how to write meaningful e-mails.

Please leave your comments or questions in the Comments section below.

To your success,

Anthony Fasano, PE, LEED AP
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success