Like most forms of writing, memos come with so many rules, instructions, and suggestions that it's easy to forget a few. Since we've already addressed the dos and don'ts of how to write a memo, let's take a moment to look at these rules in practice.
The Best Tech Memos Never Meant to Be Seen. From Yahoo's 'no working at home' memo to the peanut butter manifesto, here are some of the best. Memos are written to allow certain people to direct their attention towards the bulletin as it is a matter of paramount importance. These memos often consist of announcements or advisories that either come from the top office (or sometimes just the human resource manager) of the company or even the principal or high school coordinator of a certain school. Memos are written to allow certain people to direct their attention towards the bulletin as it is a matter of paramount importance. These memos often consist of announcements or advisories that either come from the top office (or sometimes just the human resource manager) of the company or even the principal or high school coordinator of a certain school.
While reading over the below memo examples, pay special attention to the key features of a memo. Ask yourself the following questions:
Is it addressed to the right audience?
Does the subject line accurately convey its contents?
Does it anticipate and address potential objections?
Is it formatted clearly and consistently?
When considering each memo's main text, pay close attention to the structure. The opening paragraph should restate the memo's purpose indicated in the subject line. Subsequent paragraphs should build on this opening statement and explain the memo's purpose in detail. Unnecessary information should be removed, and word choice should remain straightforward and professional.
Memo Example 1: A General Office Memo
MEMORANDUM
To: All Staff
From: The Manager
Date: May 27, 2010
Subject: Inappropriate use of time on Google Doodle games
Coworkers,
It has come to my attention that many in the office have been spending time on the Google home page microgames. This memo is a reminder to use your work hours for work.
According to a recent article, the estimated daily cost of people collectively playing these games instead of working is over $120 million—which is calculated based on the daily average increased time spent on the Google home page (36 seconds).
If these estimates are applied to our 600 office employees, this results in a nearly $700 weekly loss.
This is a conservative estimate considering the extensive discussions that occur about beating the office's current high score. The extra cost quickly adds up.
Of course, we don't want you to view our organization as a place of drudgery and draconian rules. I encourage a fun and competitive environment, and I recognize that we certainly won't be profitable if you are unhappy or dissatisfied with your jobs. This is just a reminder to be careful with your use of company time.
Thank you,
The Manager
Reference:
Wright, Tony. (2010). The Tragic Cost of Google Pac-Man – 4.82 million hours. Retrieved May 26, 2010 from: https://blog.rescuetime.com/2010/05/24/the-tragic-cost-of-google-pac-man-4-82-million-hours/
This is to remind the division that, starting today, we are now filing all Testing Procedure Specification (TPS) reports with new cover sheets.
The reason for this change is simple. In addition to a new format, the cover sheets provide a summary of the report as well as the updated legal copy. The new cover sheets also include Initech's new logo.
Though this change may initially seem like a headache and an extra step, it is necessary to include the new cover sheets due to their updated information. Failing to do so will result in a confusing and inaccurate product delivered to our customers.
Please be sure to follow this new procedure.
Best regards,
Vice President Lumbergh
Best Memo Examples
Conclusion
By following these memo examples and addressing your audience in clear, concise language, you'll be able to effectively communicate with your coworkers in all your correspondence.
The Marshall Memo, published 50 times a year since 2003, is designed to keep principals, teachers, instructional coaches, superintendents, and other PreK-12 educators well-informed on current research and best practices. Kim Marshall, drawing on his decades as a teacher, principal, central office administrator, consultant, and writer, lightens the load of busy educators by serving as their 'designated reader.' What it takes him 20 hours to create each week, subscribers can read in 20 minutes.
To produce the Marshall Memo, Kim subscribes to scores of carefully-chosen publications, and every Sunday reads through the 150 or so articles that arrived that week and selects 8-10 that have the greatest potential to improve teaching, leadership, and learning.
On Monday, Kim writes a brief summary of each selected article, provides e-links to full articles (if available), highlights a few compelling quotes on the first page, and by late evening starts the Memo sending to subscribers (it takes about 20 hours to reach everyone).
The rest of the week, Kim is in schools coaching principals, observing classrooms, consulting with school leaders, and giving presentations. This work is what keeps the Memo grounded in the real world of teaching and learning.
Best Memoirs
Kim gets invaluable support from his wife, Rhoda Schneider, who proofreads each issue with him Monday evening, improving the writing and providing thoughtful perspective, and from their son, Dave Marshall, and daughter, Lillie Marshall, both teachers, who are a constant source of suggestions, especially on helpful online resources. Joanne Bragalone, Kim's assistant, updates subscribers, manages the database, sends out reminders, and maintains high-quality customer service. And Mike Doughty reliably records a podcast of each week's Memo Tuesday morning.
What do subscribers gain from the 20 minutes it takes to read or listen to the Memo? For one thing, they feel less guilty about not getting to all the accumulated journals and education blogs. More importantly, they tap into a rich vein of ideas and resources that can help them be more effective. Some Memo summaries reaffirm what practitioners are already doing well; some boost an idea higher up the 'to-do' list; and some are genuinely new and take readers in a different direction. Reading the Memo provides top-notch professional development and keeps educators on the cutting edge.
While the Memo is copyrighted material, subscribers are encouraged to clip and share selected articles with colleagues, sparking discussions on specific topics, or have their whole staff read a Memo summary 'live' in a meeting and then discuss it in small groups or all together.
Best Memo Pads
Here is what four subscribers said about the Marshall Memo (see 'What readers say' for additional quotes and recent Survey Monkey questionnaire results):
'Kim is brilliant at doing an accurate précis of dense material and delivering it in a highly readable package that arrives without fail every week.'
'Exceptionally clear, succinct, yet comprehensive summaries of the articles that are most relevant.'
'An extraordinary resource for the busy educator.'
'There's no better way to be kept abreast of best practices and research than reading the informative and lively Marshall Memo.'
In addition to receiving a new Memo each week, subscribers have password access to the Members' Area of this website, where it's easy to download back issues and search the archive by author, topic, title, headline, publication, or grade level (there are now more than 7,000 article summaries from the last 14+ years). The podcast of each week's issue is also available to members in MP3 or YouTube format by late Tuesday every week.
For more information about the Marshall Memo, click on the links to the left.