Netiquette at WATC

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Netiquette at WATC
Human Resources Center for Organizational
Development
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Goals for Today

• Learn what Netiquette is and why it is important.
• Review basic Netiquette rules.
• Review e-mails place in how WATC employees
  communicate.
• Review the idea of typing what you mean to say.
• Review what should never go into an e-mail.
• Review e-mail and the law.
• Sum it up with Lets Send an E-mail.

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Netiquette What is that?

• Netiquette is the rules of the road for e-mail!

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Why Do We Need Netiquette?

• Professionalism the e-mail you send is a
  reflection on you and WATC.
• Efficiency e-mail that gets to the point is
  more effective.
• Liability protection protect yourself and WATC
  from costly and time-consuming law suits.

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Netiquette Basics

• Stop shouting!
• Grammar and e-mail.
• Some e-mail functions should be used carefully.
• The subject line.
• Formatting.
• Return receipts.
• Emoticons and abbreviations.

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Dont Use All Capitals

• USING ALL CAPTIALS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING IN
  E-MAIL!

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Please, Stop Shouting!

• Would you go up to a co-worker and shout at them?
  Of course not! So, why do it in an e-mail?
• People who use all capitals are often seen as
  lazy and inconsiderate.
• Studies have shown that reading all capitals is
  more difficult and harder on the eyes.
• http//www.psych.utoronto.ca/muter/pmuter1.htm

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Make Your 9th GradeEnglish Teacher Proud!

• Always use proper spelling, grammar and
  punctuation in your e-mails.

Deer ed I wsa wondering if you could meet
tommorrow at nooon to go over the new drawings
for the plant because I really need ot get them
turned in by Friday so if you can met please let
me know as soon as possible!!!!!!!
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Use a Greeting and a Closing

• You would not leave the greeting or closing off
  in a business memo or letter, right? So why
  would you do that for an e-mail?
• Hi, hello, thank you, good bye, see you soon, all
  make great greetings and closings.

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Use Active Instead of Passive Voice

• In an active voice sentence, the subject is the
  one acting or doing.
• An active voice sentence is clear and concise.
• In a passive voice sentence, the subject of the
  sentence is acted upon by some other thing or
  person.

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Which Sentence is in Active Voice?

• WATC adopted the Learner-Centered Curriculum
  Model in 2004.
• The Learner-Centered Curriculum Model was adopted
  by WATC in 2004.
• Hint check out the first one!

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Use Appropriate Structure and Layout

• Paragraphs are important. It is difficult to read
  an e-mail when everything runs together.
• Use short paragraphs.
• Use short, concise sentences of under 75
  characters.
• Keep your e-mail to under 25 lines.
• If your e-mail is longer then 25 lines then it
  probably is not an e-mail situation!

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E-mail Functions CC, BCC and Reply All

• cc We all get a ton of e-mail, so only use
  this feature when the recipient really needs to
  be in the know.
• bcc Keep in mind that your contacts outside the
  WATC e-mail system may not want their e-mail
  address published. This function protects their
  privacy.
• Reply All Use this sparingly. Your replies to a
  mass e-mail do not need to be seen by everyone
  all the time.

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Subject field

• The amount of e-mail we all get can be
  overwhelming. You can help your fellow employees
  organize and manage their e-mail if you.

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What Goes in the Subject Field?

• Dont leave the subject field blank.
• Use concise and accurate descriptions in your
  subject field.
• Avoid descriptions like help!
• Can you imagine how many e-mails with this type
  of subject line arrive at watc_at_buchanan.com
  everyday?

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Use Appropriate Formatting

• The more complex your formatting, the more
  difficult it is to read.
• Keep in mind the person you are sending this
  e-mail to gets zillions of e-mail each day.
  The easier your e-mail is to read the better!

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Avoid Using These

• Color fonts
• The exception at WATC is your signature line per
  instructions from MCR.
• Bolding entire sentences or paragraphs
• Continual bolding is hard to read.
• Wall paper
• Per MIS the Outlook wallpaper feature uses up too
  much space and should be avoided.
• Script Fonts
• These fonts are difficult to read.
• Graphics
• Use up space unnecessarily.

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How Important is Your Message Really?

• Outlook gives you the opportunity to send your
  e-mail out as high, normal or low importance.
• Remember not everything you send is of high
  importance, so dont over use this one.
• It can be considered annoying!
• Your fellow employees will stop believing you!
• Just because you consider your e-mail to be of
  high importance does not necessarily mean the
  recipient agrees with you.

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Using Request Delivery and Read Receipts

• Use this feature only for items that are truly of
  great importance. Why?
• The pop-up box this generates is annoying for
  your reader.
• Do you really need to know this for everything
  you send? After all, you dont get a listen
  receipt when you leave a voice mail message.
• Opening e-mail is not the same as actually
  reading e-mail.
• The recipient can (and often does) decline to
  send a receipt.

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Go Easy on the Emoticons and Abbreviations in
Your E-mail

• Not everyone is familiar with the way you
  abbreviate words.
• Abbreviations common in the world of instant
  messaging should be left at home! TTYL
• ? There is nothing wrong with a smiley face every
  now and then. But remember, this is a business,
  so dont go overboard!

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Read it Again

• Read it once, read it twice, read it a third time
  and send.

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Message Thread An E-mail Controversy!

• The message thread is created when your reply to
  an e-mail using reply, reply all or forward. The
  original e-mail appears below your response.

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The Message ThreadAn E-mail Controversy!

• Pros
• Including the message thread avoids confusion.
  The history of the conversation is all right
  there.

• Cons
• The message thread takes up too much unnecessary
  space. You end up reading and re-reading the same
  thing over and over again.

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What is the Value of E-mail at WATC?

• E-mail
• is fast.
• is convenient.
• allows us to easily share documents without
  printing.
• allows us to communicate information to large
  groups all at once.

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Talking is Not Out of Style!

• E-mail is not a substitute for one on one
  interactions between employees.

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Keep Talking!

• Do you have an issue, concern or a question?
• Dont hide behind your computer screen!
• Talk it out!
• Use your communications skills.
• Have you been through MBTI? Yes, then practice
  what you learned!

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Does Your E-mail Say What You Mean?
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Perspective is Reality

• Understanding what an e-mail says is based solely
  on the words on the screen.
• The facial and vocal clues we rely on for
  additional meaning are not available in an
  e-mail.
• The recipients understanding of the e-mail is
  based on their perspective not yours.
• You may mean it one way, but the reader may see
  it differently.
• The recipients perspective can be influenced by
  something as simple as how their day is going
  when they get your e-mail.

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Make Sure Your E-mail Says What You Mean!

• Be concise and to the point.
• Answer all the questions.
• Be diplomatic remember you have to work with
  this person after they read your e-mail! Never
  respond in anger!
• Think before you send. Is that really how it
  should be said? Just because you can type it
  doesn't mean you should send it!

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Consider These Options

• Save the e-mail as a draft.
• Review the draft after you have had some time to
  think about it.
• Get a second opinion.
• Delete and start again Outlook wont mind!

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What You Should Never Put in an E-mail

• Anything you do not want anyone else to know
  about.
• This includes
• Anything that is considered confidential by WATC
  or by you personally
• Any thing that could be considered

• Libelous
• Defamatory
• Offensive
• Racist
• Obscene
• Rude

• Harassing
• Insulting
• Attacking
• An invasion of privacy
• Threatening
• Unprofessional

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E-mail and the Law

• E-mail can be subpoenaed.
• E-mail at WATC is considered the property of WATC
  and is, therefore, not private.
• Here are some famous examples of people who
  forgot this
• Martha Stewart former CEO of Omnimedia
• Harry Stonecipher former CEO of Boeing
• Darleen Druyan former Procurement Officer USAF
• Michael Sears former Financial Officer of Boeing

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Lets Send an E-mail

• Decide
• Should this really be an e-mail or should I make
  it a face-to-face conversation?
• Is this topic confidential?
• Do I really want to discuss this issue over
  e-mail?
• Compose
• Use the basic rules of Netiquette.
• Type what you mean to say.
• Do a perspective check. How will the reader
  understand what you wrote?

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Re-Read Your E-mail Before You Hit Send!

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Review

• Now that you are an expert at Netiquette, please
  complete the review found on the WATC Web page at
  http//www.watc.edu/faculty-org_development.php
• Once you have completed the review, please
  forward it to
• Doris Queen
• Main Campus HR Office
• 301 S. Grove
• Wichita, KS 67211-2099
• dqueen_at_watc.edu