In today’s world when SMS and Mxit language is the norm, email is frequently written quickly and often poorly.  Emails to clients and service providers should always be professional as this conveys a professional image.

Below are some tips on how to write an email that will be well received:

Pay attention to punctuation, spelling, grammar and capitals

Emails r  ritten lke ths. Many email messages contain bad spelling and grammar, incorrect use of capital letters and/or poor punctuation.  Such messages look amateurish and produce a bad impression of the sender.

The standard of modern writing is quite inferior – both on the internet and in general use and it is easy to find errors in most written sources.  Stand out from the crowd – write well!

Your subject line should always be descriptive

Many people get dozens of email messages per day and with so much of it being spam, your message can easily be deleted without being read.   It also makes it easier for you to find again if the subject is clear.

Use short paragraphs and leave lines between them

On-screen text is harder to read than printed text, so use short, clearly separated paragraphs.

Tidy up all those “>” characters

When replying to a message most email programmes put a “>” character in front of each line of the original text.  The result is that some messages end up with so many “>” characters that it causes the line length to increase, and become difficult to read.  Spend a few minutes cleaning the message up before forwarding it.

Don’t send unsolicited attachments

Remember not to send out large video attachments – it can block not only your company’s server but also the server of the person you are sending it to.

Don’t type in ALL CAPITALS

Text in capitals is harder to read.  Also typing in all capitals is considered a faux pas by most users and they may ignore your message.  It can also been seen as aggression by the sender to the receiver.

Wait a while before sending your message!

Proofreading your own work is a risky business.  Wait a few minutes before you press the “send” button.  This ensures that the message has no typing errors and is clear and understandable to the receiver.

Our Events team finished off 2009 on a most worthwhile project – the Masimanyane Rural Women’s Leadership Dialogue.  This was one of the many projects and events organised or implemented by the Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre during their 16 Days of Activism celebrations.

Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre is a non-profit women’s organisation based in East London. The organisation’s main aim is to build the capacity of women as leaders for change.  Women have to know the law and be acquainted with the human rights instruments at their disposal to be able to bring about change.

The 3 day Rural Women’s Leadership Dialogue was held at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.   It was aimed at discussing issues confronting rural women and empowering women faced with poverty, abuse and other challenges such as HIV/Aids and human trafficking.

The Dialogue was attended by delegates from women’s organisations around the Eastern Cape and proved to be an enlightening experience for all those who attended.

The findings from this conference will be discussed at a United Nations conference focusing on rural women and HIV/Aids, which will be held in New York later this year.

The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) is an international development organisation focusing on blindness prevention. The vision of the Fred Hollows Foundation is for “a world where no one is needlessly blind.”

Since its inception in 1992 the Foundation has worked in more than 38 countries throughout Africa, Asia (South and South East), Australia and the Pacific, and has helped to restore the sight of more than 1,000,000 people worldwide. The Foundation is inspired by the work of the late Professor Fred Hollows, an Australian ophthalmologist who championed the right of all people to high quality and affordable eye care.

The Foundation has been working in South Africa since 1999, and the Fred Hollows Foundation South Africa was officially incorporated in January 2001. Since its establishment, the Fred Hollows Foundation South Africa (FHFSA) has been in partnership with the Eastern Cape Department of Health. Its central programme is the Eastern Cape Blindness Prevention Partnership Programme (ECBPPP), which aims to develop sustainable local capacity to prevent and treat avoidable blindness in South Africa and to act as a catalyst for improving the health of South Africans, with a focus on rural communities.

The objectives of the ECBPPP include the provision of comprehensive eye care services with an initial focus on cataract, training cataract surgeons and ophthalmic nurses, the operation of the Sabona Centre of Excellence at the Frontier Hospital in Queenstown and the provision of space and equipment in six hospitals in the province.

The CEO of the Fred Hollows Foundation Australia, Brian Doolan, will visit the Eastern Cape this week to observe cataract surgery at the FHFSA’s flagship Sabona Centre of Excellence at the Frontier Hospital in Queenstown, and to meet with the staff and the board of the FHFSA.

Mr Doolan has extensive experience working in the field of international development, having worked for both the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities in Thailand, and CARE International in Iraq and Vietnam. After meeting the staff and board, and assessing the facilities and work of the programme, Mr Doolan will attend a media briefing on Friday, 22 January at the Chamberlain Guest House in East London to discuss the future plans of FHFSA and his impressions of the province and the programme.

For more information on the Fred Hollows Foundation South Africa, the Eastern Cape Blindness Prevention Programme or Mr Doolan’s visit, please contact Dr Mary Hlalele, General Manager of the Fred Hollows Foundation South Africa:

Dr Mary Hlalele

General Manager: Fred Hollows Foundation South Africa

(043) 735 3646

Social media is fast changing the face of communications throughout the world.  Most people utilise social media to communicate and for entertainment purposes. The most common social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Here are just a few facts to underscore the massive scale of social media activity:

• It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million people, yet Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months (It currently has 350 million users)
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest country in the world.
• YouTube has over 100 million users.

It is thus quite evident that social media is changing the face of communications. Most businesses are venturing into social media as they realise the potential of social media marketing. It is definitely worthwhile for communications companies to start thinking social media and join the bandwagon.

Social media could be beneficial to any company, more so a communications company in the following ways:

1. It increases brand awareness and name recognition for the company and its services
2. It has the potential to drive traffic to the company website
3. Companies can make new business contacts
4. It helps in staff recruitment
5. It also keeps the company abreast with latest communications technologies thus giving it a positive image