Golden Rules: Mayoral Tips For Writing Memos

This week Intern Memo takes a road trip. Houston Mayor Bill White offers several writing principles to help all interns improve their writing techniques in a professional context. The list, according to the mayor, is not exhaustive, but will almost always improve your writing. Unlike Othello, these principles do not take a lifetime to master, but they'll prove to be invaluable as you advance in your career.

• First, avoid repetition, except to the extent to which the text elaborates on the summary point you made in the first paragraph.

• Second, state the most important thing you want people to know and do in the first paragraph.

• Third, avoid excessive use of adjectives and use active rather than passive verbs except when you cannot avoid it.

• Fourth, when editing your first draft, set a goal of taking words out of every paragraph, except where you need to express a new fact or idea.

• For anything longer than one page, spending a few minutes on an outline helps. For something not long, the outline can simply be bullet points. Generally, at senior positions with responsibility, don't use writing to or from me to "address" or "discuss" some issue. You will want to describe the problem, facts, and one or more solutions.

• Always review a memo through the eyes of a reader. If you invite somebody somewhere in a big facility, tell them the room number. Give simple directions if the address should not be obvious. Tell people where to park and whether they should do any preparation. Do a final reading putting yourself in the reader's position.

• When you reply to someone, please make sure that you address the specific topics they raise. A long response which does not do so is far worse than a short response which does.

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When you feel like you've got a handle on what it takes to write a great memo, kick back and start thinking about weekend festivities.

First, there's Summer of Love, an exhibit at the Whitney that "revisits the unprecedented explosion of contemporary art and popular culture brought about by the civil unrest and pervasive social change of the 1960s and early 70s, when a new psychedelic aesthetic emerged in art, music, film, architecture, graphic design, and fashion." On Saturday, the museum is screening a special series of Andy Warhol films beginning at noon.

From 2-6pm, Artist Daniel 'Wavedog' Fenelon is selling insanely cool Japanese dolls called "Custom Urban Vinyls" at the Animazing Gallery in SoHo. The gallery is located at 461 Broome Street between Greene & Mercer. RSVP to leajovanovic@gmail.com if you're interested.

Also, we don't know exactly what this is, but for the rest of us, NY Electronic Music Umbrella is having its fifth installment of 'Festivus,' a free outdoor electronic music celebration in Central Park from 3-8 pm. Enter at 106th and Central Park West.

And on Sunday, storm the Bastille Day Festival on 60th between Lex and 5th like it were Normandy...or the Bastille.

Enjoy the weekend.

The Editorial Board

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