Business Communication and Academic Writing Portfolio

This portfolio includes communication materials such as an email to staff, a letter to an external special guest, and a progress report to the CEO. It also includes a reflection on academic progress in Business Communication and Academic Writing.

Surname 1
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND ACADEMIC WRITING
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course Name
Institution
City
Date

Surname 2
PART A: PORTFOLIO OF COMMUNICATION MATERIALS
EMAIL TO STAFF
TO: Commonwealth Bank Staff
FROM: Communications Manager
DATE: 1/12/2018
SUBJECT: Invitation to corporate dinner
Good afternoon,
I hope this finds you well. I am delighted to invite you to the corporate dinner for
Commonwealth Bank, which will be held on the 15th December 2018. The event will
commence from 11.00 pm. at Westin Hotel, located at Martin Place, Sydney. Key
activities during the dinner will include a wide range of entertainment sessions, and a
three-course dinner will also be served to all those who will be present. Out esteemed
clients will also be present, and this will give the bank an opportunity to appreciate every
customer then has helped us achieve our annual goals. Other special guests will also
be present, including politicians and celebrities, who will join us as we mark the end of
the year in style. I at this moment write to encourage all staff members at the
organisation to attend and enjoy each other’s company away from the formality of the
offices. This event will be a time to catch up and revisit the accomplishments of the
organization in the past twelve months. I look forward to seeing you then.
Thank You.
Communications manager,
Commonwealth Bank.
LETTER TO EXTERNAL SPECIAL GUEST
Communications Manager
Commonwealth Bank
123 Martin Drive
23454 Sydney
1/12/2018

Surname 3
Mr. John Doe
Manager
Widgets International
3454 Galore Street
485 Florida
Dear Mr. John Doe,
Good afternoon,
I hope this finds you well. I am delighted to invite you to the corporate dinner for
Commonwealth Bank, which will be held on the 15th December 2018. The event will
commence from 11.00 pm., at Westin Hotel, located at Martin Place, Sydney. As an
organization, we organize an annual corporate dinner for our clients, personnel and
different stakeholders. This is considered a gesture of appreciation, for the support and
work well done. The corporate dinner provides an opportunity for stakeholders to mingle
and more so, share ideas on how the organization strategies can be further improved in
the next operational year at Commonwealth bank. Key activities during the dinner will
include a wide range of entertainment sessions, and a three-course dinner will also be
served to all those who will be present. We appreciate your acceptance to be the
special guest in this event, and the organization is very humbled by your presence. The
event will be graced by our esteemed clients, politicians and celebrities, as well as
partners who have helped us achieve our annual strategic goals. I have the highest
confidence that your presence will be of great significance to both our clients and
personnel at commonwealth bank. We appreciate your support for the organization, and
we believe it would be great if you join us on this phenomenal day, to celebrate in our
annual corporate dinner.
I look forward to seeing you then.
Thank You.
Yours Faithful,
Communications manager,
Commonwealth Bank.

Surname 4
PROGRESS REPORT TO CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Summary
The team at Commonwealth bank is exceptionally delighted considering the annual
corporate dinner scheduled to take place on 15/12/2018. The corporate dinner will take
place at Westin Hotel, located at Martin Place, Sydney, and will commence at 11.00 pm.
The specific location was arrived at as a result of its convenience and proximity to the
city, which will help not to inconvenience our clients, special guests and personnel. The
event is scheduled to take place the entire night, and guests are expected to leave at
their pleasure from 2 am. This report provides a detailed explanation of the preparations
we have made towards the event and will bring you up to speed on what to expect on
that phenomenal day.
Accomplishments
We have sent out emails and letters to all respective groups who will be attending. We
are currently awaiting confirmation on 50% of the guests who are expected, to finalize
the guest list, and submitting to the restaurant. We have also notified the Westin Hotel,
located at Martin Place, Sydney of all-out expectations during this event. The hotel
management has assured us of total security and efficiency in service delivery. As the
communications manager, I have faith in my team and believe that we are on the right
track in making that day a success. We have also identified specific parking areas
which will be used and marked them for reservation to avoid confusion.
Ongoing preparations
My team is focused on ensuring that lighting and entertainment aspects are of high
quality. The remaining aspect in the preparation process is associated with the
alignment of speeches, and votes of thanks, as well as identification of specific parties
that will coordinate on the same. These will be finalized next week, and the final week
will include activities such as testing for quality and getting the assurance of
effectiveness throughout the process.
Goals
The main aim of the event is to make all present guests feel appreciated and part of our
organizational success. The goal is to make sure that all categories of staff from the

Surname 5
lowest to the highest level, as well as stakeholders and shareholders, are part of our
celebration at Commonwealth Bank.
REPORT STRUCTURE
All relevant communication should be made through the communications manager,
through the organization email [e-mail]. The special guest is Mr. John
Doe, who is expected to grace the corporate dinner.
Table of contents
Post-event executive summary
A. Summary of report
B. Key achievements
C. Key recommendations
Introduction
A. Who, where, how, why, when, and what of the event
B. Internal event staff
C. External event staff
Objectives
Attendee survey
The budget of the event
Programmed and speakers
A. Call for abstracts
B. Speakers
C. Review of the program: sessions, keynote speakers, entertainment and activities
which will take place.
Program outputs
A. User engagement rate.
B. Response rate
C. User experience rating
Location
A. Accessibility of the location
B. Hotel options

Surname 6
C. Venue options
D. Cost of travel to the hotel.
Venue
A. Space appropriateness for the event
B. Equipment and support
C. Catering which will involve the quality of service and options available to
attendees.
Accommodation
Marketing, media and promotion of the corporate event.
A. Attendee demographics
B. Media coverage of the event
C. Creative examples of entertainment sessions.
Sponsorships
A. Overview of event sponsors
B. Summary of the sponsorship packages offered.'
C. Sponsorship revenue
Present staff and list of attendees.
A. Lower level personnel
B. Management staff
C. Supervisors
D. Special guest
Future recommendations

Surname 7
PART B: REFLECTION ON ACADEMIC PROGRESS
My learning experience has been incredibly fantastic. As a student, every
perception I initially had concerning my course has wholly changed. In the past weeks, I
have managed to gradually grasp new knowledge, especially in the field of business
writing, regarding reports, memos, emails and corporate letters. The entire learning
process has been an eye-opener in my case, as I have managed to identify all my
strengths and weaknesses, which ought to be worked on. My professional perspective
has completely changed. I am now more aware of the importance of professional
communication, and how to relate to the different clientele in the corporate sector. The
unit has helped me to grow regarding identifying every learning opportunity, to take
advantage of whatever new concepts I learn. I am certain that with the knowledge I
have acquired during this course, I will be able to apply the same to my professional
and personal experiences productively.
All the assignments I have completed in the course of this unit have also helped
me to become more independent. I am now able to come up with more professional
communication messages and search for more captivating messages depending on the
audience under consideration. I would describe my learning experience as phenomenal
and valuable, as it has been a value-adding period in my life. The education I have
acquired has also helped me focus on my professional journey and my future
expectations. I am now more aware of the value of education. The subjects I have
completed so far, have helped me gather increased confidence in my intellectual
capacity, as well as on how to gather different sorts of information depending on the
units in consideration.
Based on my results from the second assessment, I got exemplary feedback
from my lecturer, as well as recommendations on how to farther improve. My Turnitin
report was accepted, considering the low level of plagiarism which I tried to maintain as
much as possible. I am well aware that my institution is rigorous on academic integrity,
which has made me maintain focus on originality and appreciate academic integrity.
The feedback I got from my lecturer helped me to further develop more strategies in
information search in the field of communication. I am also more careful on grammar

Surname 8
mistakes and sentence structures, to avoid penalties. At the same time, communication
efficiency has to do with accuracy, which helps in forming credible business
relationships.
Based on my coursework and unit assessments, I consider my significant
strength as the ability to identify the most relevant messages in my communication
process. This is based on my assignment and assessment analysis, where my most
natural part was to identify what was relevant and what was not. I have been able to do
away with aspects considered irrelevant in communicating, within the shortest time.
Through this unit, I have also learned the importance of planning, which has helped me
to categorize my activities starting with the ones which ought to be accorded the highest
priority. I am confident that this program will play a significant role in furthering my future
development especially in my career, considering the need to understand perceptions of
people, and to also be able to communicate most effectively with different groups.
Through this course, I have also learned the importance of improving my skills in
the academic perspective, both in written and spoken communication. I intend to
transfer further the knowledge I have gained from this course into my future professional
practice. I also plan to take up research in the field of communication, to identify gaps in
the same, as well as areas of interest. The program in my institution will help me gather
all relevant research evidence, as well as come up with relevant and applicable findings
in the most effective manner. Throughout my course, I have learned how to make use of
comparable online resources, in the process of retrieving information on different areas.
I have been involved in the identification of commonalities in the case of information
drawn from different authors in the field. The knowledge I gained in the identification of
different messages and literature will be of great and significant help, especially in my
research process.
This reflective journal has also added a lot to my experience in this course. I
have managed to separate all my strengths and weaknesses, as well as analyze my
entire journey over the period. I am now able to put in more work on specific areas
which I consider to be my weak points, to come up with ways which I will improve, both
professionally and intellectually. The values I have acquired in this course include;
individuality, independence, time management skills and maturity, which have all given

Surname 9
me a sense of accomplishment. These will help mound my future career. I intend to
improve my academic practice as a result of the lessons learnt in this unit through
focusing on specific outcomes. I am also keen to come up with a schedule on what to
practice in my free time, to gain more insight in the field of communication and efficient
message delivery.
In conclusion, the entire program has helped me a lot, especially regarding
realizing the need to remain hard working in the future, as well as allocate different
times to specific areas according to priority. I am now more sensitive towards the
opinions, perceptions and beliefs of others especially while passing on messages. I am
also keener when interacting with others. Considering the aspect of understanding the
perceptions of people in the communication process, this has helped me to grow a lot,
and come into terms with what different researchers in the field mean, based on the
different presented theories that have been developed on numerous information
elements. My journey is entirely worthwhile, and I am now more focused on pursuing
interest areas and covering research areas which have been left out over time.
Communication is the most critical aspect, which helped different persons identify with
others, enables business proceedings and enhances interaction, hence should not be
overlooked.