In the examination, candidates will be presented with information in exhibits which may take a variety of forms such as:

• reports
• emails/memos/letters
• extracts of meeting minutes
• interview transcripts
• media sources (such as webpages and newspaper articles)
• presentations
• heat maps
• spreadsheets
• tables
• briefing notes.  

This is not an exhaustive list, as the examiner may present information in a variety of formats that best reflect and convey the context of the scenario which is being examined.

Candidates will not only be presented with a range of exhibits in various forms, they will also have to present their own responses to each requirement using a specific format given in the requirement. If this is not done correctly candidates risk scoring poorly in the professional skills marks for the exam.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the main forms of response that candidates may be required to present in their SBL answers and how these should be laid out. Note that these are suggested layouts and alternative approaches, if appropriate, will be rewarded. 

Reports

Reports should have a clear and well-defined structure, as follows:

A report is often requested as an answer format in the examination, as it provides candidates the opportunity to present well-formulated and structured answers at some length. These are often required when an analysis or evaluation of an issue is required, or an overall recommendation is needed as part of the candidates answer.

As this structure suggests, it is not enough to simply have a To/From section for an answer to be considered as being in a report format. The structure, headings and conclusion or recommendations are also key to earning professional marks here. Further, remember, the tone of the report will be very important and must be set at a strategic level and pitched at the audience given in the requirement.

Presentation slides and notes

Presentation slides and accompanying notes are a useful tool to convey information concisely to a wide audience. They are often used to introduce/explain concepts or issues to those with less knowledge/information. In the examination, presentation slides will normally require accompanying notes.

Alternatively, the examiner could ask you to just provide the slide notes which would be used to accompany a set of slides. The examiner will often prescribe the number of slides to be prepared, or you may have to use your own judgement as to the number of slides required based on the marks given and the number of topics that have to be covered. If the examiner prescribes the number of slides, please do not use less or try to add more.

When asked to prepare slides it is important to remember that each slide needs to create immediate impact, be quick and easy to read for the audience and be presented concisely. Each slide should contain brief bullet points encapsulating the content to the audience. Slides should be produced with accompanying notes, to explain the bullet points more fully. These notes must be directly linked to the points made on the slide. Remember, these are the speaker’s notes, and you may be preparing this presentation for another senior manager. Therefore, they must be able to understand how the notes link to and explain the bullet points on the slides.

Briefing notes, briefing papers and working notes

As the names indicate, briefing notes, briefing papers or working notes are intended to be short and to the point, they have no real formal structure as they are intended as advisory documents for other people such as senior managers or board directors to help them communicate more formally both verbally and/or in writing, to a selected audience. However, they should at least be titled ‘Briefing Notes’ or ‘Briefing Papers’ or ‘Working Notes’.

Students must understand that these differ from reports, in that they do not require opinions/ conclusions/ recommendations. Instead, they should be merely informative and factual for the recipient to form an objective opinion of the facts presented. 

Letters, emails and memos

In terms of style and content, a letter and an email or memo are essentially the same, except that a letter sent in hard copy is often more formal in tone as it is usually sent in that format for a particular reason. An e-mail is an electronic version of a letter which has mostly superseded the memo as the main form of internal communication.

However, sometimes the style may be different depending on the recipient. In the SBL examination the style is likely to be very similar as you will be writing to a senior level audience in most cases which will require a formal approach in both cases.

Importantly, letters, memos and emails must be set at the correct tone. In the examination you will be taking on the role or roles of senior management positions, reporting to board level or outside stakeholders such as shareholders and external clients/ customers. Therefore, the tone and clarity are very important. Letters memos and emails at this level are unlikely to be informal, so do not use ‘text-speak’ (ie shortened words or phrases). However, they should still be kept concise, to the point and well-structured, as would be expected in a professional context. 

Always make sure that you begin a letter/memo and/or email with the address header which should look something like this for an email/memo:

And for a letter should look something like this:

Press release

A press release is a very useful communication tool to convey information about the organisation to external stakeholders such as customers, investors, suppliers and the general public. It is important that the content of press releases is factual and concise, conveying the most important information to the relevant stakeholder group(s) we are trying to communicate with. The main purpose of all press releases is to promote and or to inform something significant and specific.

A press release serves three marketing and promotional purposes:

• To let stakeholders know about an event
• To let the media know about the business
• To help promote our business' appearance or credibility.

Project Initiation Document (PID)

A PID is one of the most significant tools in project management, which provides the foundation for the business project. The Project Initiation Document provides a reference point throughout the project for both the customer and the Project Team and should normally include the following sections (where sufficient information is presented in the exhibits):

General professionalism

‘Communication’ is one of the five SBL professional skills. In each examination you will be tested on your communication skills through the ‘communication’ professional skill. This will require you to use the communication format requested by the examiner appropriately and effectively within the specific question that this skill is assigned to.

However, it is also important for candidates to understand that communication in fact forms part of all the professional skills, through the appropriate and correct use of these presentation formats discussed in the previous section of this article. Therefore, if candidates use the format appropriately then it is highly likely that they will earn more professional marks even if communication is not the specific professional skill being assessed in that requirement.

For example, if the professional skill being examined is ‘Evaluation’ and candidate has been asked to write a report to the Board of Directors, then if the candidate’s answer has not presented a report or has presented the report badly, for example there is no proper introduction and a lack of overall concluding comments or recommendations, then full professional marks will not be awarded to the candidate, even if all the specific evaluation criteria for full technical marks have been met.

Therefore, do not think that ‘communication’ is only tested within the communication professional skill. Sound and effective communication is required throughout the examination and should be considered when answering all the questions. Markers will be looking for candidates to demonstrate strong and effective communication in every answer to every requirement.

Written by a member of the SBL examining team