Reports are generally long, but sometimes you are asked to write a report in one page, which can be most alarming.

The idea of the one-pager seems to have begun in World War ll and the credit for it goes to Winston Churchill or General Dwight Eisenhower, depending on who tells the story. I haven’t ever heard of the invention being attributed to Hitler or Mussolini so it is certainly a good thing.

The point of it is to give the bare essentials of your subject to someone who is immensely busy and has to read and make decisions about a great many other subjects on the same day. Public servants are often asked to write one-page briefings for their ministers; people in business need to do it for board members. Because you generally write one-page reports for very important people, it is a highly promotable skill and well worth adopting.

Sometimes the reports have particular names in your organisation: a briefing in one business might be the same thing as a memorandum in another. Even an executive summary is a version of the same thing. Sometimes it has a specific template: Purpose, Background, Issues, Recommendations is a typical example. Other times, it doesn’t. Regardless of what it’s called and whether or not you have a template, the principles are the same.

In any report, you are expected to give decision-makers exactly enough information to be able to make a decision on the topic you’re writing about. In long reports, that means you provide them with all your facts and reasoning, so they can make a considered decision based on a clear analysis.

For one page reports, you don’t skip any of the work of writing a long report. You have to do the same amount of research and the same rigorous analysis. All that work will be recorded in a file somewhere.  But, when you’ve finished, you have to summarise the key points in one page.

The flattering thing about being asked to do a one-pager is that this very senior person trusts you on the detail. They accept that you are the expert – until you’re proved wrong, after which your reports will be scrutinised suspiciously. Because you are expert and because it is understood there is a system for checking facts in your organisation, the very important person only needs the bare essentials.

Generally, this means they want to know:

Most people who are expert on a topic think it is impossible to summarise it in one page. There are so many important details to understand. Sometimes, when I give writing classes, I demonstrate that it is possible by asking people to write their life stories in a page. Despite protests, students can always do it. We can all do it, although we could also write our life story in a four volume autobiography and we wouldn’t have covered everything. It is surprising how much you can learn about a person if they write a whole page about themselves.

I have found the quickest way to begin work on a one-page report is to ignore any templates at first and to brainstorm everything the very important people you are writing for would need to know. Then look at your brainstormed notes and start deleting things that might be too detailed to consider in a two-minute scan of your page. Check that you have answered the questions in the dot points above.

Then add structure by numbering your points under different headings. Only then do you go to the computer and start typing. Type quickly at first, following the numbers on your notes. Don’t worry about what words to use. Only when you have written the first draft do you slow down and check that they are accurate, fair and well-expressed. Finally, you check methodically for spelling and grammar.

If you are good enough at writing the succinct one-page report, you may become a very important person yourself one day. Good luck.

About the Author

Sandra Hogan is a writer and editor, with a strong background in journalism and government communications. She is the director of WriteBusiness www.writebusiness.com.au, which offers training, coaching and mentoring to people in business and government who want to improve their writing skills.

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