How to Teach the Parts of a Business Letter on Powerpoint

There are six major components of a business letter: the heading, inside address, salutation, body, closing and signature. While many of these parts share characteristics with the parts of a casual or friendly letter, a business letter uses more formal language and punctuation. If you want to teach the parts of a business letter through a PowerPoint presentation, one simple way is to create one slide for each part of the business letter.

Instructions

1. Begin with the letter's heading. The first slide of your PowerPoint business letter presentation should be the first part of your business letter. A business letter heading is made up of the date and the sender's address, with the date starting on the first line below the margin and the sender's address being typed below that after skipping one line.

2. Make an inside address slide with formatting information. The inside address of a business letter is the address of the recipient. A proper inside address uses a person's title. This may mean placing Dr. at the beginning of an individual's name or placing the title after the name, such as Mr. David Mann, CEO. If the letter is being sent to the person at a business address, the name of the business should be included on the second line, followed by the address.

3. Use the salutation slide to highlight the change in punctuation on the salutation line. Those who have never written a business letter will likely be accustomed to using a comma after a letter's greeting, such as "Dear Mary," and a first name. In a business letter, a colon is used with a person's formal name, as in "Dear Ms. Smith:".

4. Focus on formatting on the slide regarding the body of the letter. Since the body of a business letter can vary substantially, depending on the purpose of the letter, it is best to keep to the rules of formatting. A sample body, with at least two paragraphs, may be the best way to show proper formatting. Business letter bodies do not use indentation at the start of paragraphs. The text is single-spaced with double-spacing between paragraphs.

5. Explain how to close the letter. Though the complimentary close and signature of a business letter are generally considered separate parts of the letter, they may be easier to explain as one. List appropriate closings for a business letter, such as "Sincerely" or "Regards," and include spacing information. The complimentary close should be typed after skipping one line below the body of the letter. Skip four lines and type the name of the letter's sender, including her title. Directly below that, type the name of the sender's company. Make sure to include a note on the slide reminding people to sign the letter in ink between the complimentary close and the typed name before sending the letter out.

6. Create a slide with additional information. There are some elements of business letters that will not be included in all letters, but should still be covered. If someone other than the sender typed the letter, the typist's initials should be listed one line below the end of the signature lines. If there will be any additional documents sent along with the letter, skip another line after the typist's initials and type "Enclosures." Once you have taught these basic components on PowerPoint, most people should be able to type up a simple business letter.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are teaching the parts of a business letter to employees at a company, you may want to include a detailed slide about the letterhead. This will likely affect a letter's margins.

References

• The Owl at Purdue: Writing the Basic Business Letter
• Microsoft at work: 12 tips for creating better presentations