Project Plan

First you found a killer, then you did a great science project. Now, you’ve got to write it all up to compete in your science fair.

Your written report is the single most important part of any science fair project. A well-written report can make a pathetic project look pretty good, and a good project look exceptional. By the same token, a poorly written report is certain to sink even Nobel Prize-quality work. It’s a simple equation. The winners know how to write up their science fair project reports in a way that shows off their know-how and impresses the judges.

So when developing your report, here’s a little friendly advice from a guy who once had over a million monthly readers in Scientific American magazine.

Know this! Writing is all about communicating ideas clearly. Your goal should be for the information that you present to flow effortlessly from the page into the reader’s mind without the reader’s head ever snapping back. Your readers should absorb your prose effortlessly as fast as their brains can decipher the words. In fact, your readers should loose track of the fact that they are in fact reading. Their focus should be entirely on the information they are taking in, and not on the text itself. It takes a lot of practice to become a good writer, and you aren’t going to master the art overnight. But here are a few tips for you to focus on that will help you find your voice and keep your audience. [...]

Why are other departments such as accounts, fulfillment and operations more organized than marketing?

With today’s standards, the marketing function may represent the greatest opportunity for increasing overall business growth and company innovation.

Your campaign management people feel the pressure – yet lost at sea amongst tantalizing new fads and genuine new opportunities such as affiliate marketing, social media, twitter…

But it’s no one’s fault. Business has to take more responsibility to the point of absorbing marketing as a centre piece of modern strategy, rather than leaving it silo’d. Only then can the marketing function do what it can and must.

Said the great Peter Drucker: “Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two-and only two-basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.” [...]