Assignment: Routine Inquiry

Memo

No matter which topic you choose, you will write a Routine Inquiry designed to glean information that you need via relevant, specific questions. You should include a full Memorandum heading as though you were sending the document to your chosen professional. This business professional can be a family friend, acquaintance, a person you work(ed) with, someone from whom you need information for work purposes, or simply someone you admire in the professional world.

To obtain the information you need, you will create a Routine Inquiry that includes a set of questions you hope to have answered. You should format your Routine Inquiry in business Memorandum format (see the example below, as well as pages 97 - 98 of your textbook).

Your inquiry should include an introduction of yourself and why you are writing the inquiry. You'll also need at least 4-5 good questions that will help you determine what your next steps would be. These questions will of course vary depending on which topic you select. With this in mind, please use the guidelines underneath each topic choice below to inform your writing choices. Audience and purpose are key elements of this assignment.

Assignment Notes:

• Create this Routine Inquiry in Memorandum format as a Word document.
• Your submission should be 1 or 2 pages. Remember, the focus is on being clear with your needs and questions rather than filling space to meet a specified assignment length.
• You will upload your finished document to the appropriate upload area as a .doc or .docx file.

The topic options are described below. Choose one of the following topics:

Option #1: Online Meeting Software You are a manager for a local restaurant chain with five locations within the city. Each month, the management team has a luncheon meeting in which they discuss any issues that have arisen, the financial health of the business, progress on current initiatives, any ideas for creating new business, and various other topics.

1 You will lose points if your Memorandum format is not correct

You think these meetings are a great idea, but you wonder if they are really worth the time and expense involved.

Having recently attended a meeting of the Restaurant Managers Association (RMA), you learned that many of your peers are conducting these business meetings online. One online meeting technology you kept hearing about was _______________ (WebEx, GoToMeeting, or some other relevant online meeting provider-you choose the specific product). You decide to research the product's website, view the demo, and study the fact sheet about the product. You determine that this product might be a great alternative to holding these monthly meetings onsite.

To gather more facts before approaching your supervisors, you decide to consult a person2 you met at the RMA meeting. This person seemed to know a lot about online conferencing and the particular product you're interested in.

Think very carefully about what you would like to learn; for instance, you would not want to ask any questions that can be readily found on the product's website. Your target reader is a busy professional who has no personal interest in the topic, so plan your document accordingly and create a Routine Inquiry that includes good questions for this topic.

Option #2: Venue for Company Retreat The CEO of the small company where you work wants to schedule a relax-and-recharge retreat for company employees. You have been given the task of finding a suitable venue for this retreat. Your company is located just outside of Washington, D.C., and the CEO wants to hold the retreat in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia, which is about 90 miles from the city. The CEO specified that the retreat should be more like a getaway than a business meeting, so a cabin is preferred over a hotel. The retreat is for the 20 company employees only; families are not invited.

After some research, you believe you have found the ideal place: a large, isolated cabin overlooking the valley. You learn about the property from the website. Here are the specs listed on the website: The cabin will sleep 20 and is equipped with a large kitchen, a deck with 20 chairs, a large-screen TV, and a game room. The cost is $50 per person per day, except on weekends and holidays, when the rate is increased.

But you need to know more. You have tried calling and emailing the venue with no luck. You therefore decide to send a Routine Inquiry to the venue's owner3 in an attempt to get the information you need.

Evaluate the information provided above, and determine what other factors you would need to know before booking your company's retreat at this venue.