Question

A proposal is different from other short reports (incident, lab, field, or trip reports). In a proposal, you need to define a problem and describe a solution. Proposals are a way of asking permission to continue forward and require authors to be compelling in their causes. Reports, are written after events and express gains or losses. Imagine you proposed and received funding to attend a conference, but it was dull and unproductive. Although your learned a few new ideas, it was mostly a waste of time and money. How would you report your perspective to your supervisor? What details would you provide? What tone would you use?

Answer 1

The objective of such report  should be to apprise the supervisor of the usefulness of the event in meeting the expected value for the company and its ability to deliver anticipated benefits to the company and it resources. The report should present a balanced view of the benefits received vs cost incurred by the company. Though it should have positive or negative endorsement from the writer, the ultimate decision should be left to the authority to determine whether such conferences are useful and worth the time and money spent. The details should include the content of the conference, details of the participants, experts and others, ideas presented by the participants / presenters and their practicality as well as utility for the company's current business environment, lessons learnt and their relevance to the organisation.

The tone should be that of general nature describing the facts to the receiver, and letting him decide on how to prceive the usefulness of the content.It should also communicate that you were disappointed after getting company to spend money and other resources on this event.