Traditionally, business writing uses the “one thing after another” format, which generally means a simple recitation of the facts, circumstances, or whatever else needs to be said.

However, we have other options and some of them may provide more answers or better answers. Consider the question and answer format, for example:

Question: What is the question and answer format?

Answer: It is a series of questions and answers used to communicate important information to readers.

Question: Where can the questions and answers be used?

Answer: It can be used in advertising, communication with employees or any other business situation where you want to provide written information to other people.

Question: Why or when would you use this format?

Answer: When I have a lot of information and I want to keep the interest of the readers, for example. The question and answer format breaks information into smaller, more digestible chunks and makes content appear less formidable to readers.

Question: But don’t you need at least two people for this kind of format?

Answer: In the media, Questions and Answers means that one person asks questions and another answers. But, in a business writing context, questions and answers can also mean that the same person asks and answers.

Question: Can you give an example from real life?

Answer: Sure. I wrote one to promote my book, A Guide for Newsletter Managers: Communicating for Results. In that case, the questions and answers provided insight into my motivations for writing the book and its evolution from a descriptive to a strategic approach. The material could have been handled in a conventional way, but the questions and answers gave it a tone of detachment with more inherent interest, I think.

Question: Is there anything special about writing a question and answer session?

Answer: I believe that a question and answer session can take many forms, but in general I recommend that you use a conversational tone if possible. By doing that, you will adopt the conventional sense of a question and answer session, which is a discussion between two people.

Question: Did you write these questions and answers yourself?

Answer: yes.

Question: And who are you?

Answer: