Question

E-mail is just one way you might choose to communicate professionally. Select the best form of communication for doing the following tasks.

• Building a relationship with a client

• Scheduling a meeting with three busy teammates

• Announcing a regional professional society meeting

• Confirming the details of a new assignment

• Describing your cold symptoms to a nurse

Answer 1

• Building a relationship with a client — In-person meeting (or a video call if remote).
Rationale: face-to-face interaction builds rapport, trust, and lets you read nonverbal cues.

• Scheduling a meeting with three busy teammates — Scheduling poll or shared-calendar proposal (e.g., Doodle/Outlook/Google “find a time”) + calendar invite.
Rationale: quickly finds a mutually available slot and creates an automatic calendar event.

• Announcing a regional professional society meeting — Mass email/newsletter and an event page on the society website (supplemented by social media).
Rationale: reaches all members formally, provides full details and links, and can be archived for reference.

• Confirming the details of a new assignment — Email (or a message in the project management system) summarizing the agreed details.
Rationale: creates a written record everyone can reference and reduces misunderstandings.

• Describing your cold symptoms to a nurse — Phone call to the nurse/triage line for immediate concerns; use a secure patient portal message for nonurgent inquiries.
Rationale: phone allows real-time follow-up questions and quick triage; portal messaging provides a secure, documented record if timing isn’t urgent.