4. What else do I need to do?

You will also be asked to provide a statement (supporting information) about why you think your item should be on the Congress Agenda. This is your chance to really persuade the Agenda Committee that yours is a good topic.

You have 400 words to convince the committee to add your item to the agenda – but now isn’t the time to waste words on waffle. Look back at step one What makes a good topic? and spell out exactly how your idea meets the criteria. Combine this with what we learned in Getting your words in order and you’re well on the way to writing a concise, informative and persuasive statement. However, there are a few more tips and tricks to help your write your statement:

• use bullet points
  Bullet points lift important information out of ordinary paragraphs, making your key points easier to identify. They also cut down on the number of words you need to use.
  
• think inside the pyramid
  Journalists use a pyramid structure to write news stories. They will put the essence of their story as concisely as possible right at the beginning and then introduce more facts in order of importance as they continue – using more words and explanation as they go. The idea is that a reader can leave the story at any point but still have an understanding of what it is about. Or if they continue to read they grow more interested and engaged and want to know the finer details.
  You can use this structure to ensure you get your most important points right at the start of your statement. Try planning out everything you want to include and putting it in order of importance – that way if you run out of space you won’t have missed out the vital facts.
  
• don’t be afraid to stop
  If you’ve said everything you need to, but you haven’t used the full word count, don’t be afraid to stop. Adding more words will simply introduce unnecessary information and may confuse a statement that was clear and concise.
  
• friendly advice
  Get a friend to read through what you’ve written. Not only will they be an extra pair of eyes to spot any typos, but if they don’t understand something , chances are others will struggle too.

 Go to step 5 - Do the double check