A short (5-page maximum) LINKS Individual memorandum instructions as follows:

A LINKS memorandum is a five-page memorandum on some aspect of LINKS. You’re writing to your

successors in this memorandum. Pick some relevant part of LINKS and pass on some advice to your

successors. Be detailed and specific! You are trying to convince a LINKS novice to believe that you

know what you are doing and to follow your advice. Don’t be vague or superficial in this memo.

Think of this as writing one chapter in the “book of LINKS.” While there may be hundreds of

interesting chapters in this “book,” you only have to write one of the chapters. Here’s some more

advice and some hints:

• This is a 5-page single spaced memorandum (double-space between paragraphs). Number all

pages. Use normal margins (at least one inch on all sides) and normal font size (at least 11-point).

• Write a memorandum to communicate something of importance to your LINKS successors, not

necessarily in the same LINKS firm or industry. Since this memorandum is designed to be of value

to any LINKS participant at any time in the future, it should not contain firm- or market-specific

information, except possibly by way of illustration. For example, there is no point saying that

market region #1 is quite volatile (even if so in your experience), since another edition of LINKS

might have a very different market environment.

• Any topic within the course milieu is appropriate.

• Many LINKS participants have developed sophisticated spreadsheets for tracking, analysis,

budgeting, and planning purposes. Your memo might focus on the what/why/how of your

spreadsheet. The major focus of a spreadsheet memo would be on building the case for using the

spreadsheet. Little attention should be given to the mechanics of running the spreadsheet. For a

spreadsheet-related memo, you may include several additional pages that contain sample

spreadsheet printouts. A spreadsheet-related memo must also include the actual spreadsheet (as an

e-mail attachment).

• If in doubt, it is better to focus on a very narrow topic, and do a good job on it, rather than

attempt to tackle a broad topic (that might require 10s of pages to do well).

Based on past experience, better LINKS memos offer detailed, specific, immediately-actionable,

example-laden counsel on important issues and challenges facing future LINKS participants. Lessthan-

excellent memos tend to be vague, offering only high-level textbook-like observations with little

direct actionable relevance to LINKS. Poor LINKS memos paraphrase the LINKS participant’s

manual, adding nothing new or important to the “book of LINKS.”

I have attached an example of memos done previously.