How to Write a Business Trip Report

When writing a report about your business trip, stress how it was a good investment for the company to send you. This will help convince managers that future trips also will be money well spent. Creating a report on your trip to a seminar, conference or trade show should focus on showing a return on the company’s investment.

Format of a Trip Report

Unless you are writing a long, formal report, skip the cover and contents pages and executive summary. Use a memo format if the document will only be a few pages long, and use a heading that lists the date, topic of the report, your name and who’s receiving it. Use section heads to organize the report, such as Trip Purpose, Overview, Benefits, Cost and Summary.

Introduction and Overview

Start the report with an overview that states facts but does not provide support or detail. Let the reader know what the trip was, why you were sent and the expected results. For example, you might write that you went to a trade show in California to meet with important clients, prospect new ones and check out the competition. You might write that you attended a business workshop to learn new human resources practices to help you recruit better employees, reduce turnover and develop a better benefits package.

The Body of the Report

Describe what happened at the event in terms of how or if you met your goals for going there. Don’t be afraid to tell your supervisor any expectations that fell short — if you don’t, and he asks later, you might look like you purposely left this information out of the report. For example, if you went to a trade show and weren’t able to meet any promising new clients, you might have solidified relationships with longtime customers and learned new information about competitors, which could lead to more business or better product ideas.

Give specific examples of events relevant to your goals or anything that happened that will benefit your company. Rather than listing personal benefits you got from the trip, such as improving your knowledge of a specific software, discuss how those benefits will help the company — for example by decreasing the company’s need to hire outside vendors now that you have this skill.

Summarize the Highlights of the Trip

Use the summary to recap the highlights of the trip, including your expected benefits, whether or not you attained them or any others, the total cost for the trip, any expected financial benefit to the company and your recommendation for the future. The more specific you can be about the benefits of your trip, the easier it is for your superiors to calculate a return on their investment.

Attach Your Expense Report

Consider attaching your expense report to the document, rather than listing the details in the document. Include the total cost of the trip in your document, but save details, such as airfare, lodging, meals, tips, parking and other travel costs for the expense report.