Services

Corporate Skills Development: Better Business Writing

Duration: 2-days

Course overview:

Would you like to produce clear, readable business documents – memos, briefing notes, letters, proposals and reports - that engage the reader?

Do you wish your writing were more persuasive?

Do you need to express complex ideas and information in a way the reader can readily understand?

This workshop will help you to produce better business writing in significantly less time. For two days you will learn (and practice using) excellent planning techniques, guidelines for writing clearly and concisely, rules of grammar, and tips for making your message more powerful.

Target audience:

Anyone within an organization looking to improve their business writing skills.

Getting started?

Tips on how to write a quick plan

• Learn how planning and preparation can halve your writing time

Think before you write

Ask yourself how you want your reader to respond

• Think through your reader’s needs and interests
• Practice using a logical planning technique
• Identify the level and type of information you need
• Plan how you will collect and organize the information

Writing letters, memos, e-mail, briefing notes, proposals and reports

• Select the correct type of business document for the purpose
• Practice planning the key points for each section
• Practice using your in-house templates
• Work on real documents during the course, if appropriate

Writing with clarity and impact

• Practice expressing complex ideas and information simply, clearly and in plain English
• Be concise by eliminating unnecessary words
• Find out your own most common errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure and word usage
• Write grammatically with an improved vocabulary

Writing with professionalism

• Write with a style and tone that reflects your corporate image
• Write to build a relationship with your reader
• Understand the persuasive power of words

Strengthening your first draft

• Edit your first draft to clarify and strengthen your message
• Adjust the style and tone of your writing to be consistent with the reader’s needs and your corporate image
• Put yourself in your reader’s shoes
• Build in enough time for editing and proof reading
• Use simple techniques for correcting errors in grammar and layout.

Reviewing your writing

• Check your writing for clarity, impact and persuasiveness
• Develop a critical attitude to your own and others’ business writing
• Set long term goals and an action plan for improving your business writing

Course approach

• The course is “hands-on” and fun
• You get numerous opportunities to practice and improve your business writing
• You may, if you wish, bring samples of your work for review by the trainer on the first day of the course
• The trainer will help and guide you throughout the two days
• The course handbook is full of examples and tips that you can continue to use after the course