Better Business Writing
    Kirkland, Washington (near Seattle)
    September 25, 2008 Flyer
    Place: Computer Classrooms

The Keys to Error-Free Writing
    Seattle, Washington
    October 20, 2008 Flyer
    Place: UW Center for Urban Horticulture

Host a Public Class
Are you interested in hosting a public class at your organization? Hosts receive discounts and free registrations. Contact us for information.

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OUR CLASSES

Our specialty is business writing workshops

...guaranteed to improve participants’ skills and confidence in business communication.

We make that guarantee based on 16 years of experience, thousands of employees and managers attending our Business Writing Workshop business writing courses, and listening to what our clients tell us.

We teach workshops in-house at your locations in Seattle, the Puget Sound area, and beyond. We also offer public business writing courses in and around Washington and Oregon.

We offer four business writing workshops. We stand behind them 100 percent.

Better Business Writing

An intensive 1-day or 1.5-day business writing class of planning, writing, and editing documents, using practical job-aids.

Writing Tune-Up for Peak Performance

A half-day business writing seminar in which participants make quick repairs and enhancements to the writing samples they bring with them.

The Keys to Error-Free Writing

A lively full-day workshop on the essential rules of today’s business writing, with strategies that lead to error-free documents.

Email Intelligence

A quick interactive workshop on writing effective email, following email etiquette, and promoting email intelligence on the job.

Everyone would like to struggle less and be successful with business writing projects. Our Better Business Writing class is designed to help employees and managers plan strategically, write quickly, and edit confidently. It provides a variety of take-away tools to help participants be consistently successful back on the job.

Here are some of the skills presented and practiced in this business writing class:

Understanding your real purpose in writing
Identifying your readers’ needs and how to meet them
Writing quickly by answering your readers’ questions
Editing confidently with a 12-point checklist
Using clear, concise language
Applying formatting techniques for quick comprehension
Avoiding the Top 20 errors in writing

Format
In this 1-day or 1.5-day class, participants plan, write, and edit. Then they take away tools and resources to help them apply their new skills and strategies, and they receive 10 weeks of reinforcement by email. They leave the workshop with a zip-up portfolio including:

A manual of document “blueprints,” with do’s, don’ts, and annotated models of 18 common documents
Planning checklists on paper and on disk
A 12-point editing tool
A 4-page quick-reference guide covering the rules of grammar and punctuation
A quick-reference booklet of frequently confused words

Observable results:

Crisp email that gets the job done
User manuals that are user-friendly
Letters that customers understand and appreciate
Proposals that appeal to their readers
Reports that are easy to skim for key information
Announcements that provide clear, complete information
Excellent writing projects delivered on time

When employees and managers complete this business writing course, they have skills, tools, and resources they can apply to any business writing project—email, proposals, responses to customers, procedures, reports, recommendations—whatever they need to write on the job.

Writing Tune-Up for Peak Performance is a fast-paced seminar in which employees and managers gain quick tips, strategies, and tools to improve their writing immediately.

Why “Tune-Up”? Because writing is a vehicle. Vehicles need ongoing maintenance, effective repairs, and tools to sustain improved performance.

Format
Writing Tune-Up for Peak Performance is a half-day seminar of learning and application. Participants apply tips, techniques, and new information to their own writing, which they bring to the session. (Participants do not write documents in this seminar; they edit and rewrite their own samples and class exercises.)

Participants take away job aids to help sustain smooth performance:

Writer-to-Reader Checklist
Editing Checklist
High-Performance Writing—a job aid summarizing workshop concepts

Some of the topics presented and applied in this seminar are:

Following the rules of email etiquette and efficiency
Using checklists to plan, write, and edit documents
Eliminating extra words
Breaking up stringy sentences for quick comprehension
Using formatting to highlight information
Knowing when and how to avoid passive verbs
Accentuating the positive
Writing for a global audience

At the end of the seminar, participants jot down a maintenance plan of steps they will take to maintain effective writing performance. They receive 10 weeks of skills reinforcement by email.

Observable results:

Short, clear sentences that make their point
Documents whose key information stands out
Efficient email that leads to action
Positive language that connects with the reader
Clear procedures with active verbs
Writing that meets its readers’ needs

It IS possible for employees and managers to produce error-free documents consistently and confidently. The Keys to Error-Free Writing provides the information, practice, and tools to do just that.

In this practical course, participants master the essentials of correct business usage. Through a detailed pre-test, they verify what they already know. Then they master the pre-test items and on-the-job topics that confront and challenge them. They also learn expert tricks for choosing the right word, proofreading, and using software to eliminate errors. At the end of the course, they confirm their understanding of the rules of error-free writing in a comprehensive post-test.

By the end of the program, participants can find and correct errors in sentences like those below.

Test yourself: Can you find them?
(Hint: There is one error in each sentence.)

The plans have been submitted, however, we have not received approval yet.
We were told that a inspector found several discrepancies in the processes.
The plan includes: goals, timelines, a budget, and specific responsibilities.
Lori needs at least a weeks notice if you want her to travel to Costa Rica.
Hiroko is taking an early shuttle to Los Angeles and Han is planning to drive his car.
The principle reason I hired Anne Mroz, the consultant, was to reduce callbacks.
How does the Summer heat affect your energy level?
The summer kick-off meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 6th.
Shelley moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. Which is where she and her brother grew up.
For Carol and I, having our supervisor in Fort Worth, Texas, has been very challenging.

Click here to see the corrected sentences.

Format
The Keys to Error-Free Writing is a one-day session supported by follow-up reinforcement. Participants take away tools and resources to help them retain their new information and skills:

An 89-page manual including additional practice exercises
A 4-page quick-reference guide that crisply summarizes all in-class learning
Weekly reviews and self-tests emailed to participants
A quick-reference booklet of frequently confused words

Results
Participant pre- and post-test scores increase an average of 30 points, for example, from 60 percent to
90 percent. When practiced and reinforced on the job, this improvement translates into email, letters, reports, slide shows, manuscripts, proposals, and other documents that are virtually error-free.

Email is the most prevalent form of business communication. Email Intelligence makes that communication productive, efficient, and manageable.

Everyone writes email, even people who have little experience in business writing. Email Intelligence provides them with techniques, insights, and rules of email etiquette to help them write email effectively. It helps everyone recognize the special needs and requirements of email readers.

Format
We offer Email Intelligence as a 1-hour interactive presentation and as a class of 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on your learning goals. The 1.5-hour class allows time for discussion and an exercise applying the techniques. In the 2-hour training, participants complete exercises to apply the techniques and skills presented.

Here are some of the techniques presented in this email class:

Laying out information for easy retrieval
Making it clear what email readers should do, by when
Organizing information to meet readers’ needs
Following rules of email etiquette and efficiency
Slimming down email so that it is quick and concise

Participants take away a handout of examples, techniques, and tips, including 25+ rules of email etiquette and efficiency.

Observable results:

Specific email subject lines
Email that gets to the point in the opening sentences
Email with clear action items
One-screen messages
Absence of “wallpaper” and distracting graphics
Less unnecessary email

Don’t tolerate email that is out of control. Use Email Intelligence.

Contact us to talk about how our business writing courses would improve written communication at your company.

Email Syntax Training | Telephone 206 - 782 - 8410
7332 16th Avenue, NW, Seattle, WA 98117, USA