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Effective Writing for Business and Government Professionals

3 Hours

Course Overview

The writing you produce impacts readers and can significantly influence the way people view your business. With the help of a few guiding principles presented in this class, this course will help business and government professionals create well written business documents that concisely present clarity of thought using simple language.

Course Objectives

  • Learn the writing process and elements of effective writing
  • Learn to organize and express main points clearly and motivate readers to act
  • Improve grammar and punctuation mechanics
  • Use a systematic approach to review, revise, edit and proofread documents
  • View before and after examples to show methods in action
  • Avoid ambiguous business documents that result in corrective communication to clear up misunderstandings or lead to poor decision-making

Course Outline

Deliver the Goods Quickly

  • Know the purpose and objective
  • Understand your readers
  • Divide the writing process into four separate tasks
  • Write in full, rapidly
  • Improve and edit what you have written
  • Use graphics to illustrate and clarify

Develop Better Skills

  • Use plain-language writing
  • Be relentlessly clear and concise
  • Active vs. Passive Voice
  • Learn to summarize accurately
  • Learn the basics of grammar

Steps to Reviewing and Editing

  • Review outline
  • Paragraph review
  • Sentence and word review
  • Spelling and grammar check
  • Rewrite sentences
  • Final document review

Avoid Turning Off Readers

  • Do not anesthetize your readers
  • Watch your tone

Tools and Checklists

  • Checklist for the four stages of writing
  • Dozens of grammatical rules you need to know
  • Dozens of punctuation rules you need to know
  • Common usage gaffes
  • Do's and Don'ts of business writing etiquette
  • Primer of good usage

Courseware:

  • HBR Guide to Better Business Writing  by Bryan A. Garner

 

Cost and Delivery Format Options

We offer the above listed class as a private group class in the following delivery formats:

Private Group Class: Live Virtual
1-6 students $1155
7-12 students $1960
13-18 students $2450
Private Group Class: At Your Location
1-6 students $1405
7-12 students $2210
13-18 students $2700

Private Group Training

Private group classes are cost effective when you have a group of students who need the same course. Volume discounts of 5% to 20% are available when five or more training days are scheduled. For classes conducted at your location, you are responsible for the classroom setup which should include:

  • A computer for each student (with the appropriate software installed), and
  • An instructor workstation connected to a visual display (e.g., projector, smartboard, etc.).

Customization

Softek can easily customize a training course that covers the specific topics you require and integrate examples relevant to your work environment. Course customization is billed at $150 per hour and covers time needed to meet, discuss, prepare, and incorporate any specific examples into the training program. Once we have a better idea of what you have in mind, we will be glad to provide a specific price quote for the customization.

Why Choose Softek?

  • Live, virtual or in-person training
  • Instructors with 15+ years of experience
  • Detailed training guide
  • Certificate of completion
  • Money-back guarantee