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Effective Writing for Business and Government Professionals

1 Day, 9:00-4:00

Course Overview

Good writing is a skill you need to cultivate. You can learn to write well with the help of a few guiding principles. This course is designed to help business and government professionals create good business documents quickly and easily. Your success depends on the writing you produce and its effect on readers.

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 documents that result in corrective communication to clear up misunderstandings or lead to poor decision-making

Course Outline

Deliver the Goods Quickly

  • The writing process and successful documents
  • Know the purpose and objective
  • Understand your readers
  • Divide the writing process into four separate tasks
  • Jot down your main points in complete sentences
  • 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
  • Learn to summarize accurately
  • Waste no words
  • Use chronology when giving factual account
  • Be a stickler for continuity
  • Learn the basics of grammar
  • Get feedback on drafts from colleagues

Steps to Reviewing and Editing

  • Review outline
  • Paragraph review
  • Sentence and word review
  • Spelling and grammar check
  • Rewrite sentences
  • Final document review
  • Tips on reviewing other people's writing

Avoid Turning Off Readers

  • Don't anesthetize your readers
  • Watch your tone

Work with Various Forms of Business Writing

  • Email
  • Letters
  • Memos and Reports
  • Performance Appraisals

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 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 $1650
7-12 students $2800
13-18 students $3500
Private Group Class: At Your Location
1-6 students $1900
7-12 students $3050
13-18 students $3750

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 $125 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. There is a 2-hour minimum fee for 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