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Better Business Writing
    June 28, 2013 Flyer
    Kirkland, Washington (near Seattle)
    Place: Computer Classrooms

Meeting Notes Made Easy
    July 9, 2013 Flyer
    Place: Online at your computer!

Writing Tune-Up for Peak Performance
    August 20 and 22, 2013 Flyer
    Place: Online at your computer!

How to Write Email That Gets Results
    September 10, 2013 Flyer
    Place: Online at your computer!

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 20 years of experience, thousands of employees and managers attending our Business Writing Workshopbusiness 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 lead online classes for your employees around the world.

We also offer public business writing courses in and around Seattle, Portland, and other large cities. Check the current listings on our Upcoming Classes page. Contact us to request a public business writing class in your city if you have a group of 5 or more employees.

We offer five business writing workshops, along with customized programs to meet your training needs. We stand behind our learning programs 100 percent.

Contact us to plan a learning program to meet your specific goals.

Business Writing ClassBetter Business Writing

An intensive 1-day or 1.5-day business writing class of planning, writing, and editing documents, using practical job-aids. Includes written suggestions and coaching from the instructor.

Business Writing WorkshopWriting Tune-Up for Peak Performance

A half-day business writing seminar in which participants learn to make quick repairs and improvements in the writing samples they bring to class and in a range of exercises. The online version takes place in two 1.5-hour sessions.

Full Day Business Writing WorkshopThe Keys to Error-Free Writing

A lively full-day workshop (or four 1.5-hour online sessions) on the essential rules of today’s business writing, with tips and tactics that lead to error-free documents. Pre- and post-tests demonstrate everyone’s increased knowledge.

Effective Email WorkshopHow to Write Email That Gets Results

A quick interactive workshop on writing email that gets results, following email etiquette, and eliminating unnecessary messages. The session runs 2.5 hours in person and 1.75 hours online.

Effective Email WorkshopMeeting Notes Made Easy

A lively learning session that increases skills and confidence for those who take meeting notes and minutes. The note-taking class runs 2.5 hours in person and 1.5 hours online, plus Q&A.


Business Writing Course

Business Writing TrainingEveryone 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 tactics, 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 dos, don’ts, and annotated models of 18 common documents
  • Planning checklists on paper and on disk
  • A 12-point Editing Checklist
  • A 4-page quick-reference guide covering the rules of grammar and punctuation
  • A quick-reference booklet of frequently confused words
  • A booklet of 110 Tips for Sending Email
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.


Business Writing Class

Business Writing CourseWriting Tune-Up for Peak Performance is a fast-paced class in which employees and managers gain quick tips, tactics, 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 in-person seminar or a live online program of two 1.5-hour sessions. 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:
  • 30-page manual customized for the group
  • 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 workshop, 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

Business Writing Training

Business Writing SkillIt 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.)

  1. The plans have been submitted, however, we have not received approval yet.
  2. We were told that a inspector found several discrepancies in the processes.
  3. The plan includes: goals, timelines, a budget, and specific responsibilities.
  4. Lori needs at least a weeks notice if you want her to travel to Costa Rica.
  5. Hiroko is taking an early shuttle to Los Angeles and Han is planning to drive his car.
  6. The principle reason I hired Anne Mroz, the consultant, was to reduce callbacks.
  7. How does the Summer heat affect your energy level?
  8. The summer kick-off meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 6th.
  9. Shelley moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. Which is where she and her brother grew up.
  10. 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 in-person
session or a live online program of four 1.5-hour sessions, both 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 correct. 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.

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Business Writing Training

Email Writing ClassPeople receive too much email. Huge inbox volumes mean that many messages do not get read or acted on. How to Write Email That Gets Results helps professionals write efficient, effective email that is likely to succeed despite email overload.

In How to Write Email That Gets Results, employees and managers learn techniques, tips, and best practices of email etiquette to help them write successful email and eliminate unnecessary messages.

Format
We offer How to Write Email That Gets Results as a 2.5-hour class in person, or a 1.75-hour live online session.
Both formats include lots of interactive learning, discussion, and writing an effective email.

In How to Write Email That Gets Results,
participants learn how to:
  • Lay out information for easy retrieval
  • Make it clear what email readers should do, by when
  • Provide answers to readers’ questions
  • Follow best practices of email etiquette and efficiency
  • Recognize when to talk rather than write
  • Reduce unnecessary messages

Participants receive a handout of model messages, techniques, and best practices, along with 110 Tips for Sending Email That Gets Read—and Gets Results.


Observable results:
  • Precise subject lines
  • Email that gets to the point in the opening sentences
  • Email with clear action items
  • Messages that are concise but not curt
  • Fewer "oops" emails that leave out essential information
  • Less use of Reply All and other time-wasting habits.

Take or sponsor How to Write Email That Gets Results. Then watch your messages lead to action and achieve the results you desire!

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Meeting Notes Made Easy

Meeting Notes Made EasyMany employees fear and avoid taking minutes at meetings. But when no one takes clear, correct meeting notes, the time spent in meeting is wasted. This class increases the skills, confidence, and note-taking savvy for anyone who may need to take notes or minutes—so the time spent in meetings pays off for everyone.

Meeting Notes Made Easy offers solutions for note-taking challenges. This fast-paced training program provides practical strategies, tips, and tools to ease the note-taker’s job and lead to more effective notes and minutes.

Format
The class runs 2.5 hours as an in-person training program, and 1.5 hours as a webinar, with 15 additional minutes for Q&A. Participants discuss ways to minimize note-taking challenges, analyze sample meeting notes, identify the essential content for notes and minutes, and review templates to choose the best ones for their needs. They also take notes at a simulated meeting and evaluate their notes using specific criteria.

Participants in Meeting Notes Made Easy learn to:

  • Recognize how much information to record
  • Get essential information down before the group moves on
  • Reduce note-taking stressors by planning for them
  • Follow a rambling discussion, and know which parts of it to include
  • Identify attendees at a large meeting
  • Get what they need from the meeting facilitator and attendees
  • Record complex information correctly
  • Complete meeting notes and minutes promptly

To continue to take effective meeting notes, participants take away four meeting notes templates, including a combined notes/agenda template, a 20-page handout of tips and models, and a list of ways to manage their note-taking challenges.

Observable results:

  • Individuals volunteering to take meeting notes rather than hiding from the task
  • Minutes that focus on key points, decisions, and next steps
  • Action items with due dates, assigned to specific individuals
  • Clear, correct meeting notes distributed promptly

It is possible to take meeting notes and minutes easily and efficiently. Employees and managers learn how in Meeting Notes Made Easy.


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


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