Business Writing Training
A Program to Strengthen Business Writing Skills

Skills for Success
I cannot “teach” you how to write. I help you develop a critical eye toward your work. From brainstorming to proofreading, people cultivate their skills as I rely heavily on the Socratic method to create an atmosphere of learning. This is not training in which you can sit back and absorb a lecture. It requires participation and a commitment toward the written word.

Transform Your Communications
The needs of your company determine the sessions. They could involve simply a brush-up in grammar and punctuation or something that exposes trainees to any number of written venues, including direct mail, letters, brochures, corporate folders, speeches, proposals, e-mail, memos, and resumes. You could learn about copywriting and hyperbole, buffers and bad news messages, and how to write a sales pitch, an effective speech and a proposal with impact. I do not teach theory; I teach application. One learns by doing.

“WriteVentures training made a big difference in our employee communications.”
—Ken Whitaker,
  President, Public Interest Communications, Falls Church, VA

WriteVentures Business Writing Training helps employees master the skills of workplace writing, the kind of writing that articulates a change in program or policy, yields funding for a project, adds a new client, or cultivates the good will of the public. Here are some of the skills you could master:

• Analyzing an audience and targeting a message for the audience’s specific needs and interests
• Arguing for ideas and initiatives
• Structuring a message so that readers grasp it
• Using stylistic and visual devices to make information readable and interesting
• Improving the ability to edit one’s own writing as well as the work of peers/colleagues
• Working collaboratively with other writers.

A Program to Strengthen Business Writing Skills

Overcoming Writer’s Block
• Tips for dealing with anxiety
• Brainstorming—cultivating ideas through free association
• Organizing your thoughts and information
• Knowing where you want to go

Using Punctuation Precisely
• No-brainer commas
• Semi-colons for transitions
• Colons & dashes for emphasis
• Quotation marks on the mark

Grammar Made Easy
• Recognizing dangling modifiers (your 7th grade teacher was right)
• Ensuring agreement between the subject and verb
• The proper use of clauses
• Proofreading—catching errors before they leave your desk

Plain Language for Clarity
• Why the passive voice can obscure a message
• To be or not to be: cutting away the fat
• Eliminating redundancy—saying it right the first time
• Trimming unnecessary adverbs, prepositions and adjectives
• Developing a critical eye
• The Hemingway rule

E-mail in the Workplace
• Etiquette and what’s not
• Privacy issues
• Style that fits the medium

Effective Letters
• Formatting, salutations and closings
• Capturing attention in the first sentence
• Retaining good will while giving bad news
• Client correspondence—get to the point
• Responding to complaints gracefully
• Sales letters that are on target

Memos, Reports & Proposals
• Audience analysis—developing the “you” approach
• Capturing attention and keeping it
• How to get the desired response
• Winning formulas
• Avoiding illogical statements, personal assumptions and hasty generalizations

Copywriting
• Distinguishing between benefit and feature
• Attention, Interest, Desire, Action—Direct mail that works
• Emotional vs. logical appeals—getting the right balance
• Headlines that draw you in

Writing for the Web
• Breaking the rules in cyberspace—how writing for the Web differs from print
• Words and graphics—getting the right balance

Presentations
• Memorable openings
• Organizing your information
• Techniques to free you from the text
• Speaking to the audience
• Stories, quotes, and humor to spice up a talk
• The speechwriter’s secret
• PowerPoint tips

Resumes, Cover Letters & Interviews
• Cover letters that capture the reader’s interest
• Resumes that land interviews
• Interview preparation—how to separate yourself from the competition

For Questions or comments concerning this site, contact webmaster@greenleegraphics.com