Business Writing Skills

Take the strain out of composing any kind of document!

Would you like a quick and easy method for composing documents,letters, memos, reports, proposals and performance appraisals in an organized format? This seminar provides you with basic formats and formulas for tackling any kind of writing task and communicating to your readers what they need to know. You streamline your writing process and save time by focusing on what to write instead of how to write it. Bring a current project and get one-on-one feedback.

How You Will Benefit

• Quickly organize your thoughts and generate content
• Eliminate numerous time-consuming revisions
• Rid your writing of fluff so you generate concise content

What You Will Cover

• Formats and formulas for various writing requirements
• Gaining familiarity with powerful openings and closings to capture and retain attention
• Thinking logically by blocking ideas and structuring your document using information modeling
• Identifying your readers needs and expectations to establish the purpose and focus
• Organizing ideas and generating content
• Learning how and when to use the appropriate tone, persuasion and positive and negative words
• Techniques for editing and proofreading the final version

Special Feature

• Bring a sample writing piece for one-on-one feedback.

Programme Schedule:

Learning Objectives

• Quickly Organize Your Thoughts and Generate Content
• Bring a Current Project and Get One-on-One Feedback from the Course Leader
• Eliminate Numerous Time-Consuming Revisions
• Streamline Content and Communicate What Your Readers Need to Know
• Write with Greater Clarity

Guidelines for Effective Business Writing

• The Principles That Ensure Effective Business Writing
• The Need for Planning and Establishing Purpose
• How to Meet the Reader Needs and Expectations
• How to Use Techniques for Overcoming Writer Block

Writing the First Draft

• Techniques for Achieving Clarity and Precision in Daily Business Writing
• The Role of Word Choice
• How to Construct Sentences That Are Clear and Direct
• How to Use Linking Words and Phrases in Sentences and Paragraphs
• Active and Passive Voice and Parallelism
• How to Employ Various Patterns of Organizing Information

Memos and Letters, Reports

• Guidelines for Writing Effective Memos and Letters
• The Importance of Opening Sentences
• How and When to Use Persuasive, Positive, and Negative Words
• How to Use Appropriate Tone

Composing E-Mail

• The Guidelines for Writing Effective E-Mail
• The Importance of Subject Lines

Editing and Proofreading the Final Version

• How to Recognize Common Proofreading Errors
• Techniques for Effective Editing and Proofreading
• Methods for Revising the First Draft
• How to Avoid Offensive Language
• Often Confused Words

This section of the seminar is held in an interactive workshop format

Groups of 3-4 people work together, sharing both ideas and understanding. Each group, analyses extracts of previously written reports, memos and letters that have been brought to the seminar. In the light of the understandings developed in the first part of the day, we discuss how we can better achieve the desirable outcome of a well-written piece. This analysis allows us to improve our written and presentational style, and the results of our exercises are shared and discussed with the rest of the group.

This seminar is hands on and very practical. It is directed at your specific needs; the exact content and balance of the sessions depending very much on areas of activity which you feel need to be explored.

The programme is backed with a PowerPoint presentation and each delegate receives a comprehensive pack of course notes for future reference.

• Business professionals at all levels who want a quick and easy approach to any writing task.