Advanced Business Writing Skills

Course Outlines:

Module one: 

Writing for Your Reader

• Mastering the perplexing rules of English grammar: from Traditional based on Latin to Modern based on actual usage
• The Art of Punctuation – the traffic signals of language tell us to slow down, notice this, take a detour, or stop
• Practical tips to avoid overused business words, replacing them with language that creates rich variety for our audiences
• Writing in Plain English that is clear, easy to understand and elicits the response you want

Module Two: 

Developing Advanced Proficiency

• 12 golden rules for successful writing that ensure people read what we write
• Inspiring, Influencing & Persuading through Storytelling: how to narrate experiences with enough detail and feeling so our audiences are engaged
• Newsworthy writing for external audiences that will grab interest and keep people reading to the end
• Accurate proof reading that picks up errors, confusion, and potentially embarrassing mistakes

Module Three: 

Writing for Online Audiences

• Email etiquette: creating emails that are well written and structured to people understand why they should pay attention and respond
• How to produce relevant online content for websites and social media, and improve usability and search engine optimisation
• Maximizing the response to your posts, tweets, comments, and other feeds
• Blogging for business impact in an authentic way

Module Four:

 More Practical Applications

• Impactful Presentations: presenting messages clearly so audiences participate positively and remember our key points
• Writing speeches that grab attention: motivating and persuading audiences when developing and delivering both informal talks and more formal speeches
• Gold standard letter writing for business: how to structure letters so our recipients read, understand, and act on what they read

Module Five: 

Powerful Reports & Briefing Papers

• Structuring reports so readers can find their way around the different sections in reports
• Using images, diagrams, graphs, and tables to illustrate key points in reports
• Best practices for layout and design – typefaces, color, white space, margins, columns, numbering, page numbers, binding
• How to write reports for people who don’t have technical backgrounds
• Presenting complex processes, systems, and other technical subjects in a clear, concise, and coherent way