Write clear communications that people want to read
For: People who write to their clients, senior managers and colleagues
Level: Can be customised to managers, technical experts or administrators
Time: ½ day (face-to-face or virtual courses)
Professionals who can write in plain English are highly valued by their clients and senior colleagues. People appreciate their clear, concise communications.
On Plain English, your team will learn about the key principles underlying excellent business writing.
Your team will learn how to plan and structure their writing so it meets their audience’s needs. They’ll discover how to adapt their writing style so it’s much easier to read and understand. And they’ll learn a game-changing proofreading technique so they can correct their own work effectively.
This course will be tailored to your organisation. We’ll use anonymised examples of your own communications so that the course is relevant and practical for your team.
Your team will be able to:
- Use plain English so their writing works for their clients, managers and colleagues
- Write professionally without drifting into overly formal language
- Produce work efficiently with fewer reviews and re-drafts
Content for Plain English
Excellent business writing
Understanding why relevance and readability are the keys to writing in plain English:
- Readers’ choice – acknowledging that people always have a choice about whether they read what we write or not
Relevance
Planning what they’re going to say before drafting:
- Purpose – defining what they want to achieve
- Audience – considering the needs of their readers
- Message – clarifying their main point
- Content – identifying what to add in and cut out to meet their audience’s needs
- Structure – building their argument so it’s persuasive
Readability
Making their writing work for their readers:
- Skim-readable – using reader-friendly layout and descriptive sub-headings
- Bite-sizeable – using short paragraphs and short sentences
- Clear – using their audience’s language and simple words
- Vivid – using mostly active voice and powerful verbs for actions
- Concise – re-writing prepositional phrases and deleting unnecessary words
Proofreading
Correcting their work so it’s free from typos and errors:
- A game-changing technique that will help them efficiently spot mistakes in their own work
Learning options for Plain English
- Training only
- Combine with reviews of your people’s writing
- Combine with coaching for individual team members
- Combine with a consulting project to develop common standards, processes and tools for all your communications
Your training programme will include implementation resources and support to help your team make fast progress with their writing skills.
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My training is based on my 20 years’ experience as a business writer and communications professional.
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I’m based in London and work with clients
across the UK and internationally.
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If you’d like to have a chat about Plain English for your team, please send me a message.