Course duration
- 2 days
Course Benefits
- Craft strategic communication versus basic communication
- Incorporate a higher order of thinking and content in your emails and documents
- Elaborate on basic grammar skills with prewriting and editing techniques to make your writing clear and concise, and received in the way you intend
- Write an informative executive summary in a crisp and compelling style
- Define a clear objective for your writing, and select and implement appropriate formats for your audience
- Identify the correct medium for communication and adjust your writing style accordingly
Course Outline
- Introduction
- Course overview
- Objectives, principles, and challenges of business writing
- Activity: Discussion and documentation of challenges and goals of business writing (Whole Group)
- Purpose and Audience
- Developing a specific objective for each writing piece
- Analyzing audience characteristics and traits
- Ensuring the appropriate level of detail to meet writing objective and audience needs
- Understanding how writing purpose and audience determines content, format, style, and tone
- Activity: Determining typical audience for various business emails and documents (Partner Exercise)
- Effective Email Writing and Etiquette
- Using a direct vs. indirect email format
- Highlighting key actions and content
- Taking advantage of headings, bulleted lists, and short paragraphs
- Creating a respectful tone
- Writing a specific, meaningful subject line
- Activities:
- Re-ordering sentences in a sample email (Partner Exercise)
- Adding headings to sample emails (Individual Exercise)
- Reviewing a tone scenario and rewriting the email to avoid misinterpretation (Individual Exercise and Group Discussion)
- Revising subject lines (Individual Exercise)
- Final Email Exercise: Incorporating all email writing techniques in a case study (Partner Exercise and Group Discussion)
- The Writing Process and Persuasion in Business Documents
- Using the clustering technique for organizing and refining ideas
- Testing content against the W- and H- questions
- Understanding the six elements of persuasion
- Freewriting to draft with speed and flow
- Activities:
- Identifying and planning a writing topic (Individual Exercise)
- Assessing persuasion (Table Discussion)
- Crafting a first draft based on writing plan (Individual Exercise)
- Executive Summaries
- Defining the purpose and elements of executive summaries
- Identifying key content to include in executive summaries
- Ensuring proper order and connection of ideas
- Activity: Writing and receiving feedback on an executive summary (Individual and Partner Exercise)
- Revising and Editing
- Improving document formatting and layout
- Applying parallel structure to lists
- Maximizing active voice
- Varying sentence structure and length
- Ensuring accurate sentence mechanics
- Eliminating excess words and minimizing business jargon
- Activities:
- Completing exercises in each revising and editing technique (Individual and Partner Work)
- Revising two sample emails (Individual Exercise)
- Applying revision techniques to sample drafted earlier in the class (Individual Exercise)
- Getting feedback on writing (Group Critique Session)
- Proofreading Business Writing
- The importance of error-free writing
- Techniques of proofreading
- Scanning for overall layout and content
- Reading out loud
- Proofing someone else's work
- Activities:
- Discussing the importance of error-free writing (Small Group)
- Practicing spotting typos and spelling errors (Small Group)
- Closing
- Workshop summary
- Ways to ensure implementation
Class Materials
Each student will receive a comprehensive set of materials, including course notes and all the class examples.
Instructor-led courses are offered via a live Web connection, at client sites throughout Europe, and at our Geneva Training Center.