Business Writing Training
 Bottom-Line Business Writing: How to Bring Clarity And Style to Anything You Write
Available Formats
Program Overview
Poor writing and bad grammar can stall or sink an otherwise successful career. Don't let that happen to you or a member of your team. Bottom-Line Business Writing tackles everything from basic usage to editing techniques, under the guidance of an instructor with over 30 years of professional writing, teaching, and editing experience. This course is interactive, fast paced, fun, and full of tips and techniques you can use immediately.
Program Objectives
At this program's conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Identify the "bottom line" in a writing task.
- Understand the connection between audience awareness and a writer's style.
- Arrange information in a logical sequence.
- Write clear and concise sentences.
- Eliminate the passive voice, wordiness, and redundancy.
- Use correct punctuation and grammar.
- Minimize word, sentence, and paragraph length without sacrificing clarity or substance.
- Quickly proofread and edit a piece of writing.
The following outline highlights some of the course's key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).
Course Outline
Dollars and Sense: The Benefits of Writing Well
The business world moves at a pace that often appears to be faster than light. At times, it may seem to have little use or need for the written word. However, almost nothing could be farther from the truth. Clear and concise writing that, for instance, documents fact and persuasive writing that moves an audience to action are the cornerstones of business communication. In this introductory lesson, participants will discover the difference between business and other types of written communication, along with the cost of poor writing skills.
Good News, Bad News: Discovering the Bottom Line
This second unit is designed to show participants how to state the main point of any writing task they might encounter. By reviewing examples of unfocused writing and completing exercises that require clear bottom lines, participants will understand how good writing is directly linked to a controlling thought.
Flow-Chart Clarity: Getting Information Organized
Another component covers arranging information in a logical sequence. Participants will see how by placing their bottom line at the start of what they write they will have a main idea that paves the way for subsequent sentences.
Target the Market: Knowing Your Audience
As important as understanding what to say is knowing who the intended reader will be. Audience awareness impacts style. Included in this segment of the program is information about how knowing an audience should govern such considerations as word choice, tone, and quantity of detail to use in a writing task.
Deal Breakers: Words, Phrases, and Expressions to Avoid
Sexist, racist, and pompous language has no place in business writing-intentional or not. Jargon, clichés, slang, and business buzz words similarly diminish the value of writers' ideas. This discussion explores the importance of word choices and how to avoid potentially offensive or trite expressions in written communication.
Language Economics 101: Clarity, Brevity, Active Voice
Nothing makes a piece of business writing wordier than excessive use of the passive voice. In this section, participants will learn how to identify the passive voice and what they can do to eliminate it from their writing. Using writing samples, they will also practice removing unneeded words and phrases, consolidating redundant sentences, and revising others that contain jargon.
Necessary Layoffs: Removing Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling Mistakes
This component focuses on grammatical and spelling accuracy. With the knowledge that clarity and conciseness are earmarks of exceptional business writing, participants will review such problematic issues as sentence construction, subject-verb agreement, capitalization, and frequently misspelled words.
Performance Review: Shortcuts for Proofreading and Editing
This portion of the training exposes participants to the "natural" editing skills we have as humans. Through fast-paced group exercises, participants will see how the brain either overlooks mistakes or fills in the blanks when it processes the written word. Because of this phenomenon, participants will review quick steps for proofreading and editing their texts to eliminate any mistakes that aren't caught on a "first read."
Informed Investment: Applying the Skills
This final session gives participants the opportunity to practice what they have learned. By producing sample email messages, memos, letters, and other business documents, they will have the chance to demonstrate their understanding of the course content and receive immediate feedback from the instructor.
At the program's conclusion, participants will have an understanding of the features of effective business writing. They will also be aware of the most common writing errors that sabotage business communication and know how to eliminate these from their own writing. Finally, they will see that writing improvement comes through steady practice and conscientious application of the rules they have learned during this program.
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