Advanced Business Writing

Course details

A simple email or letter can resolve a complex situation. This advanced business writing skills workshop emphasizes how a clear and concise message is the key to having a powerful impact in today's business world.

Learning outcomes:

• Write effective emails, reports, and proposals
  
• Use rules for organizing content in a clear and concise manner
  
• Match writing complexity to the modern business environment
  
• Apply advanced structuring techniques in writing that yields a desirable response
  
• Identify and talk to their reader's interest.
  

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE WRITING 

• Defining effective writing
  
• Characteristics of effective writers
  
• Understanding the hallmarks of effective communicators
  
• Elements of written communication
  
• Writing in a business context
  
• Understanding your audience
  
• Setting a purpose for your writing
  
• Understanding sources of miscommunication
  
• Tips for business writing
  

ORGANIZING CONTENT:

• The 3 forms of communication
  
• Using simple and specific language to avoid confusion
  
• Using positive language
  
• Applying rules for bullet points
  
• Maintaining an impersonal style
  
• Avoiding repetitions
  
• Using active verbs to promote a response
  

WRITING STYLE:

• Adding a personal touch to business writing
• Organizing paragraphs effectively
  
• Using varied sentences
  
• Recognizing clichés and jargon
  
• Applying the gunning fox index for writing complexity
  
• Using visual aids to support text
  
• Going the last inch: proof reading your work

LOGICAL SEQUENCING OF IDEAS:

• Building your key message
  
• Organizing the introduction, body and ending
  
• Structuring ideas from the bottom up
  
• Refining the flow from the top down
  
• Drawing impeccable conclusions
  
• Summarizing ideas effectively

RESPONDING TO COMPLEX SITUATIONS THROUGH WRITING:

• Building rapport with your audience
  
• Managing expectations: responding to bad news
  
• Managing expectations: saying no
  
• Effectively handing difficult individuals 
  
• Hostile: responding assertively 
  
• Pessimist: sticking to facts
  
• Nagger: setting the rules 
  
• Mr. Know-it-all: staying focused 
  
• Egoist: getting descriptive
  
• Manipulator: taking the initiative