Business Writing training
'How to identify and fix common writing mistakes that make you look unprofessional'
Do your senior managers waste time vetting the writing of junior staff before it goes out to clients?Research shows customers distrust companies whose staff commit spelling or grammatical mistakes. Poor writing diminishes your organisation's credibility.
Click Play to listen to an intro from Brainpower
Training Director Nina Sunday < 0:53 Sec>
Here are some of the things your team will learn in the Brainpower Business Writing or Report Writing workshop:
Program content
- Themes - purpose, content, style, tone
- Goals - economy, clarity, empathy
- Readability index - calculate 'Fog Index' of own writing sample to find out how 'foggy' it is
- Refinement - editing tips - makeover of own writing sample
- Economy - brevity tricks, omit needless words, avoid qualifiers, active voice
- Make every word count - avoid repetition and redundancy
- Plain English - write the way you speak
- Clarity - be positive, avoid nominalisation, use bullets
- Empathy - tone and courtesy
- Standard Register - style, compare with formal and informal registers
- Tone - write with your reader in mind, 'You' vs. 'I', saving face, WIIFM
- Grammar - common grammar and punctuation mistakes, new usage rules
- Punctuation - commas, apostrophe, contractions
- Getting started - avoid writer's block using memory mapping, freewriting
- E-mail - formatting for readability, style and 'netiquette'
- Respect - vocabulary or gender, race and disability
- Readability - best fonts and layout for online and paper-based material
- Editing - Revise after time
- Where to from here? - style guides, Thesaurus
- Review - key concepts summary
Business Writing Outcomes
On completion of the program participants will be able to:
- Using our makeover checklist, proof read and edit their writing to improve readability
- Recognise and delete unnecessary words
- Eliminate repetition in writing
- Use Active Voice instead of Passive Voice
- Express themselves clearly using fewer words
- Write in Plain English with crystal clear clarity
- Increase rapport by writing with the reader in mind, using 'You' vs. 'I'
- Identify and correct common grammatical errors
Using the techniques you'll learn about in this course, you and your team will be able to write...
- Letters that convey professionalism and warmth
- Proposals that persuade your reader to agree or buy
- Memos that convey your ideas with brevity and clarity
- Reports that present facts and opinions clearly and concisely.
- e-mails that communicate your ideas efficiently.
The Brainpower Business Writing course covers the core techniques and skills your staff need to produce an immediate impact to the quality and clarity of their writing. Topics include:
- How readable is your writing? Find out using the Fog Index formula.
- How to refine and edit your writing, using your own writing sample
- Useful brevity tricks: using active voice, eliminating unnecessary words and avoiding qualifiers
- How to make every word count: avoiding repetition and redundancy
- Standard register: when to use formal and informal registers
- Plain English: avoiding complex language and reducing sentence length
- Style: How to improve your writing style using strong verbs and simple direct sentences. Write the way you speak.
- Clarity: Be positive; be specific; bullets; avoid idea gaps and blind spots.
- Tone: write with the reader in mind; 'I' vs. 'You'; saving face; WIIFM - What's In It For Me?
- Grammar: common grammar mistakes.
- Punctuation: How to use commas, apostrophes and contractions correctly.
- How to combat writer's block using freewriting, memory mapping and conversation
- E-mail: how to format your e-mails for readability, style and 'netiquette'
- Respect: vocabulary for gender, race and disability
- Readability: best fonts and layouts for online and paper-based material
- Further resources: style guide and thesaurus
- Makeover checklist: summary page to use from now on
For a pdf of our company brochure, click here.
Does Brainpower offer public workshops for individuals to attend?
We do not schedule external workshops for individuals to attend.Brainpower Training works inside companies and organisations with groups of their staff, usually in a workshop of around 10-16 people at a time.
Instead perhaps consider our training DVDs . . . more info
The Brainpower difference: How we present
Appealing to all learning styles, there'll be:
flipcharts created and coloured pens to use for Visual learners - background music in the breaks for Auditory learners
- for Kinesthetic learners, as well as plasticene and pipe cleaners, brain-shaped squeeze balls with Brainpower logo to take-away.
Our facilitator adapts and
customises the presentation to suit the
specific needs of your team
Your people will be asked to bring a one page sample of their writing for makeover on the spot. They'll walk out with their writing transformed. They'll also have a 100% self-correcting checklist to work with every time they write. 'Does the training include
any additional materials?'
Yes. All workshop participants receive a reader-friendly, illustrated workbook to refer to during and after the course. They'll also be presented with a Certificate of Achievement for successfully completing the course and a prompt card summarising the key concepts. 'But is it really worth it? How do I know this is a wise investment?'
Using the techniques you learn in the Brainpower Business Writing course, your people will increase the clarity, effectiveness and persuasiveness of every written communication they produce at work.That’s a significant productivity boost, when you think about how much of the work day is devoted to writing or typing reports, proposals, instructions and e-mails.
Instructions will be expressed with greater clarity, using fewer words saving time and avoiding confusion and misunderstanding.
Proposals or sales documents will come across with more persuasive force.
E-mails will be handled quickly and professionally, which saves time and helps get more things done.
These improvements can add up to thousands of dollars worth of increased productivity in the course of a year. Your investment in a Business Writing course is easily justified.
'Act now to master the skills of clear, persuasive writing'
Don't wait to accelerate your organisation's success. Schedule a workshop now so they can start communicating more clearly and persuasively.No Risk Guarantee
You have peace of mind knowing you are not only getting great value for money, but also results that positively impact performance.Our guarantee is simply this:
If you are not 100% happy and delighted with your workshop, we will either refund the difference between what you paid to what you think it was worth or we'll continue to work with you for free until you achieve the outcomes you reasonably expected.Call us on 1300 661 555. Our Support Team are happy to answer any questions you may have and discuss your options.
Any Questions?
You'll find the answers to most of your questions on the Frequently Asked Questions page.If you can't find what you're looking for, please contact us and our Support Team will respond to your enquiry with priority.

