This program is designed to help participants become clear, concise and powerful technical writers. Explore how to write documents for both technical and non-technical groups. Customize your writing to fit your audience. Discover how to develop an effective strategy. Use the proper mechanics and apply a specific writing process to develop an effective writing style. Receive specific feedback on your writing with suggestions for improvements.
Duration
1 day, Instructor-led classroom training
Course Objectives
Program Goals and Objectives:
- Discover how to be clear and precise in your writing
- Develop a writing style that communicates clarity and relevance
- Better connect with the reader and minimize disengagement
- Avoid common grammar and composition errors
- Receive specific feedback on your writing and suggestions for improvement
- Explore ways to overcome "writers block"
PART I - INTRODUCTION
- INTRODUCTION
- Workshop Objectives
- Opening Activity - "samples from real life"
- Technical writing compared to other business writing
- Personal self-assessment of critical communication skills
PART II - STRATEGY
- BEGIN WITH THE END GOAL IN MIND
- What's the problem?
- What's your point?
- Key messages
- Desired impact and action
- KNOW THE AUDIENCE
- Education and awareness regarding the topic
- Intellectual, professional and emotional attachment to the topic
- Familiarity with concepts and terminology
- Needs and expectations
- DEVELOP A CLEAR PROJECT PLAN
- Get everyone on-board from the start
- Establish critical milestones
- Manage attention spans and points of contention
- Manage questions before they arise.
- SELECT THE RIGHT TOOLS
- Common modes for technical presentation
- Matching time, content, culture and utility
- Risks and benefits
PART III - MECHANICS
- USE POWERFUL OPENNERS AND CLOSERS
- Orient the reader and guide them where you want them to go
- Create the context that will support the content
- Close with clarity and power
- MAINTAIN FLOW - PARAGRAPH AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE
- Use the Five C's Of Communication - Clear, Concise, Coherent, Correct, & Complete
- Connect tactical components to the overall strategy
- AVOID COMMON COMPOSITION ERRORS
- Vagueness
- Wordiness
- Redundancy
- Passive Voice
- Clichés and Jargon
- ELIMINATE GRAMATICAL MISTAKES
- Dangling Modifiers
- Lack of Parallelism
- Unclear Pronoun Use
- Wrong Case
- Inappropriate Punctuation
- Incorrect Capitalization
- CONSIDER FORM AND LAYOUT
- Font selection
- Titles, bullets and boxes
- Margins and white space
- Tables, charts and figures
- References and appendices
- Use of color
- LEVERAGE STYLE
- Developing tone
- Putting the reader first
- Effective influencing strategies
- Passive versus powerful word selection
PART IV - APPLICATION
- PRACTICE THE WRITING PROCESS
- Define your objective
- Develop an outline
- Overcome writers block
- Draft
- Edit
- Refine
- DEVELOP AN EDITING MINDSET
- Step 1 - Concept review
- Step 2 - Structural & grammatical review
- Step 3 - External review
- RECEIVE CRITIQUES AND SUMMARIZE TAKE AWAYS
- Consolidating critiques from throughout the program
- Defining personal writing priorities
- Summarizing key lessons learned
Call for details. 949-477-2000 option 1
