Plain English business writing course
Learn how to write anything (even if it’s financial, legal or scientific) clearly and simply without dumbing it down.
Make your writing easier to read and understand
Taught by a former Sydney Morning Herald editor with extensive business writing experience (spanning everything from board papers to ministerial briefs), this course explains how to:
- write with the audience in mind
- apply the right tone of voice and style
- use plain English without dumbing your writing down
- craft short and snappy sentences
- use strong verbs
- write in the active voice (and know when to use the passive)
- format your writing to make it easier to read
- structure different kinds of writing
- show, not tell
- avoid common grammatical and punctuation mistakes
- proofread your own writing.
The course also covers what AI can and can’t do well, providing tips on how and when to use it while ensuring your writing is meaningful and human.
Business writing course options:
Customised staff training
This training can be tailored to suit whatever kind of writing you want to focus on, whether it’s grants, proposals, ministerial briefs, emails, public information campaigns or reports.
I can also base exercises and examples on your own documents so participants can clearly see how what they learn applies to their work. This also helps them rethink how they need to approach their writing and what their specific readers need to know.
The training is interactive with lots of exercises. Participants are encouraged to ask questions and discuss their own challenges and situations.
Public half-day plain English business writing webinar
The next course will run over Zoom on Tuesday 23 February from 9.30am to 12.45pm AEDT.
Only eight places are available. Tickets cost $330 (plus GST).
Digital handbooks, certificates and a recording of the webinar will be given.
Online plain English business writing skills course
Study whenever and wherever you want. This online business writing masterclass is equivalent to a full-day course, with six video sessions that each take from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
It covers all the key skills and techniques you need for business writing: from making sentences easier to read and more effective to how to write different kinds of documents for different audiences.
There are plenty of exercises throughout the course; every time you learn a technique, you’ll then be given an exercise so you can practise it.
You will receive:
- a handbook that covers essential writing tips and techniques (given as a PDF)
- a certificate of completion (given as a PDF)
- unlimited access to the course for up to five years.
Price: US$95
One-on-one plain English business writing training
Personalised one-on-one sessions are also available, allowing me to focus on the specific writing skills you want to build and the type of content you need to write.
I can also provide feedback on your writing.
The sessions can be taught online over Zoom or in person.
Will this business writing course show participants how they can use AI?
These days we’re all seeing writing that sounds the same and says less than it ought to.
This is because AI can only work well when it complements, rather than replaces, skills. If people don’t understand what good writing looks like, and how it works, AI can’t help them. They won’t be able to guide it or evaluate what it's produced.
They also won’t be able to edit what AI writes (and if they use AI to edit their own writing, they won’t know when it’s done a bad job).
This course provides tips, prompts and, most importantly, an understanding of what does and doesn’t work well when using AI, with a focus on how to make writing as meaningful and useful for the reader as possible. It's suitable regardless of what kind of AI people use, from ChatGPT and Claude to Copilot.
Who’s teaching this business writing course?
I’m a former Sydney Morning Herald editor and UTS lecturer with over 30 years of professional writing experience. At the paper I covered almost every industry, from health and science to business and IT.
When I left journalism I worked with a wide range of organisations, where I had to write and edit almost everything from proposals, annual reports and board papers to tenders, briefs and website copy.
Over the past 20 years I’ve taught plain English business writing courses to everyone from government departments and councils to universities, financial firms and real estate companies.
What’s the difference between plain English and plain language writing?
Writing in plain English is about using the simplest and clearest words possible: and most people worry they’ll dumb their writing down if they do this.
As a result, most business writing verges on gibberish, filled with ridiculous (and at best abstract) phrases and words.
The next time you read something, whether it’s a brief or an email, and you immediately understand it and know what you need to do as a result, stop and reread it. Any money, it’s been written in plain English. And yet it won’t feel dumbed down: on the contrary, it’ll feel smarter, more confident and, most importantly, more helpful.
This writing course will show how to write this way: and it’ll make you more confident about doing so.
Then again, this is also a plain language writing course
You might have heard the term plain language: after all, many organisations, from government departments to financial firms, have started to use it. So what’s the difference between them?
Whereas plain English is about using simple words, plain language is a broader concept that focuses on making writing as usable as possible in addition to being clear and easy to understand.
Almost everything (even legal and financial information) can and should be written in plain language. That’s why this course doesn’t just explain how to use simpler and clearer words but also shows how to make your writing as effective as possible.
Want more information about this plain English business writing course?
Let me know if you have any questions or would like a quote. I’d be happy to explain how this workshop can be customised to suit you.