Business writing course – staff training and online masterclass

Make your business writing more effective

Learn how to write clearly, concisely and more persuasively – whether it’s for reports, briefs, emails, proposals or general communications.

Customised staff training, a self-paced online course and one-on-one sessions are available.

What does this business writing course cover?

Taught by a former Sydney Morning Herald editor with business writing experience, this course will show you how to:

• write with the audience in mind
• plan and clarify your writing
• apply the right tone and style
• use plain English to express complex ideas
• craft short, sharp and snappy sentences
• write in the active voice (and know when to use the passive)
• use positive phrasing
• format copy to make it easier to read
• structure different kinds of writing
• show, not tell
• deliver bad news
• use the power of three to make your writing more persuasive
• avoid common grammatical and punctuation mistakes
• proofread your own work.

This is a fun, practical business writing course that’s filled with plenty of exercises.
 

Staff training that’s customised for your team

I provide business writing training for a wide range of staff – whether they’re in sales, admin, HR, customer service, management or marketing. This training can be tailored to suit you and whatever kind of writing you want to focus on.

The workshop is highly interactive. If you choose, I can base many of the exercises and examples on your own content.

An online business writing course that allows you to study at your own pace

Study whenever, wherever you want. This self-paced online writing course is equivalent to a full-day course, with six sessions that each take between 45 minutes to an hour and a half (plus you can pause whenever you want).

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 so you can repeat it as many times as you want.

If you’d like personalised feedback – or to workshop your own writing – we can arrange an optional one-on-one Zoom session for an additional fee.

Price: $US140

One-on-one 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.

Who’s teaching this business writing course?

I’m a former Sydney Morning Herald editor and UTS lecturer with over 25 years of writing experience. At the paper I covered almost every industry – from health and science to business and IT.

When I left journalism I then started working 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 decade I’ve taught business writing courses to everyone from government departments and councils to universities, financial services firms and real estate companies.

A business writing course that focuses on plain language

Most organisations are required, often legally, to use plain language. Some people use the phrase plain English rather than plain language – with the difference being that plain English is about making writing clear, whereas plain language is about both clarity and effectiveness.

Writing in plain language is at the core of this course, with almost all the techniques explaining how you can make your writing as clear, simple and effective as possible.

Business writing webinars for the public

I also occasionally run live business writing webinars. Only eight spots are available in each course.

Register your interest and I’ll let you know when the next business writing webinar will be.