Business communication writing workshops
Write more persuasive, engaging, accessible copy
“If I were to write a headline and deck for Ann’s workshop, it would go something like this, ‘West Point for Writers: How to win the war for readers’ minds.’”
— Jim Rink, media relations specialist, The Auto Club Group
Find out what others say about Ann’s writing workshops
Want to write copy that sells your products, services and ideas? Choose from these business communication modules:
- Think Like a Reader. Make your messages more relevant, valuable and rewarding to your audience
- Go Beyond the Inverted Pyramid. The traditional news structure doesn’t work well with readers. Isn’t it time to master a better alternative?
- Cut Through the Clutter. Make every piece you write easier to read and understand
- Rev Up Readership. Lift your ideas off the screen or page with display copy
- Start Making Sense. Get the gobbledygook, jargon and gibberish out of your copy
- Take the ‘Numb’ Out of Numbers. Make statistics interesting and accessible
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Business communication writing review: Analyze and improve your own copy
Each of these modules is about an hour and a half long.
Full-day workshop = four modules
Half-day workshop = two modules
Check out Ann’s creative writing modules.
Learn about Ann’s most popular workshops.
Mix and match modules to serve your team’s unique needs.
Want to help your team members polish their skills? Bring a Wylie Communications Inc. writing workshop to your workplace or conference. Contact Ann Wylie for details.
Need to sell your training program to management? Check out our white paper, “Why Invest in Training?”
Think Like a Reader
Make your messages more relevant, valuable and rewarding to your audience
“A quick and easy way to improve your writing immediately. I was able to walk away with a simple shift in thinking that automatically changed the way I approach a piece.”
— Kyle Christopherson, Minnesota Supreme Court
Find out what others say about Think Like a Reader
The secret to writing to persuade is to position your messages in your audience’s best interests. (Most communicators position their messages in their organization’s best interests.)
In this session, you’ll learn a four-step process for making your message — and your organization — more relevant, valuable and rewarding to your audience. Specifically, you’ll learn:
- The formula people use to determine which messages to pay attention to
- Two rewards you can use to boost audience interest in your message
- The No. 1 question to answer on your reader’s behalf
- A two-minute perspective shift that focuses your message on the value to the audience
- A simple translation process that pushes audience benefits to the top of your message
- A three-letter word to use to make your message more relevant to your audience
Go Beyond the Inverted Pyramid
The traditional news structure doesn’t work well with readers. Isn’t it time to master a better alternative?
“You’ll learn more than you bargained for.”
— Andy North, Dell
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Our old friend the inverted pyramid hasn’t fared well in recent research.
According to new studies by such think tanks as The Readership Institute and The Poynter Institute, inverted pyramids: 1) Reduce readership and understanding; 2) Fail to make readers care about the information; and 3) Don’t draw readers across the jump.
In short, researchers say, inverted pyramids “do not work well with readers.”
In this session, you’ll learn a structure that can increase reader satisfaction, boost the amount of time readers spend with your message and help readers understand information more easily. Specifically, you’ll learn:
- How to organize your message to grab readers’ attention, keep it for the long haul and leave a lasting impression
- Three elements of a great lead — and five leads to avoid
- How to stop bewildering your readers by leaving out an essential paragraph. (Many communicators forget it)
- Five ways to avoid the “muddle in the middle”
- A three-step test for ending with a bang
Cut Through the Clutter
Make every piece you write easier to read and understand
“The most concise, outstanding ‘short course’ on cleaning up copy.”
— Kevin Trenga, manager, marketing communications, The Raymond Corp.
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Is your copy easy to read? According to communication experts, that’s one of the two key questions people ask to determine whether to read a piece — or toss it.
Fortunately, academics have tested and quantified what makes copy easy to read. Unfortunately, that research virtually never makes it out of the ivory tower and into the hands of writers who could actually apply it.
But you’ll leave this session with “the numbers” you need to measurably improve your copy’s readability. Specifically, you’ll learn:
- How long is too long: For your paragraphs? Your sentences? Your words?
- Three ways to shorten your copy — and which is the most effective way
- How to cut your copy before you’ve even written the first word
- How to avoid causing your reader to skip your paragraphs
- A tool you can use (you probably already have it, but you might not know it) to quantifiably improve your copy’s readability
- A seven-step system for making your copy clearer and more concise
Rev Up Readership
Lift your ideas off the screen or page with display copy
“I’ve seen our Corporate Communications team embrace the techniques and apply them to many of our communications vehicles. It has re-invigorated and refreshed many of our communications — internal and external.”
— Jeanine Penticoff, manager, Marketing Communications, Alliant Energy
Sixty percent of your audience members aren’t reading your copy, according to estimates by professors at the University of Missouri. So how can you craft communications that reach nonreaders?
In this program, you’ll learn how to use your display copy — headlines, decks and subheads, for instance — to pull readers into your copy, make your piece more inviting and even communicate to flippers and skimmers.
Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
- Reach “readers” who spend only three minutes — or even just 30 seconds — with your piece
- Reach audience members with the piece of display copy that 95 percent of people read — but that many communicators drop
- Run a simple test on your copy to ensure that you lift your ideas off the page for flippers and skimmers
- Make your copy 47 percent more usable by adding a few simple elements
- Use a dollar bill to make your copy more reader friendly
- Increase reading for skimmers and those whose attention is beginning to wane
Start Making Sense
Get the gobbledygook, jargon and gibberish out of your copy
“A lot of helpful tips including resources to use when explaining technical terms to a nontechnical audience. I gained knowledge that I will carry with me throughout my career.”
— Leslie Beck, communications and marketing associate, Harbor Hospital
Find out what others say about “Start Making Sense”
“Bad terminology is the enemy of good thinking,” writes Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
Indeed, jargon makes your copy longer, irritates your reader, makes your Website harder to find and demonstrates your lack of knowledge about the topic. It may even suggest that your company is in trouble.
To avoid these problems, communicators must translate the language of their organizations into the language of their readers. In this session, you’ll learn:
- How to determine when to use jargon to streamline communication — and when to avoid it at all costs
- A test to help you decide which terms to use when pitching to industry publications
- An approach that will make it easier to get accessible language through the approval process
- Three ways to define terms — and the one way to make unfamiliar language most accessible to your readers
- Techniques to steal from Warren Buffett to make complex technical information easier to understand
- The worst buzzwords to avoid
Take the ‘Numb’ Out of Numbers
Make statistics interesting and accessible
“It’s a simple message that will benefit most anyone, whether s/he writes for a living or needs to communicate numerical information in day-to-day work.”
— Kevin Trenga, The Raymond Corporation
Find out what others say about Taking the ‘Numb’ Out of Numbers
“Numbers without context, especially large ones with many zeros trailing behind, are about as intelligible as vowels without consonants,” writes Daniel Okrent, The New York Times ombudsman.
Indeed, poorly handled, statistics can make your readers’ eyes glaze over. In this program, you’ll master the art of making numbers interesting as well as understandable. Specifically, you’ll learn:
- A simple technique for making readers care about your statistics
- How to help readers “see” big numbers
- Ways to avoid creating a data dump
- When to choose bar, line or pie charts
- Where to find free tools that create attractive charts for you
- How to transform charts and tables into free-standing infographics
Business communication writing review
Analyze and improve your own copy
“Ann is one of the few people who can actually teach something substantial about writing.”
— George Stenitzer, vice president of Corporate Communications, Tellabs
Find out what others say about Ann’s writing workshops
Length: Two or more modules
Prerequisites: Think Like a Reader, Cut Through the Clutter, Rev Up Readership
Sorry! This program is available for in-house workshops only
In the crunch of writing headlines and meeting deadlines, it sometimes seems as if there’s not enough time to pause and consider how you’re doing. A writing review is a great opportunity for reflection and improvement. In this critique, you’ll:
- Cement the ideas you learn in the workshop by applying them immediately
- Get personal feedback with specific ideas you can use to improve your work immediately
- Gain valuable insights on your work from your peers
- Learn to analyze and improve others’ writing — the best skill you can develop for improving your own work
