Learn to grab people’s attention & move them to act — online, April 5 – May 3
Your readers are bombarded with the data equivalent of 174 newspapers — ads included — every day, according to a study by USC’s Annenberg School for Communication.
In this environment, how do you grab readers’ attention and move them to act?
In this workshop, you’ll learn the art of persuasive writing — how to get readers to pay attention to your message, understand it, remember it and act on it.
“It was fantastic. I love that it’s science-based. Corporate communications struggle to position themselves as strategic. I feel I have concrete tools to state my case for how we write, now.”
– Carrie Chambers, senior communication specialist, Kiewit
Read more rave reviews
Persuasive-writing training agenda
In this training, you’ll learn to write persuasive corporate communications messages that move your audience to adopt your call to action. Forget the theory, and practice real-world, proven-in-the-lab techniques in the art of persuasive writing.
Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
Think Like a Reader
How did 20th century Americans including Martin Luther King Jr., John Kennedy, Margaret Chase Smith, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama construct and defend compelling arguments?
One secret to reaching readers is to position your message from your audience’s point of view. (Talk about personal development: This is obviously a practical skill in many settings — from lobbying for a raise to getting to run the remote on a Tuesday night.)
In this session, you’ll learn a four-step process for making your message 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 three-letter word to use to make your message more relevant to your audience
Go Beyond the Pyramid
What is the structure of the practice of rhetoric, the art of persuasion?
It’s not the inverted pyramid. The pyramid has been proven in the lab to reduce readership, understanding, engagement and action, according to research by the Reuters Institute and others.
In this session, you’ll learn to construct persuasive writing and speech using a structure that’s been proven in the lab to outperform the traditional news structure. 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
Readability helps everyone — those with high literacy rates as well as low, according to new research by the Nielsen Norman Group.
When you make your writing easier to read, your audience members will read it faster, understand it better and enjoy it more.
In this session, 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 avoid causing your reader to skip your paragraphs
- A tool you can use (you 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
Lift Ideas Off the Page
Some 60% of your audience members aren’t reading your copy, according to estimates by professors at the University of Missouri. So how can you craft messages 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 two minutes — or even just 10 seconds — with your piece
- Craft the piece of display copy that 95% of people read — but that many communicators drop
- Run a simple test on your copy to ensure that you reach flippers and skimmers and other nonreaders
- Make your copy more reader friendly with a dollar bill
- Apply best practices for display copy — headlines, decks, callouts, captions and charts
Plus: Get feedback in live coaching sessions.
Come learn the techniques Ann Wylie has used to earn more than 60 communication awards, including two IABC Gold Quills — the Pulitzer Prizes of business communications.
“I loved receiving Ann’s individual attention; the one-on-one was super helpful!”
— Michelle Simon, media relations specialist, PBP Nation
Learn more
- Class overview and detailed agenda
- About our corporate communication trainer
- About our public workshops
This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of persuasive writing — how to write messages that move readers to act. Once you’ve finished Catch Your Readers, we recommend that you move on to our other writing workshops.
Logistics
Join us via Zoom and LinkedIn from 10 a.m. to noon Pacific on:
- April 5:Think Like a Reader
- April 12: Think Outside the Pyramid; Live coaching session
- April 19: Cut Through the Clutter; Live coaching session
- April 26: Lift Ideas Off the Page; Live coaching session
- May 3: Live coaching session
Can’t make a date? You’ll have on-demand access to the online workshop until June 3.
Fees
- Silver (workshop only): $1,195
- Gold (Silver + $300 worth of learning tools — Cut Through the Clutter, Think Like a Reader, Think Outside the Pyramid): $1,295
- Platinum (Gold +$297 subscription to Rev Up Readership): $1,395
- Diamond (Platinum +$750 private coaching session with Ann): $1,795
Please learn about our discounts, cancellation policy and more in our FAQ.
“Amazing! I learned more in two days than I did in all my college classes combined. I feel so much more confident in writing pieces that work!”
– Katie Johnson, public relations manager, Iowa Soybean Association
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