WRITING BASICS AND BEYOND FOR EVERY LEVEL

Course Description:  With a few easy-to-learn techniques and simple-to-apply strategies, anyone can write to win.  In fact, everyone has the right to win when writing!  Using a relatable auto racing analogy, participants will learn effective techniques to:
 
R = REVIEW:  Find out what readers want to know
A = ANSWER:  Meet those needs by replying
       to questions
C = CONDENSE:  Make documents concise, clear,
       and easy to read
E = EDIT:  Revise your documents for accuracy

In addition to a review of other Comerford Consulting writing workshop concepts, this course focuses on audience, those most important people who will READ a document.

Participants will benefit from tips to:
 
R = RESPOND to readers’ questions, issues, or complaints
E = ENCOURAGE readers to maintain interest in their documents
A = ADD information to address various concerns in specific ways
D = DECLARE willingness to meet readers’ needs and wants
 
Participants will return to their court units ready to use enhanced writing skills from the basics and beyond.  Participants will get on their marks, get set, and go toward the prize of the checkered flag at the finish line as they master these key RACE and READ concepts.        
 

      Workshop Objectives:  As a result of attending
      this workshop, participants will learn to:
     1)  Determine what readers want to know
     2)  Write responses that meet their readers’ needs
          and wants
     3)  Convey their points to engage and maintain
          reader interest
     4)  Make documents clear, concise, and easy to read
     5)  Edit and proofread them to ensure they are correct

MAKING CONNECTIONS: WRITING AND CONVERSATION

Course Description:  Participants at first may be surprised at the combination of skills in this course title.  Actually, these two topics blend more than they think in the business world.  Can they relate to the following scenario?

A colleague emails you with a request for information.  Because the situation is rather complex, you opt for a phone call instead.  The two of you engage in a conversation about topic, perhaps engaging in some small talk at the beginning of the call.  At the conclusion of your chat, your colleague indicates satisfaction with the resolution you two discussed.  The call concludes with an additional request, “Could you please put the new process we’ll be implementing in writing?”

These two topics are definitely related, and participants definitely relate to them.  Conversations are interwoven with related writing for the participants in this unique workshop.  It provides a relaxed atmosphere for them to enjoy discussing and writing about the various subjects they engage in to do their jobs.  They report increased interpersonal skills and productive proficiency as they conduct their day-to-day business activities.

   Workshop Objectives:  This course helps
    participants:
   1)  Converse over the phone or in person  about
         topics needed to conduct business successfully
   2)  Develop strategies that lead to more clear,
         concise conversations including the 3 V’s
   3)  Practice questioning and paraphrasing  to
         ensure a meeting of the minds
   4)  Follow up in writing to continue the
         conversation more productively
   5)  Use Conversation Connections designed to
         bring conversations and writing full circle

DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE WRITING AND BUSINESS SPEAKING SKILLS

Course Description:  Whatever role participants play on the job, writing or speaking skills may not be at the top of their list when they compile their assets.  However, they are often expected to write and speak with others who rely on them for conducting business there.
 
This workshop includes a dual focus on writing and speaking.  It begins with a class discussion about professional writing.  Participants will learn the top ten tips for writing documents or messages that meet the needs of their recipients: their readers.
 
The course continues with strategies for conducting clear, courteous dialogues about various subjects.  As a starting point, participants will discuss plans to improve their writing.  From there, they will choose other interesting topics related to communication skills needed for successful interpersonal interactions.  Group dialogues about those topics will follow.  Then, participants will strategize the best ways to communicate key concepts learned from those discussions with others in writing.

  Workshop Objectives:  As a result of attending this
   workshop, participants will return to their jobs with
   the ability to:
   1)  Write more effectively and efficiently
   2)  Use more competent, confident speaking skills
   3)  Combine these skills to help them communicate
        more successfully during their day-to-day
        interactions with others

PROFESSIONAL WRITING SKILLS AT A GLANCE

Course Description:  Time equals money in the work world, so creating clear documents quickly that can be understood easily is crucial.  Corporate as well as government communicators value this highly interactive workshop designed to help participants resolve two of their biggest written communication challenges: writing more effective documents while following a more efficient process. 

Practical, lively exercises help them increase their skills in Paragraph Performance from introductions to conclusions, Sentence Sense, Word Wisdom, and Format Force.  Participants report that the quality of their work increases while the amount of time needed to produce it decreases, often by 1/3.  A review of practical grammar and punctuation rules is included.  Their documents and messages will look, sound, and feel more professional as they convey their image with style!
 

     Workshop Objectives: After attending this course,
     participants will benefit from increased ability to:
     1)  Identify varied audiences and purposes for writing
     2)  Polish rough edges of their writing style in
          paragraphs, sentences, words, and format
     3)  Write more effective documents while following
          a more efficient writing process
     4)  Apply course concepts to their actual
          writing samples

WINNING WRITING

Course Description:  Writing skills may not be at the top of employees’ lists when they compile their assets for their upcoming performance appraisals.  However, as managers, supervisors, team leaders, or whatever the participants’ job titles may be, writing is often required. 

First, participants need to compose winning documents and messages.  Designed around a baseball analogy, this course will help them score with their paragraphs, sentences, words, and formats.  Second, they need to critique what they have written. 

This course offers them the oral opportunity to plan and share with the class what they will stop, continue, and start doing for winning writing.  If participants’ goals are to sharpen the skills needed so they can effectively and efficiently improve their writing, they will all feel like winners after this workshop!

 
   Workshop Objectives:  Participants will write more
  like winners as they:
   1)  Create rules for winning writing
   2)  Practice winning techniques for their paragraphs,
        sentences, words, and format
   3)  Critique their written documents and messages
   4)  Share their strategies for winning writing in a
        presentation about what they will stop, continue,
        and start to accomplish that
   5)  Plan a more efficient writing process

WINNING WRITING WITH COACHING

This course goes beyond Winning Writing, which provides participants with tips and techniques for infusing their own writing with a winning style.  The coaching segment provides strategies to critique the style of others’ writing.  Included are “dos and don’ts” for providing feedback in a positive, motivating, encouraging way.  Role plays help reinforce best practices for winning writing and coaching.

EMAIL GEMS

Course Description:  Do email messages in the your organization resemble screen versions of the junk mail cluttering mailboxes today?  In a digital era, this course helps participants develop Screen Savvy to create electronic messages readers view not as
“junk” but “gems.” 

Since email messages are only a keystroke away from deletion, the following gem qualities lead to messages more likely to be read instead: clarity for screen sense, carats for screen streamlining, cut for screen sensitivity, color for screen style, and facets for screen scannability.  

Developing Screen Savvy helps participants adapt their writing to this powerful, ever-growing technology.  The result is a Certificate of Authenticity in the form of a helpful checklist to transfer their workshop skills back to the workplace.

  Workshop Objectives:  Recognizing that email is
  different from paper mail, participants will:
  1)  Share their pet peeves about email 
  2)  Compare its advantages and disadvantages
  3)  Learn techniques for turning email junk into
       gems through Screen Savvy strategies
  4)  Critique sample messages for reader reaction: 
        junk or gem?
  5)  Practice Screen Savvy strategies for transferring
       workshop skills back to the workplace

PROFESSIONAL WRITING SKILLS

This course is a blend of Professional
Writing Skills at a Glance and
Taking the “Grr” out of Grammar

Professional Writing Skills at a Glance

Course Description:  Time equals money in the work world, so creating clear documents quickly that can be understood easily is crucial.  Corporate as well as government communicators value this highly interactive workshop designed to help participants resolve two of their biggest written communication challenges: writing more effective documents while following a more efficient process. 

Practical, lively exercises help them increase their skills in Paragraph Performance from introductions to conclusions, Sentence Sense, Word Wisdom, and Format Force.  Participants report that the quality of their work increases while the amount of time needed to produce it decreases, often by 1/3.  A review of practical grammar and punctuation rules is included.  Their documents and messages will look, sound, and feel more professional as they convey their image with style!

 
  Workshop Objectives:  After attending this course,
    participants will benefit from increased ability to: 
   1)  Identify varied audiences and purposes for writing
   2)  Polish rough edges of their writing style in
        paragraphs, sentences, words, and format
   3)  Write more effective documents while following a
        more efficient writing process
   4)  Apply course concepts to their actual writing samples

Taking the “Grr” out of Grammar

Course Description:  Surveys show that 80% of those in the business world tend to say, “Grr!” a lot when editing a document. Participants will enjoy working with practical grammar and punctuation rules that help them do so more easily.  Some topics for avoiding grammar glitches include subject-verb agreement, verb tense, misplaced as well as dangling modifiers, parallel structure, sentence structure, and pronoun case.  Also included are the latest rules to help participants eliminate punctuation pitfalls while mastering commas, semicolons, and colons.   Then, others won’t be likely to say, “Grr!” about the written or edited documents they receive.
 
Workshop Objectives:  This course helps participants do the following when writing and editing:
1)  Analyze why correct documents are so important
2)  Identify the errors that most tarnish a writer’s image
3)  Learn practical, current grammar and punctuation rules
4)  Practice correcting grammar glitches and punctuation pitfalls through exercises that transfer
      to their writing samples
5)  Demonstrate understanding of the rules through a pre- and post-quiz