EXCELLENCE IN
BUSINESS WRITING I:
BASIC SKILLS

This two-day course is an overview of basic writing skills for letters, email, meeting minutes, and short reports. Through case studies and hands-on exercises, you will learn an effective, time-saving process for writing these documents with heightened confidence and control over your ideas.

Participants also have an opportunity to use their own workplace documents as the raw material for the valuable tips and techniques offered in the course. Your application of the principles of the course is therefore immediate. In addition to covering the formats of basic business documents, the course addresses the most common grammar and style errors confronted by business writers.

Public sessions of this course have been scheduled in both Ottawa and Toronto.

Who Should Attend

Managers and administrative staff, wishing to reduce writing and review time in business letters, memos, minutes, and reports.

Members of correspondence units, internal audit/evaluation groups, and informatics services, who want to make their writing part of a total quality commitment.

Course Topics

In this two-day workshop, you will learn to

• understand your reader's needs for correspondence and short reports
• employ an effective structure for letters, email, and reports
• fight "form-letter fatigue"
• use strategies to convey your meaning simply and directly
• present negative news with tact and sensitivity
• take effective meeting minutes
• stay on track while writing quickly
• apply style guidelines for correspondence and short reports
• recognize and correct common grammar and stylistic errors
• eliminate business cliches
• write clearly and concisely