A web page devoted to news and views on WordTask training courses and on good writing practices in general. FEEDBACK | PREVIOUS ISSUE | HOME PAGE INDEX OF ARTICLES | LIST OF WEBNOTES ISSUES September 2000 IN THIS ISSUE-- NEWS BRIEF | WORD PLAY | COURSE PROFILES | TIPS 'N TECHNIQUES COURSE NOTES Check out our public sessions! Register now! Seating is limited. NEWS BRIEF New customer base adds to WordTask sales growth in 2000 While building on its existing prominence in the high-technology sector, WordTask has also seen significant growth this year among professional and industry organizations, whose writing often needs a unique persuasive edge. WordTask's traditional customer base has been the high-technology sector, with big accounts such as Nortel Networks, Cognos Incorporated, Computing Device Canada, and recently JDS Uniphase, to name only a few. But over the last year, we've also extended our reach into a new area: national professional organizations. These societies and associations represent the interests of their member companies to their customers, the general public, and other stakeholders in their business. WordTask has worked with several of these organizations, including the Canadian Paediatric Society, the Canadian Portland Cement Association, and the Canadian Wood Council. As these examples indicate, the mandates, missions, and roles of these professional organizations vary considerably--from acting as industry knowledge providers to managing fund-raising operations. The common thread is that their writing must be persuasive and compelling to get the buy-in, consensus, or compliance of their readership. Over the last year WordTask has offered such courses as Taking Effective Minutes, Excellence in Business Writing II, and Writing RFPs to a variety of customers in this important sector. COURSE PROFILES THESE ARE ONLY THREE OF OUR MORE THAN 15 WRITING PROGRAMS TO CHOOSE FROM EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS WRITING I (2 days) The fundamentals for writing letters, email, meeting minutes, and short reports, along with a review of grammar and style guidelines. USER GUIDES THAT GET USED! (3 days) The writing process applied to the planning, design and writing of end-user documentation. Ideal for technical writing groups. PRESENTATION SKILLS (2 days) A process for compiling information, designing an effective presentation, and delivering it effectively and confidently in front of large or small groups. WORD PLAY Welcome to installment number eight. This month, we highlight verb contructions that add wasted bulk to you writing. Known as smothered verbs, these constructions bury actions under the weight of unnecessary wording. For the other installments of Word Play, please refer to previous issues of webNOTES. With all of these constructions, an action is waiting to be liberated! Writers can usually eliminate smothered verbs by cutting to the quick and stating directly an action that has been delayed by the filler words. has the capability of [verb] Not: The system has the capability of reporting on the previous day's network activity. But: The system can report on the previous day's network activity. provide(s) [noun] of Not: This document provides a description of our new customer-care strategy. But: This document describes our new customer-care strategy. intend(s) [to + verb] Not: This user guide intends to make the installation and use of our product easy and fun. But: This user guide makes [or will make] the installation and use of our product easy and fun. Sometimes this particular smothered verb may be exactly what you need to say, as in "I intend to visit the Boston office next month." But notice the difference; in our example above, the idea of "intending" is wasted and ineffectively applied. Generally, people "intend," while things, such as the user guide in the example above, do not! Never fear to be understood. COURSE NOTES Post-course evaluations reveal improvements in participants' writing After a year of data collection, the verdict is now in. Participants in our writing courses see tangible, measurable improvements in their writing skills back in the workplace. The WordTask post-course evaluation, sent to participants six to eight weeks after the course, asks them among other things what changes they have seen in the readers' responses to their writing since the training, and also polls their own level of confidence, satisfaction, and fulfillment as writers. Over 80% of participants who have submitted the form note significant improvement in the following areas of reader satisfaction with their documents: You achieve the desired response from your reader. Readers act on what you write. Readers note better structure. You now receive fewer revision comments. Over 90% of the participants who have submitted the form said they now experience more ease and self-assurance in their writing, when polled on the following measurement criteria: The writing task is less overwhelming. You are more confident. You have more control over your ideas. Part of WordTask's extensive evaluation strategy, employed before, during, and after our training, the post-course evaluation is a web-based form that takes participants only minutes to complete and submit. It supplements the standard evaluation form completed at the end of the course. But unlike these "smile sheets," the post-course evaluation tracks the relevance and applicability of the WordTask writing process back on the job, where the course techniques really count! TIPS 'N TECHNIQUES Editors often get into the writing process too late--relegated to the clean-up activity alone! Of course, much of an editor's job does entail cleaning up whatever the writer may have overlooked or whatever does not comply with the organization's style guide. But in a sound writing process, the editor can be a valuable contributor to the planning and design phases, too. Editors are indeed revision experts. They can see the writer's draft with fresh eyes. So the traditional role of the editor in the revision process is still necessary. If you work in a well developed documentation process, though, editors have some additional opportunities to share their objective response to the document. Here are some activities in the standard writing process that benefit from the editor's input: Audience needs analysis: Editors are good "surrogate" readers, able to anticipate sensitivities, expectations, or attitudes that readers will bring to the material. Decisions about the level of detail: Related to the above, excessive datail may impede the reader. It may also throw the document's structure off balance. Editors are often very sensitive to the "look and feel" of the document, even as its content is being planned. Design factors: A good documentation process encourages the writer to lay out content provisionally, before the material is actually drafted. The editor's design sense is better employed here, at this outlining phase, rather than at the revision phase alone. Editors can see where information is out of place, where the document violates standard models or templates, and where text and graphics do not work well together. And the whole area of formatting guidelines--font use, page design, and other conventions--is an editor's specialty. All of these can be quality-checked at this pont, before the writer actually drafts the document. WordTask's two-day course, The Editor's Toolkit, is a comprehensive view of the editor's role throughout the whole writing process. 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