Training

Our training programs can help your employees polish their communication skills. Here are some of the workshops we offer:

They Went That-a-Way: Leading Your Audience to Action

Most successful communications are really instructions in disguise—from love letters to company brochures. Find out how to make your own communications more instructive in this hands-on workshop that includes Origami, fun exercises, and great examples. Learn how to:

Turn your communications into blueprints for action with your customers, co-workers, and even your kids.

Incorporate the six building blocks that make an instruction easy to follow.

Apply techniques of great instruction-givers to transform your own communications.

Architecture of Information: Organizing to Engage Readers

The single biggest reason our messages don’t get through is they aren’t presented in a meaningful form. This program will give the basics of how to organize information for maximum impact. Techniques of information design can be used to improve proposals and reports, as well as newsletters, brochures, and Web copy. You’ll get:

Five formulas that can be used to organize anything from kitchen drawers to annual report—and how to choose the right one for your project.

Pre-writing techniques that dramatically shorten writing time and reduced wasted effort.

Alternative structures to make your message stand out.

Kickstart Your Writing with Better Story Ideas

Have you ever wondered where bowling balls come from, whether the president of IBM knows how to use a computer, or what you can find in the Yellow Pages beyond phone numbers and addresses? Use your curiosity to create stories that readers will never forget. You’ll get:

Eight ways to hone your story-detecting skills and have more fun in the process.

Research tips that will make it easier to write the story.

Formulas for turning tired ideas into treasures with new formats for information.

Make Microsoft Your Word Slave: Tools for Better Writing

Hiding in the Microsoft Word program you use every day are tools that can dramatically improve your writing. With a few clicks, you can write more quickly, clearly, and efficiently. All you need is the desire to make your work more readable and inviting—and any version of Microsoft Word from 2000 to 2007. You'll learn how to:

Rate your work for readability and set appropriate benchmarks for your audience.

Use style tags to better organize your work.

Generate an instant table of contents and keep it up to date in real time.

Automate common tasks to save hours every week.

Quick tricks to increase reading ease.

Bonus: This workshop comes with two-weeks of phone assistance to make sure you master the techniques.

Pitch It, Sell It: How to Make Writing Your Day Job

If you think that it’s impossible to make a living as a writer, take this workshop. It will help you take the “free” out of free-lance. You’ll learn about what’s way more important to success than your writing ability; how to narrow your beat and expand your horizons; and make editors beg for your work or at least return your phone calls. This workshop will help you find the right markets to target and make your stories more sellable. You’ll also get a list of 164 publications that pay more than $1/word. Learn how to:

Avoid making the three mistakes that separate amateur writers from the pros.

Turn your hobby into a revenue stream.

Argue your way to higher fees with a novel formula that will also impress editors with your business savvy.