"Writing In Business: Get To The Point!®" – The Core Workshop

In the technique-driven “Writing In Business: Get To The Point!” – The Core Workshop, participants learn effective, professional techniques for quickly writing more polished e-mails, letters, and larger documents of all types. Participants write actual documents they may submit at work. Topics include:

• Thinking Before Writing

  Participants learn how to think correctly before starting to write. Thinking the right way before starting eliminates many of writing’s common mistakes and enables writers to hit the target more easily and consistently.

• Three Preparatory Questions Writers Must Answer Before Beginning To Write

  Once these questions are answered, writers have increased clarity, and documents often seem to write themselves.

• Writing The Lead

  Participants learn how to stop staring at the blank screen and quickly and correctly know exactly where to begin.

• “The Zero-Based Technique for Succinctness”

  Applying this powerful technique, participants learn how to recognize what else to include (after the lead), how best to sequence the material, and how to write the document in a way that’s tight but still flows. Participants learn how “the force of logic” adds energy to writing that keeps readers reading.

• “The Thoroughness Test”

  Participants learn to almost “read readers’ minds” in order to anticipate questions and provide the right answers in the right place to satisfy readers and minimize or even eliminate wasteful follow-up.

• Writing With Tone: “The Sensitivity Test”

  With “The Sensitivity Test,” participants learn a technique for determining the most appropriate tone in any situation, written or verbal, and how to create it. Special “Dos” and “Don'ts” as well as ironies about tone are also discussed.

• Techniques of Persuasion

  Participants learn about techniques of persuasion, even when dealing with the most closed minds. A humorous and effective demonstration of persuasion is performed on the participants.

• Writing Longer Pieces

  Participants learn how to combine several techniques they’ve already learned in class in order to quickly organize large amounts of material and write even the longest documents more easily and quickly.

• Ending Effectively

  Participants learn how to end e-mails, letters, and memos in ways that are both professional and effective in order to maximize the likelihood they will achieve their purpose.

• Editing Techniques That Always Work

  Five indispensible editing techniques that always give writing power, polish, and professionalism.

The One-Day and Half-Day versions include the first five topics plus “Ending Effectively.”

Participants receive the applicable two-day, one-day, or half-day edition of Writing In Business: Get To The Point!, a Writing Starter, and a Writing Checklist.

"Writing In Business For Science and Technical Writers"

The concepts and techniques taught for developing clear and logical scientific and technical writing in “Writing In Business For Science and Technical Writers” are like those taught in “Writing In Business: Get To The Point!®” – The Core Workshop, only now they are applied in the special context of scientific and technical writing. In class, participants write actual science and technical documents they may submit at work.

The One-Day and Half-Day versions include the first five topics listed under “Writing In Business: Get To The Point!®” – The Core Workshop plus “Ending Effectively.”

Participants receive the applicable two-day, one-day, or half-day science and technical writing edition of Writing In Business: Get To The Point!, a Writing Starter, and a Writing Checklist.

"The Most Common Errors In Writing And Speech"

Isn’t it true that even when we try to be nonjudgmental, we nonetheless judge people when we notice errors in their writing and speech? We wonder if maybe they’re not that well educated, or that careful, or that smart. Maybe we want to think again before we get too involved with them or trust them with our work. Errors in writing and speech can embarrass individuals and companies and can even cost business. In “The Most Common Errors In Writing And Speech” participants learn how to avoid costly, embarrassing errors and project an image of polish and professionalism.

Topics include:

• In the Grammar section, agreement between subjects and verbs and pronouns and antecedents, dangling and misplaced modifiers, “who” vs. “whom,” “me” vs. “I,” run-on sentences, sentence fragments, redundancies, parallelism, and more
• In the Punctuation section, the proper use of periods, commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, semicolons, colons, question marks, and exclamation points, including when to use them and where they go
• In the Usage section, the difference between often confused words, like “that” and “which,” “imply” and “infer,” “affect” and “effect,” “disinterested” and “uninterested,” and many more
• In the Pronunciation section, the correct pronunciation for many commonly mispronounced words

Participants receive The Most Common Errors In Writing And Speech workbook.

"The One-Hour Lunch Talk"

In a lively, highly interactive “One-Hour Lunch Talk” with exercises, the group learns how to avoid one of the most time-consuming problems in the workplace — the inability to start writing quickly and correctly, without uncertainty, procrastination, or writer’s block. At the end of the hour, participants know exactly where to begin any writing project.

Participants receive a handy reference guide highlighting key points.

"The 90-Minute Lunch Talk"

In the lively and fun “90-Minute Lunch Talk,” the group learns the same techniques as in “The One-Hour Lunch Talk,” only they also learn techniques of persuasion. An enlightening and fun demonstration of effective persuasion is performed on the participants.

Participants receive a handy reference guide highlighting key points and the guide A Model For Persuasive Writing.

"One-To-One Coaching with Richard Pinsky"

In “One-to-One Coaching with Richard Pinsky,” I teach participants the professional techniques I teach in my workshops for becoming better communicators, smarter thinkers, and more effective people, only the experience is more intimate, personalized, and focused.

The sessions go beyond what we cover in class to explore participants’ patterns of expression to help them better understand their assumptions and attitudes and the ways they make choices. Participants experiment with alternate ways of expressing themselves to see if they can produce better results and become more effective. At the end of the One-to-One sessions, participants have heightened self-awareness, project a better image, are more effective, and, of course, are more polished communicators.

Participants receive the two-day edition of Writing In Business: Get To The Point!, a Writing Starter, and a Writing Checklist.