Ten years of know-how in ten courses

A Headful of Lightbulbs

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Introducing The Writer’s Academy

Over ten years of developing and running writing workshops has taught us a thing or two about which subjects people want and need the most help with. We’ve distilled this know-how into ten courses that make up The Writer’s Academy.

They cover the full range of writing challenges – from tackling the Everest of giant reports and wrestling with legalese, to being more persuasive, knowing how to handle a hashtag and giving yourself a creative slap.

How to use our courses

We want you to use our courses in whatever way works best for you – whether that’s sending a team to our place (we’ll provide the alphabet biscuits) for a one-off workshop, or partnering with us to tailor a whole set of courses for rolling out across the world.

The main ways we tend to work are in this little book, but if you can think of another way to use us, just give us a call.

* Use us for one-off workshops – either at our place, or we’ll come to you.

* Commission us to rollout workshops to teams, departments or sites.

* Partner with us to incorporate The Writer’s Academy into your L&D offering.

* Partner with us to tailor The Writer’s Academy courses for things like apprentice, management or leadership coaching.

We’ve put our prices at the back of this little book.

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You’re at the foot of Everest, starting out. It’s going to be a long and difficult journey. Where do you start? How do you keep your people with you? And how do you not lose the will to live along the way?

You’re going to need to tool up. And we’re not talking about ropes and pickaxes.

1Mountains into molehillsWriting big reports the stress-free way

Who’s it for?

Anyone who’s feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of writing a massive report. Especially if you were on the receiving end of tough feedback after your last big writing mission.

What’s it about?

This one-day workshop will show you how to navigate your way through a big piece of writing, from taking your first few steps to sticking your flagpole in it when you’ve finished. It’ll cover making it manageable. Making it readable. And keeping the whole thing sounding like it comes from the same person, even when it doesn’t.

What will I get out of it?

At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

* approach annual reports, white papers and policies with confidence

* bring facts and figures to life

* write killer subheadings

* plan to perfection

* keep control of consistency.

How long is it?

One day.

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You’re an ideas person. But your creative juices just aren’t as fizzy as they used to be. They’re sluggish. In fact, you can barely drag them out of bed in the morning.

What do you do? Hit the snooze? Or join us for a day of caffeine-powered creativity?

Creative kick-startWriting techniques to beat the blank page

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If you’re a comms person, a copywriter or a content editor who’s feeling the burn of writer’s block, read on.

What’s it about?

This one-day course will recharge your batteries. It’ll inspire your imagination. And it’ll get your inner writer out from under the duvet.

We’ll use every trick up our sleeves to do it. We’ll pick apart poems, look at pictures and play games. We’ll borrow techniques from authors, journalists, performers and politicians to find out how they bring their words to life. Anything to get you as pumped up about writing as we are.

What will I get out of it?

At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

* beat writer’s block

* find inspiration anywhere

* generate lots of ideas quickly

* find new ways of approaching old ideas

* apply ‘creative’ techniques to ‘business’ communication

* grow in confidence as a writer.

How long is it?

One day.

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If the thought of posting anything on social media leaves you quaking at your keyboard, you’ve come to the right place. We can help you navigate the weird online world of memes, hashtags and OMG moments to arrive safely at a place where normal language, combined with cracking content, wins the day.

So if you’re trying to find your voice on social media, take a deep breath and join us. YOLO*, after all.

Dare to shareHow to find your voice on social media

* You Only Live Once – an example of modern social media parlance popular among 14-year-olds. And exactly the sort of thing we won’t be asking you to use in our workshops.

3 Who’s it for?

Whether you’re blogging, tweeting, on Facebook or LinkedIn, we’ll help you get a handle on the basics of writing and sharing compelling content online.

What’s it about?

In this one-day session we’ll help you take the social media bull by the horns and start posting. We’ll look at where ideas for new posts come from and how to capture your readers’ attention on the ‘big three’: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. We’ll cover the pitfalls, too. How do you make sure a seemingly harmless post doesn’t turn into a PR disaster? And how do you respond to difficult comments online?

Don’t expect a detailed analysis of metrics and metadata, though. This isn’t about using technical tricks, or setting up a social media account from scratch. It’s about using good old-fashioned writing techniques to build your profile and get your words noticed.

What will I get out of it?

At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

* write a LinkedIn profile with personality

* find content

* help it go viral

* trust your common sense when posting

* write engaging posts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter

* feel happy starting conversations, joining existing ones and finding the perfect riposte for difficult comments.

How long is it?

One day.

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You’re presenting the numbers. You know what you want to say. But all around you brows begin to wrinkle and eyes gently glaze over. They’re not following the highs and lows of the line graphs. They’re not eating up the pie charts. In fact, they really don’t know what to make of any of it.

What do you do? Tell them what they can already see, or help them find the story behind the statistics?

Good decision.

Numbers are stories, tooHow to make your data more meaningful

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Numbers people who are trying to reach words people. And words people who are grappling with writing about numbers.

Whether you’re writing a case study, an annual report or presenting your figures to the board, this session will help your readers make sense of the data and know what to do with it.

What’s it about?

In this one-day workshop we’ll look at techniques for simplifying lengthy data to focus on the things that really matter. We’ll find ways to talk about the numbers without repeating the numbers. And we’ll steal framing techniques from psychologists, as well as persuasive techniques from columnists, to give your analysis a little more heart.

What will I get out of it?

At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

* think like a reader, not a statistician

* find the stories behind the stats, to go beyond ‘saying what you see’

* use a bit of psychology to frame your data

* use storytelling techniques to make your messages really hit home.

How long is it?

One day.

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It’s your job to sweat the details. And we get it: it can be hard to keep your writing simple when your subject is complex. Whether you’re crafting legal terms and conditions, compliance, procurement or HR policies, there’s a lot that needs to be said.

But then, readers have been unhappy with legal writing for quite a while. Back in the sixteenth century, King Edward VI said,

I wish that the superfluous and tedious statutes were brought into one sum together, and made more plain and short.’

We’re taking up Ed’s mantle to make the case for change. Because we think it’s possible and we’d like to show you how. In fact, we believe that clear writing sets clear expectations for everyone. And when expectations are clear, everyone wins.

The letters of the lawHow clear writing keeps you out of court

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You probably work in legal, risk or compliance. And you’re the one responsible for keeping the company out of the newspaper, out of court, and off the regulators’ short list. You have to be precise and comprehensive, because you know that words can be misinterpreted. You’re used to being the scapegoat when marketing and customer service complain about all the small print. At the same time, you know that legal writing can be more concise, clear and helpful.

What’s it about?

Who reads the fine print? More people than you’d think. And by making your writing more accessible, you can help your readers while also reducing risk for your company.

In this one-day session we’ll look at the way business language is evolving, and how you can adapt your Ts & Cs, contracts and other small print without losing their meaning. From small suggestions to larger themes, we’ll give you practical tools – so you can get the job done and, maybe, hear the word ‘Thanks’.

What will I get out of it?

At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

* adjust the tone of your writing without losing the content

* spot the different types of readers, and balance their needs

* be clear without ‘dumbing down’ your work

* structure your small print to make it easier to read

* turn legal documents into tools that are consistent with your company’s brand.

How long is it?

One day.

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There’s nothing like a bit of bad grammar to undo a powerful message. And there’s nothing like the fear of the grammar police to make you forget where to put an apostrophe.

This half-day workshop will remind you of a few grammar rules, tell you which ones you can break, and let you have a go at testing yourself, too.

Grammar for grown-upsFilling in the grammar gaps left over from school

Who’s it for?

Chances are, it’s been a while since you’ve studied grammar (or you were never taught it at all). And it’s also likely you don’t want to go back to school for a refresher course. This half-day workshop is a dose of grammar for normal people. It’s for people who write every day at work and sometimes ask themselves if it’s okay to start a sentence with ‘And…’. And let’s face it: who hasn’t?

What’s it about?

We’ll separate grammar rules from myths. We’ll work our way through different grammatical minefields. Punctuation, the passive voice and split infinitives are just a few on the list; we’ll work out what’s right and what’s not for each. At the end of the session, we’ll test you too (but you can keep your score to yourself, this isn’t school).

What will I get out of it?

Next time you sit down to do a piece of writing you’ll:

* know your colons from your semicolons, where to put an apostrophe and how to use brackets (and that’s just for starters)

* feel confident about grammar rules – and confident at dispelling grammar myths.

How long is it?

Half a day.

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You know how to speak to the back of the room. You can keep your head when your hands start to shake. But, dammit, your PowerPoint presentations are still pretty boring.

It’s not you. But it probably is your content.

PowerPoint: To me, to youMaking you and your slides the ultimate double act

Who’s it for?

Anyone and everyone who wants to do more than ‘say what they see’. It’ll be most useful for people who already know how to present and would like a helping hand with their content.

What’s it about?

This course will show you how to make friends with the words on your screen. How to stop fighting with your slides. How to turn impenetrable data into something engaging. And how to build a presentation that doesn’t make your audience long for an early death.

What does it cover?

* The planning.

* Culling content.

* Making it memorable.

* Pacing.

What doesn’t it cover?

* Anything techie.

* Projection and presenting techniques.

What will I get out of it?

At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

* get and keep people’s attention

* make your PowerPoints memorable

* present dry data in a more interesting way

* stop using your slides like crutches

* do more than ‘say what you see’.

How long is it?

One day.

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You’ve found a project you want to bid for. You know your team’s the right one for the job.

Now comes the hard part: putting the proposal together.

This one-day workshop will help you rethink how you structure, write and edit proposals to help your words win you work.

Pick-me-up proposalsWriting proposals that your reader won’t want to put down

Who’s it for?

Newbies or old hands at proposal writing; this course can help anyone who:

* would like to spice up their words to help catch their reader’s eye

* struggles to put their team’s expertise into words

* thinks a proposal with many authors sounds disjointed

* is after a few ideas for refreshing their proposal templates.

What’s it about?

When a potential client’s got a pile of proposals on their desk, it’s hard to grab their attention. The ‘thud factor’ – writing reports of interminable length – certainly isn’t the best way to do that.

This workshop helps proposal writers and editors fix common mistakes, gives tips and tricks to make your proposals stand out from the rest, and will help you rethink how you structure proposals.

What will I get out of it?

Next time you sit down to write a proposal, you’ll feel more confident about:

* hooking your potential client in from the outset

* showing readers that you’re the best choice for the job – rather than just telling them

* using professional writers’ tricks to make your words work harder

* structuring your proposals so that the benefits don’t get buried under technical details and processes

* smoothing out the edges where one contributor starts and another one stops.

How long is it?

One day.

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Greek philosopher Aristotle worked out what makes words persuasive many centuries ago.

But not everyone’s familiar with his trick. If they were, why would so many ‘call to action’ messages fail to do just that?

This one-day course will help you find the best ways to put your case across, so even if you fail to twist your readers’ arms, you’ll at least manage to grab their attention.

Win me overPersuading your readers with your words

Who’s it for?

Anyone who’s selling something, asking for something, or just trying to get your reader to share your point of view.

Regardless of whether you’re from marketing, sales, HR or management, this course will help writers who struggle to get the response they’re after from their writing.

What’s it about?

When we’re writing at work, a lot of the time it’s easy to slip into robotic mode – meaning messages often get lost in mundane language or too much detail. But by playing around with the structure, popping in an eye-catching headline and tweaking some of the language, we can start persuading again.

Over the course of the day, we’ll look at common mistakes, share ways to fix them, and work on persuading different audiences.

What will I get out of it?

Next time you need to persuade your reader, you’ll:

* know how to mix emotion, logic and credibility to support your argument

* borrow storytelling techniques to make your writing more engaging

* feel confident at how to structure your writing to make a clearer case

* be able to craft a killer headline.

How long is it?

One day.

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You write every single day at work. But you’re not a writer. And every time you produce words at work, there’s part of you that knows they could be a bit better.

This one-day course will help you brighten up your business writing. And when you do, your readers will sit up and pay attention.

The Writer’s secretsThe basics of better business writing

Who’s it for?

You might be in HR, or accounts, or internal comms, or operations, or any other department or division. If you’re using words pretty much every day and want them to work harder, then this course can help them do just that.

What’s it about?

We’ll start off thinking as readers, to help us tune in to what works – and what doesn’t – in business writing. And once we’ve figured that out, we’ll look at ways to fix it at each stage of the writing process: planning, writing and editing.

What will I get out of it?

At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:

* spot what’s working and what’s not in a piece of writing

* plan and structure your writing better

* pick a tone that will resonate with your reader

* use a few techniques to edit effectively

* apply all this to a bit of your own writing.

How long is it?

One day.

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First, drop us a line at thewriteracademy@thewriter.com. Or give us a call on +44 (0)20 7940 7540 in the UK or +1 646 568 3181 in the US

What it costs

For workshops we run from Writer HQ: £495 per person in the UK $840 per person in the US.

For workshops we deliver in-house: ½ day £1,350/$2,250. 1 day £2,250/$4,000.

Our maximum group size is 12.

Tailoring sessions to your business starts from an extra £500/$850 per workshop.

Want more?

There’s a lot here you could choose from. If you’d like a suite of these spread across your training year, then we’d love to talk more.

If we become one of your approved suppliers working with you over a longer period, the workshops get reduced to £2,000/$3,600 per day.

Read the whole story at thewriter.com Email info@thewriter.com Follow us @TheWriter Or on LinkedIn

Interested?

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