March 25th, 2011
Our new partner Open Sesame interviewed Write It Well President Natasha Terk recently. The interview is posted here on the Open Sesame blog. Kelly Meeker covers the exciting ways that learning is moving onto the Web, and beyond traditional paper materials and bricks-and-mortar classrooms.
Here’s a question by Kelly followed by two thoughts from Natasha:
Kelly:
What are some of your lessons learned [as you adapted content from a book for an e-learning course]?
Natasha:
- Make it bite-sized. I’m really interested in offering comprehensive business writing courses, but a lot of the audience wants short, focused segments like “effective e-mail subject lines.”
- Keep it moving fast. People complain more when training is too slow than when it’s too fast.
You can also check out quotes from another interview with Natasha on Jezebel.com: “How to Sound Awesome Over E-Mail“!
grammar, News, Presentation Skills
March 24th, 2011
Jezebel’s article “How to Sound Awesome Over E-Mail” includes great tips for writing e-mails. Here’s an excerpt from the interview with Natasha Terk.
According to Terk, one of the biggest pitfalls of email-sending is “sending really long emails,” especially “long emails where the main point is buried at the bottom.” She explains, “people just move way too fast and depending on where they’re reading your email, it could very well be on some sort of PDA, and the tendency is to read the very beginning of a message.”
So don’t spend a lot of time dancing around the issue — after a salutation and quick personal introduction (if necessary), get right to your main point. When, for instance, you’re asking someone to do something (so often the case with emails), go ahead and put it right out there.
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Our books Professional Writing Skills and E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide both include information on these topics:
- Crafting subject lines
- Identifying your main message
- Organizing the points your reader needs to hear
- Putting your main message right up front
E-mail Write It Well or call us at (510) 655-6477 to find out how our customized trainings and line of books can help your organization and all its writers communicate more clearly and concisely.
Effective E-Mail
March 22nd, 2011
MBA students’ … writing and presentation skills have been a perennial complaint. Employers and writing coaches say business-school graduates tend to ramble [and] use pretentious vocabulary.
– Diana Middleton, “Students Struggle for Words: Business Schools
Put More Emphasis on Writing Amid Employer Complaints,”
Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2011
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Many businesspeople hold on to very bad writing habits from our school years.
As students, most of us tried using rambling prose to make papers long enough. Most of us also tried using pretentious vocabulary to compensate for skimpy homework.
Both tactics can be disastrous in business writing. Countless times at Write It Well, businesspeople have told us they want to read clear, concise documents that get straight to the point.
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For entire chapters on clarity and concision in business writing, see our book Professional Writing Skills: A Write It Well Guide.
Please e-mail Write It Well or call us at (510) 655-6477 to find out how our customized trainings and line of books can help your organization and all its writers communicate more clearly and concisely.
Or if you have an important document that you don’t feel confident sending out, our editors can help you deliver your message effectively in prose that feels effortless to read.
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Effective E-Mail, writing skills
March 15th, 2011
We’ve formed an exciting new partnership with Open Sesame, an online portal that brings a fresh new perspective to buying and selling e-learning applications.
Finally, there’s a secure, friendly, and efficient way for content developers to connect with anyone who needs to improve communication skills – e.g., individual learners, HR decision makers, or trainers within an organization.
Buy a seat – or multiple seats – for any of the Open Sesame courses. You’ll be able to deliver the course through your own learning management system (LMS).
And while you’re there, check out Write It Well’s course Just Commas, available exclusively through Open Sesame!
News
March 11th, 2011
“At Morgan Stanley, managers look over new hires’ emails before they’re sent out to clients,” according to the corporation’s global head of recruiting.
She told the Wall Street Journal that associates can “have trouble presenting information … to clients” and “write long emails when only a short list is needed.”
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– Diana Middleton, “Students Struggle for Words: Business Schools
Put More Emphasis on Writing Amid Employer Complaints,”
Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2011
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The Journal asked its readers, “Do you think writing skills are really that important for MBA graduates or engineers?” 96.5 percent of respondents said yes. Distracted Morgan Stanley managers would probably agree.
We’ll have more to say about this article in the coming weeks; it confirms feedback that clients have given Write It Well representatives for decades.
Many people in business have deep expertise in their fields, but lack essential writing skills. The results of poor writing include wasted time, ignored messages, and lost opportunities.
Unclear or incorrect writing can harm individual careers and entire companies. Our mission at Write It Well is to help you find clear, concise, well-organized language for all the prose you write for work. We’re here to give your business the tools you need to feel confident when you send out your most important documents.
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Please e-mail Write It Well or call us at (510) 655-6477 to find out how we can help your organization and all its writers communicate effectively.
Effective E-Mail, grammar, writing skills