Good communication starts with clear writing. Regardless of what you're trying to say. View this webinar if you are involved in:
proposals
blogs
social media
user instructions
policies and procedures
video scripts
Learn about what clear communication looks like and how to improve yours.
In the beginning there was the internet, and organizations dumped their brochures onto web pages and thought, it was good. However, today's scanning and information-bombarded audience needs you to put them first when it comes to creating web content. They want it fast, easy and accessible. This seminar on web writing gives guideposts to improving and adapting your content to best serve your audience's needs: particularly relevant for those websites where information is the No. 1 reason audiences visit.
"People read differently online than they do when they read print materials -- web users typically scan for information." Hence writing for the web requires a different approach. This presentation will help you understand the style and structure of writing for web.
In the beginning there was the internet, and organizations dumped their brochures onto web pages and thought, it was good. However, today's scanning and information-bombarded audience needs you to put them first when it comes to creating web content. They want it fast, easy and accessible. This seminar on web writing gives guideposts to improving and adapting your content to best serve your audience's needs: particularly relevant for those websites where information is the No. 1 reason audiences visit.
"People read differently online than they do when they read print materials -- web users typically scan for information." Hence writing for the web requires a different approach. This presentation will help you understand the style and structure of writing for web.
The following resource was developed by RESYST for a research uptake and digital communications workshop held in Bangkok, Thailand.
In this resource:
- Understand how users read on the web
- Basic principles of writing for the web
- Review different types of written web content including blogs
- Blog writing structure
Find more: http://resyst.lshtm.ac.uk/resources/resource-bank-research-uptake
First delivered in April 2010, this presentation/workshop was for an audience of web content providers at Newcastle University Careers Service. Covering the fundamentals of web writing, the presentation reinforces why writing for this medium needs a unique approach and delivers practical hints and tips for producing successful online content.
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."-Henry ford
Model Business Letters , Emails and other Business Documents (7th edition. Shirley Taylor)
Wait what? How to Enhance your Responsive Process with Content QuestionsEileen Webb
Many of the challenges that come from building a responsive site are based not in the technical implementation, but in the content. All your copy is now readable on a small screen, but is it useful there? Is it still serving the site and business goals? Who's actually going to write those blog posts?
We’ll talk about some approaches that content strategists use to figure out how (and if!) content should be displayed on your site, whether you’re dealing with a heavy archive of articles or a nimble webapp. We’ll explore common techniques and questions you can integrate into your workflow that will help you and your client think through the long-term content needs and goals of a new site.
Full text transcript at http://webmeadow.com/blog/archives/201405/wait-what-how-enhance-your-responsive-process-with-content-questions
Good communication starts with clear writing. Regardless of what you're writing, people need to understand what you're trying to say. If you are involved in:
* proposals
* blogs
* social media
* user instructions
* policies and procedures
* video scripts
* and more
In one hour, you learn specific steps and actions to make your writing clearer and convey your powerful message. You'll leave with 10 simple actions you can apply to your writing today. Your message will be clearer and easier to understand.
The following resource was developed by RESYST for a research uptake and digital communications workshop held in Bangkok, Thailand.
In this resource:
- Understand how users read on the web
- Basic principles of writing for the web
- Review different types of written web content including blogs
- Blog writing structure
Find more: http://resyst.lshtm.ac.uk/resources/resource-bank-research-uptake
First delivered in April 2010, this presentation/workshop was for an audience of web content providers at Newcastle University Careers Service. Covering the fundamentals of web writing, the presentation reinforces why writing for this medium needs a unique approach and delivers practical hints and tips for producing successful online content.
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."-Henry ford
Model Business Letters , Emails and other Business Documents (7th edition. Shirley Taylor)
Wait what? How to Enhance your Responsive Process with Content QuestionsEileen Webb
Many of the challenges that come from building a responsive site are based not in the technical implementation, but in the content. All your copy is now readable on a small screen, but is it useful there? Is it still serving the site and business goals? Who's actually going to write those blog posts?
We’ll talk about some approaches that content strategists use to figure out how (and if!) content should be displayed on your site, whether you’re dealing with a heavy archive of articles or a nimble webapp. We’ll explore common techniques and questions you can integrate into your workflow that will help you and your client think through the long-term content needs and goals of a new site.
Full text transcript at http://webmeadow.com/blog/archives/201405/wait-what-how-enhance-your-responsive-process-with-content-questions
Good communication starts with clear writing. Regardless of what you're writing, people need to understand what you're trying to say. If you are involved in:
* proposals
* blogs
* social media
* user instructions
* policies and procedures
* video scripts
* and more
In one hour, you learn specific steps and actions to make your writing clearer and convey your powerful message. You'll leave with 10 simple actions you can apply to your writing today. Your message will be clearer and easier to understand.
10 Mistakes When Moving to Topic-Based Authoringdclsocialmedia
But moving to topic-based authoring can be one of the most expensive things you've ever done. In this talk, Sharon Burton will show you the top 10 mistakes made by companies and how you can avoid them. These mistakes can include missing deadlines, delivering poor quality content, or not integrating this content development strategy into the rest of the product development strategy.
Day 1 - Proposal Writing Workshop - Rabta Kar.pdfMalik Awan
By the end of this course the participants will be able to: Identify project development and proposal writing principles, arrange different proposal aspects logically, develop and write an effective proposal and to utilize the monitoring and evaluation principals in developing a proposal.
Outline
Overview of proposal writing process
Understanding goal, objectives, outcomes and outputs
Writing a project rationale,
Discussing the overall approach and strategies
Describing project design and activities
Developing M&E Framework
Reviewing a proposal
Facilitator
Aftab Ahmed Awan has more than fifteen years of experience in the development sector, working at senior level management positions in national and international organisations. He specialises in organisational development, resource mobilisation, project design and development, project cycle management and governance & leadership. He has facilitated numerous workshops across country, strengthening and building the capacity of dozens of civil society organisations and capacitating hundreds of individuals.
Aftab Ahmed Awan
aftabmalik6@gmail.com
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Topic-based authoring is the most cost-effective way to develop content in the "Do more with less" world we live in. It can help reduce localization costs, reduce project schedules, and help you better meet the needs of your users. It's a potential win/win for your company and your users. Makes you want to jump right in, doesn't it?
But moving to topic-based authoring can be one of the most expensive things you've ever done. In this talk, Sharon Burton will show you the top 10 mistakes made by companies and how you can avoid them. These mistakes can include missing deadlines, delivering poor quality content, or not integrating this content development strategy into the rest of the product development strategy.
If you're thinking about making this move, you'll learn what not to do; if you made the move and you're struggling, find out how to solve your problems. Either way, you really can't afford to miss this vendor-neutral discussion!
As a part of our exclusive alliance with the Association for Project Management to deliver a career development service, we have put together some tips and advice for potential candidates. In this particular Slide Share we look at some tips on writing a winning CV and ensuring you land the interview for that job!
Presenting in some format is part of everybody’s career. It is not so difficult as many think. Like any other skill it requires practice. Use the lessons we learned while judging the “DB2’s Got Talent Competition” from The DB2Night Show™
Building Your Employer Brand with Social MediaLuanWise
Presented at The Global HR Summit, 6th June 2024
In this keynote, Luan Wise will provide invaluable insights to elevate your employer brand on social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. You'll learn how compelling content can authentically showcase your company culture, values, and employee experiences to support your talent acquisition and retention objectives. Additionally, you'll understand the power of employee advocacy to amplify reach and engagement – helping to position your organization as an employer of choice in today's competitive talent landscape.
Event Report - SAP Sapphire 2024 Orlando - lots of innovation and old challengesHolger Mueller
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Affordable Stationery Printing Services in Jaipur | Navpack n PrintNavpack & Print
Looking for professional printing services in Jaipur? Navpack n Print offers high-quality and affordable stationery printing for all your business needs. Stand out with custom stationery designs and fast turnaround times. Contact us today for a quote!
Cracking the Workplace Discipline Code Main.pptxWorkforce Group
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Although discipline is not a one-size-fits-all approach, it can help create a work environment that encourages personal growth and accountability rather than solely relying on punitive measures.
In this deck, you will learn the significance of workplace discipline for organisational success. You’ll also learn
• Four (4) workplace discipline methods you should consider
• The best and most practical approach to implementing workplace discipline.
• Three (3) key tips to maintain a disciplined workplace.
Recruiting in the Digital Age: A Social Media MasterclassLuanWise
In this masterclass, presented at the Global HR Summit on 5th June 2024, Luan Wise explored the essential features of social media platforms that support talent acquisition, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok.
Putting the SPARK into Virtual Training.pptxCynthia Clay
This 60-minute webinar, sponsored by Adobe, was delivered for the Training Mag Network. It explored the five elements of SPARK: Storytelling, Purpose, Action, Relationships, and Kudos. Knowing how to tell a well-structured story is key to building long-term memory. Stating a clear purpose that doesn't take away from the discovery learning process is critical. Ensuring that people move from theory to practical application is imperative. Creating strong social learning is the key to commitment and engagement. Validating and affirming participants' comments is the way to create a positive learning environment.
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This Digital Transformation and IT Strategy Toolkit was created by ex-McKinsey, Deloitte and BCG Management Consultants, after more than 5,000 hours of work. It is considered the world's best & most comprehensive Digital Transformation and IT Strategy Toolkit. It includes all the Frameworks, Best Practices & Templates required to successfully undertake the Digital Transformation of your organization and define a robust IT Strategy.
Editable Toolkit to help you reuse our content: 700 Powerpoint slides | 35 Excel sheets | 84 minutes of Video training
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1. Clear Communication
Simple steps to make your communication
clear
Tweet: #ClearWriting
Sharon Burton
Sharon@sharonburton.com
Twitter: sharonburton
951-369-8590
We’ll be starting the webinar
at 3 minutes after the hour
2. Clear Communication
Simple steps to make your communication
clear
Tweet: #ClearWriting
Sharon Burton
Sharon@sharonburton.com
Twitter: sharonburton
951-369-8590
3. Welcome!
▪ I’m Sharon Burton
▪ Content Consultant
▪ STCAssociate Fellow
▪ Other stuff
▪ Been in theTech Comm industry for 20 years
▪ Content Strategy Consultant - I help you make
your content work better
▪ Also teach:
▪ Technical Communication to Engineering students at the University
of California, Riverside
▪ Tech Comm certificate program at UCR Extension
▪ BusinessWriting for University of Redlands
▪ Custom training programs for clients
Tweet: #ClearWriting
4. Supporting role today…
▪ DCL is supporting us today
▪ If you have questions, they will help you in the questions window
▪ Let’s say “Thank you” to Data Conversion Labs for
hosting this webinar
Tweet: #ClearWriting
5. Experience the DCL Difference
▪ DCL blends years of conversion experience with cutting-
edge technology and the infrastructure to make the
conversion process easy and efficient.
▪ World-Class Services
▪ Leading-EdgeTechnology
▪ Unparalleled Infrastructure
▪ US-Based Management
▪ Complex-Content Expertise
▪ 24/7 Online ProjectTracking
▪ Automated Quality Control
▪ Global Capabilities
6. Valuable ContentTransformed
▪ Document Digitization
▪ XML and HTML Conversion
▪ eBook Production
▪ Hosted Solutions
▪ Big Data Automation
▪ Conversion Management
▪ Editorial Services
▪ Harmonizer
10. How this webinar works
▪ You are muted
▪ If you’re talking, hoping we’d notice, we can’t hear you
▪ We’re recording this webinar
▪ None of your information appears in the final webinar
▪ The recording link is provided to you automatically in a follow up
email tomorrow
▪ A short survey is also included
▪ Helps us make the webinars better for you
▪ We should be done by the top of the hour
▪ We have time for questions at the end
▪ I know you have a busy day
Tweet: #ClearWriting
12. Communication
▪ FromWikipedia:
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful
information.Communication requires a sender, a message,
and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not
be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate
at the time of communication; thus communication can
occur across vast distances in time and space.
Communication requires that the communicating parties
share an area of communicative commonality.The
communication process is complete once the receiver has
understood the message of the sender.
Tweet: #ClearWriting
13. What does this mean?
▪ Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful
information.
▪ This means that what we need to convey has to be
meaningful
▪ To the point
▪ Clear to our audience
▪ No extra noise
▪ Our audience decides if we communicated clearly
Tweet: #ClearWriting
14. What does it require?
Communication requires a sender, a message, and an
intended recipient…
▪ We are busy people communicating with other busy
people
▪ Our written communications convey the message for us
▪ Provides a record of our communication
▪ But also think about videos, podcasts, etc.
Tweet: #ClearWriting
16. Information consumption styles
▪ One of the most important things we can know about our
readers is their information consumption styles
▪ This tells us how to design the communication we deliver
▪ 4 adult styles
▪ Visual
▪ Auditory
▪ Read/write
▪ Kinesthetic (hands on)
▪ Most people have a strong preference 2 or more
▪ Some people are only one
▪ Some rare people are all 4
17. Visual Consumers
▪ Pictures and line drawings
▪ Show concepts in graphics
▪ Flow charts are great
▪ Tables are also graphics
▪ A well designed page is also a graphic
▪ Color is important
18. Kinesthetic Consumers
▪ Hands on stuff
▪ “Do” instructions
▪ Written words should be very descriptive
▪ Textures, moving things, other “feel” things
▪ Drawings and photos can work but they have to show
doing or texture or…
19. Read/Writer Consumers
▪ More words are better
▪ Lots of written text, following the writing guidelines
▪ More about the writing guidelines in a few moments
20. Auditory Consumers
▪ Sound is good
▪ Podcasts and webinars and other voice over
▪ Write in a conversational tone
▪ As though someone is talking
▪ Written content not the best
▪ They read the instructions aloud to provide that auditory aspect
for themselves
21. Consumption styles
▪ While people can learn in all 4 modes, people have
preferences
▪ There are no “wrong” styles
▪ Just as there is no “wrong” eye color
▪ People are much happier getting information in the mode
they are comfortable with
▪ People are busy.Why give them information in a mode that they
typically don’t like?
22. Preferences and jobs
▪ Information preferences also attract people to specific
jobs
▪ Visual kinesthetics might be hair dressers, interior designers,
architects, photographers
▪ Read/write auditorys might be song writers, actors, journalists
▪ Engineers are typically visual kinesthetics
▪ But your audience may not be engineers
23. A secret about preferences
▪ Now that you know a little about information
consumption styles, here’s a secret
▪ You will always want to deliver material that matches your
specific style(s)
▪ This may not meet the needs of your readers but you won’t know
why
▪ This may also result in terrible communication issues
▪ They may have different learning styles than you or the users
▪ You may have a terrible communication issue with co-workers
25. What’s in a sentence?
▪ Sentences include:
▪ Subject
▪ Verb
▪ Other stuff
▪ Subject
▪ Actor of the sentence
▪ Bob
▪ Verb
▪ Action of the sentence,
performed by the
subject
▪ Runs
▪ Predicate and other
stuff
▪ Tells what the actor did
or where the action
happened or many
other things
▪ To the car
26. Active voice
▪ Active voice is critical to engaging writing
▪ Active voice depends on the subject, the actor
▪ The actor comes first
▪ Passive voice:
▪ The award was won by the writers.
▪ Active voice
▪ The writers won the award.
▪ Always write active voice
▪ Practice with sentences that start “You can…”
27. Present tense
▪ English has 7 or 8
tenses
▪ Other languages have
more or less
▪ We care most about
present tense
▪ It puts the action in the
sentence in the now,
making is relevant and
immediate
▪ Only use (simple) past
or (simple) future
tense when it really
happens then
▪ Past tense
▪ Bob ran to the car.
▪ Future tense
▪ Bob will run to the car.
▪ Present tense
▪ Bob runs to the car.
28. Second person
▪ He, she, it, they, we, I, you
▪ You is second person
▪ You’re writing to a specific person
▪ Don’t use “the user”
▪ Unless there is really a different group of users, separate from
your reader
▪ Second person is also easier to read in English
▪ More familiar and trusted
29. Reader focused, reader centric
▪ Because we write to people, we need to keep the focus on
the reader
▪ Readers need to care why they need to know this information
▪ They want to know what they can do or why this is important to
them
▪ For example:
▪ WidgetBlue uses tags to talk to other products.
▪ You can use tags to letWidgetBlue talk to other products.
30. Short is good
▪ Short sentences are easier to understand
▪ Fewer ideas in a short sentence
▪ No more than 25 words per sentence
▪ Short paragraphs
▪ Paragraphs are groups of related sentences
▪ No more than 3 to 5 sentences per paragraph
▪ Short sections
▪ Sections are groups of related paragraphs
▪ No more than 3 to 5 paragraphs before a section heading
31. Headings
▪ Use headings to break the text into chunks
▪ Headings visually break up the page
▪ Makes it easier for the reader to scan for the information s/he is
looking for.
▪ Makes the information look easy to understand.
▪ Things that look easy to understand are easier to understand.
▪ Headings show the relationships between ideas or the
parts of ideas
▪ Critical in overview sections where you are introducing the user
to new concepts
32. Building sentences and paragraphs
▪ Paragraphs start with a topic sentence
▪ Topic sentences explain the point of the paragraph.
▪ The reader can read just the topic sentence and get the idea of
the entire paragraph
▪ Other sentences in the paragraph amplify and support
the topic sentence
▪ The paragraph can include
▪ an example that illustrates the concept
▪ with a limitation or special case the reader should know now that
they know about the general class
33. Example
▪ Another challenge is that business writing follows very
specific formulas in structure.Think about your resume,
for example.Your writing style, the points you highlight
about your career or education, and the look and feel play
an important role. A company uses all of these to decide
whether to offer you a job.
34. Parsing the paragraph example
▪ Another challenge is that business writing follows very
specific formulas in structure.
▪ This is the topic sentence
▪ Contains the point to the paragraph
▪ It’s a short sentence
▪ 12 words
▪ Easy to understand
▪ Short words
35. Parsing example, cont
▪ Think about your resume, for example.
▪ This is an example
▪ Using you helps you picture your resume
▪ Not some generic resume
▪ Notice how you have a picture in your head right away
▪ You can relate
36. Parsing example, cont
▪ Your writing style, the points you highlight about your
career or education, and the look and feel play an
important role.
▪ Now that we have an example, we pull out important
features to think about
▪ We created a picture in our readers head
▪ It’s 21 words.
▪ Look how long that looks.
37. Parsing example, cont
▪ A company uses all of these to decide whether to offer
you a job.
▪ We bring all the ideas to a conclusion
▪ In this case, it’s the point of the resume: to get hired
▪ No sentence is longer than 25 words.
▪ We have four sentences total
38. In sum
Think about these concepts for video scripts,
and other communication
39. To sum up
▪ Cover all 4 styles
▪ To learn more and find out your styles
▪ www.vark-learn.com
▪ Easy and fast. No wrong answers and select all that apply
▪ Tight writing
▪ 25 words or less per sentence, 3 to 5 sentences per paragraph,
headings every 3 to 5 paragraphs
▪ Active voice, present tense, second person
▪ Reader focused –Why does your reader care about this
information?
DCL’s core service is data conversion from any format to any format
Additional services also include
eBook production
Composition
QA
Content Reuse Analysis
Project set-up/management
Consulting
Transcription
Translation
Services can be bundled or sold al a carte
Highly proficient with very complex projects
Solid reputation within all industries
Our client base spans the gamut…
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