Seats Available: 19

Expand your business writing knowledge and skills in this highly interactive, apply-as-you-learn workshop taught by the country’s topnotch Business Writing expert, Dr. Rodolfo “Dups” delos Reyes.

The workshop will offer practical, down-to-earth, and tried-and-tested techniques in writing typical letters, memos and emails. Several exercises and writing drills---together with fun learning games on standard English usage---will make the participant more confident in composing his or her own letters and depend less on somebody else.

The participant will learn to contribute to the profitability of the business firm by enhancing the bond with customers and within the team through the power of the written word. By the end of the two-day workshop, the participant will have learned the benefits of clear and considerate writing, one that focuses on the bottom-line purpose of the correspondence, yet is sensitive to the feelings of the business reader.


Module I - Overview and Basic Professional Business Writing Skills

A. Diagnostic Exercises – Determining Your Base Line
    1. The One-Page Email, Letter, or Memo
    2. English Language Proficiency

B. Overview of Effective Business Writing
    1. Guidelines for Clear Writing
    2. Guidelines for Considerate Writing
    3. Overall Communication Guidelines in Perspective
    4. Honesty, Sincerity, Integrity in Business Writing

C. Clarity in Business Writing
    1. Be specific (write “seven days” instead of “a few days”)
    2. Be precise with word use (“biannual” or “biennial”)
    3. Be accurate with numbers (profit or loss indicators)
    4. Be complete with all information
    5. Be explicit with data and rules

D. Consideration for the Reader in Business Writing
    1. Layout – the use of paper space, font size and types etc.
    2. Organizing Ideas in Writing with the Reader in Mind
        a) Overview of Direct Messages
        b) Overview of Non-Direct Messages
    3. Verbal Content (the use of words)
        a) Correctness
        b) Conciseness
        c) Coherence
        d) Tone in Writing
    4. Efficiency – the value of speed in writing (time management)
(how to write a one-page correspondence in ten minutes or less!)

E. Correct Usage Review
    1. Know Appropriate Levels of English Usage
    2. Adapt to the Reader – Formal Standard is Best
    3. An Exercise on the Top Priorities of Business English

F. Conciseness and Directness - Exercises
    1. The Rudolph Flesch Readability Evaluation Criiteria
    2. Four Exceptions to Conciseness
        a) Avoiding Deadwood, Jargon, and Superset/Subset Verbosity
        b) Reducing Connecting Phrases, Modifiers, & Synonyms
        c) The Active Voice and Personal Pronouns
        d) Avoiding Expletives and Relative Pronouns/Conjunctions
        e) Verbs and Verb Locations
        f) Using the Possessive Case 
       g) Avoiding Long Intervening Phrases

Module II - Organizing Ideas in Writing for Business Readers/Clients

A. Overview Focus on the Direct Message – Neutral and Positive

Correspondence

B. Overview of Other Types – The Non-Direct Message and Long Reports

C. Be Clear with Action Points for the Reader’s Response
    1. Messages to Inform
    2. Messages to Reply
    3. Messages to Request
    4. Messages to Report

D. Paragraph Writing Review
    1. Exercise on Bottom Line and Overview statements
    2. Exercise on Supporting Details
    3. Exercise on Coherence
    4. Exercise on Development

E. Sentence Writing Review
    1. Exercise on grammatical completeness
    2. Exercise on logic and structure
    3. Exercise on variety and emphasis

F. Word Choice Review
    1. Exercise on Exact Word meanings (advise and inform)
    2. Exercise on Appropriate Word meanings
    3. Exercise on Correct Usage concerns (no such word as bio-data)

G. Write with a Three-Paragraph Maximum
    1. Start with a Direct and Appropriate Action Point Statement
    2. Make the First Paragraph Brief (for Visual Impact)
    3. Be clear with background details
    4. End with an appropriate reinforcement statement

H. Write at the shortest possible time (ten minutes maximum at the computer!)
    1. The importance of speed in writing and replying
    2. Time as the most important resource in business
    3. How to draft mentally for speed
    4. How to write with speed without learning shorthand or abbreviate text

I. Direct and Results-Oriented Action Statements
    1. The Paragraph Approach
    2. The List/Enumeration Approach
    3. The Matrix or Spot Table Approach
    4. Formal/Informal Options
    5. Etiquette Guidelines
6. Styles – Salutation, Complimentary Ending

Module III - The Positive Tone for Business – Customer- or Reader-Friendly

A. The Positive Memo
    1. Expressing Appreciation
    2. Expressing Gratitude
    3. Expressing Good News and other Positive News

B. Positive Writing Strategies
    1. The Positive Sandwich in Writing
    2. Positive Word Choice
        a) Awareness of Connotation, samples in business writing
        b) Use of euphemisms – positive words for negative ideas
        c) Innovative Writing – Suspense, Current Events, Humor
       d) Fun Exercise in the Use of Positive Words

C. How to Use the Written Channel To Motivate Your Staff or Client
    1. Self-Inventory – what per cent of what I write is positive?
    2. The Value of the Reader’s Feeling Good and Important
    3. The Business Perspective – Business Is Relationships
    4. Exercise: a Positive Memo to a Co-Worker

D. Strategies for Spiced-Up Writing for the One-Page Direct Message
    1. Enthusiastic and Picturesque Openings
    2. Proactive Openings
    3. Variations in Opening
    4. Algebra-Factoring in Writing
    5. Being Yourself

E. Updating Writing Styles in the High-Tech World
    1. Professionalism and Ethics in Email and SMS
    2. Appropriate Use of Technology for Business Writing
    3. Other Do’s and Don’t’s

Module IV - Final Corporate Applications and Secrets of Successful Writing

A. The Value of Rewriting
    1. Rewriting and editing exercises written from Module II
    2. Professional Excellence – Projecting World-Class image

B. Applying the Techniques Learned to More Samples on-the-job
    1. Brief Discussions on Corporate Samples of Participants
    2. Editing and Rewriting Exercises on the Samples

C. Other Essential Secrets to Successful Writing
    1. The Importance of Practice, Practice, Practice
    2. The Importance of Reading – Do Not Take Writing in a Vacuum!

D. Two Realities about Language
    1. Levels of Usage, British and American Varieties
    2. The Educated Informal Level as the Best Option

E. A Unique Discussion and Exercise to Bridge to the Next Writing Course
    1. The Non-Direct Type of Message – bad news, demand, conciliation,
persuasive writing (sales letters and proposals)

    2. The Long Report – how to write reports and other correspondence
with many necessary details and pages

F. Integration and Recap, plus Strategic and Practical Action Steps


WHO IS RODOLFO “DUPS” DELOS REYES?

Dr. Dups is the only trainer in the country today whose qualifications make him the most respected and highly sought-after expert on the subject of Business Communication. He is equipped with a BA English CUM LAUDE, an MA English, and a PhD Communication – all from the University of the Philippines -- plus an MBA from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, and his distinct record of having been the first Filipino English department chairman of English at the International School Manila.

Dr. Dups has been training corporate executives from different industries – from banking to manufacturing – nationwide and overseas for the past 28 years. He has also taught in the academe, including the University of the Philippines and De La Salle Graduate School of Business, among others.

Please note:

P14, 400 + VAT until October 7, 2009 and paid within the assigned due date

P15, 500 + VAT starting October 8, 2009 and paid within the assigned due date

P16, 500 + VAT for onsite payments

DURATION: 2-Days

RATE: 15500.00 Peso

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