Writing Courses

Why have face-to-face courses?
Sitting down talking to people has advantages over sending and reading emails. It takes time to arrange, and the cost is naturally greater, but so is the quality of the learning and other experience. A break from the office desk may itself be valuable. Courses in a room are more interesting, lively, varied and fun. For some people they are the ideal way to learn. Coach (tutor) and participants together define their problems, solve them together, and talk through difficulties. You can learn from everyone in the room.

So is it a public course or an in-house course you want?

Public Writing Courses

These are open to anyone (but more than 16 people on one course is not productive). I, John Fletcher, have been running public courses in Effective Writing for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for 24 years.

Some employers find sending a participant a useful preliminary to running in-house courses. All participants send samples of their work to me before the course by email, post or fax, which I analyse as described under Coach. I give their work back plus my comments at the end of the first day, and answer questions about them on the second day.

The course plan embraces relevance, structure, style, editing, reports, letters and memos; and includes one or two videos. However, the aspects and documents covered are tailored to the needs of the individuals (which I am aware of to some extent from their samples of work) as far as the numbers present allow.

What our clients have said...

"I attended your 'effective writing' course at the Euston Plaza Hotel last week which I found very beneficial. This week I submitted a report that I had drafted before the course but edited afterwards and my boss's feedback was very positive. I gained a great deal of job satisfaction from this report, directly as a result of the 'new tricks' that I acquired during my two days in London and some new found confidence."   brendanregan@unw.co.uk   April 2002

"John has a wealth of experience and used frequent examples and case studies to back up his presentation. His analysis of my pre-course work was excellent, full of helpful hints and tips."

"Advice on structure of reports and letters very useful. Points on punctuation helpful. Good on-course exercises and homework."

"Comments on pre-course submissions very helpful."

In-house Writing Courses

These are run and paid for by an employer who nominates those attending. The course plan meets the employer's needs, and contributes to consistency of company style and to staff morale. It is more cost-effective per participant than a public course, especially if it takes place on the employer's premises.

I have run such courses for many kinds of organisation: civil service, such as The Public Trust Office; legal, such as the Lord Chancellor's Department; scientific, such as the Building Research Establishment; retail, such as the John Lewis Partnership; banks, such as TSB; local authorities, such as Croydon; and many small concerns.

How can I arrange a course?
Send an email to courses@redraft.co.uk