Archive: efficiency
You can be Conversational and Still be Direct
Nov 30, 2011 | Effective Writing
Having a conversational tone is important, as long as it doesn’t hinder efficiency. The reader needs to know quickly why you are writing. Too often, messages are chatty at the beginning, either because people want to convey a friendly tone or because they...By Ken O’Quinn
Focus on Them
Perfect Phrases for Business Letters (McGraw-Hill)
TD at Work — Business Writing for Managers

As a contributing author in this book on leadership, Ken offers insights and tips for managing difficult conversations, providing effective feedback, and being authentic. Order here.
Perfect Phrases for Business Letters (McGraw-Hill)

Provides the right words and phrases for any situation - quickly. The book was reprinted in Japanese because of high-volume sales there.
TD at Work — Business Writing for Managers

The Association for Talent Development invited Ken to write this 22-page booklet for the TD at Work series.
Current Blog Post
Passive Voice is Not Always Wrong
The passive voice remains an easy target of business writing critics, but sometimes it is preferable to an active sentence. …
Praise from Clients
Participating in your course was one of my best experiences in the past few years. It was such a pleasure to be in a room full of people whose goal was to strengthen their writing, and you did a fantastic job of leading the class.
Jerry PetrieRaytheon
After working with Ken, I became a confident, creative writer and went on to have an award-winning consulting business. I would not be having this success were it not for the skills I learned from Ken.
Angelique RewersBon Mot Communications
What a teacher you are. In your brief session, you taught me four valuable things.
Chet Burgerone of the pioneers of PR in America
The feedback from the 40+ communicators who participated in the workshops was overwhelmingly positive. He is passionate about good writing, and it is contagious when he presents. We’re already planning to have him back.
Jill HollingsworthInternal Communications ManagerQwest
That was a great presentation. We’re getting rave reviews. It was new information, thoughtfully presented and highly interactive. We loved it! Let’s discuss having you come back.
Laura HamburgPresidentStamford IABC chapter
I learned more about writing in your six-hour session than I learned in four years at Northwestern. Your seminar has given me a renewed interest in good writing and confidence I can improve.
Liz KoreyCushman Amberg Public Relations
Ken gave one of the best courses I’ve ever taken. He teaches staff how to write properly, clearly and concisely, from e-mails to major planning documents.
Debby ArnoldManagerVisa International
I learned more helpful tips than in any other writing course in the past 40 years. As an engineer, knowing the “why” is important.
David EiermanMotorola Solutions
My team had some great feedback on the time they spent with you. They really learned a lot and you received rave reviews.
Susan LintonsmithVice President of CommunicationsRed Robin Gourmet Burgers
Ken’s writing workshops received the highest evaluations of any training we’ve done in my five years here.
Kristi WilkinsSenior Director of Marketing CommunicationsPacific Gas & Electric