Crafting a Compelling Message Workshop
Crafting Messages that Inform and Influence
(for communications and PR teams)
Professional communicators need more than business writing skills to cover their company’s news. This hands-on workshop provides the techniques that seasoned journalists use to turn everyday topics into compelling articles.
Whether you are writing a news article, an email, a human interest feature story, or a media pitch, you will learn how to judge the news value of a topic, and you will practice the subtleties that distinguish polished, professional, writing from mediocrity. You will gain fresh insight to the craft of writing, and practical tips you can use every day.
Here are among the points we will explore:
- Brainstorming a story idea and finding your focus amid the scribbled notes
- Gathering information with good interviewing skills
- Using four creative techniques that journalists use to open feature stories
- Distinguishing between generalities and specifics to improve reader understanding.
- Keeping readers on the page with quotes that provide depth.
- Creating graceful writing by structuring sentences for variety, emphasis, or rhythm.
To learn more or to get details on pricing and schedules, please complete our contact form or call 207-232-7563.
By Ken O’Quinn
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. …