'An excellent course - very involving and up to date.'
Business report
writing courses - there are many of them, but not many are presented by
an experienced trainer who is also a published writer. This one is and
has been
presented over 160 times. (Click here if you are looking for a Technical
Report Writing course.)
COURSE AIM - Business Report Writing
Course
To help delegates to write
business reports that are clear, concise and easy to read and
understand. It covers the principles and practice of preparing, writing
and editing reports.
This one-day course is run
at your premises for up to 12 delegates. It will also help delegates
when writing other types of business document and it will save you
money by reducing the time taken by senior managers to finalise and
approve reports.
COURSE CONTENT - Business Report Writing
Course
- What distinguishes a good
business report from a poor one?
- A process for writing a
business report: planning, writing, editing
- Planning a business report
- Defining the purpose, agreeing
the terms of reference
- Knowing your readers and
writing for them
- Formatting and structuring
business reports
- Standard report sections: the
purpose of each
- Structuring business reports
down to paragraph level
- Writing, using plain English
in business reports
- Paragraph and sentence lengths
- Editing business reports:
editing for accuracy, brevity and clarity
- Actives and passives
- Preferring strong verbs to
nouns
- Choice of words, clichés
- Using bullet points and lists
- Writers' tips and some common
myths
- Punctuation problems
- Using MS Word's grammar
checker and readability statistics
WHO IS IT FOR? - Business Report Writing
Course
The course is for anyone who needs
to improve their skills at writing business reports.
IS THERE A TRACK RECORD? - Business
Report Writing Course
There is. Tony presented his first
Business Report Writing course at Barclaycard in April 1998. That was
on behalf of the Manchester-based training company now known as
Fielden-Cegos. Subsequently, he was the main trainer for business
report writing courses at London-based Reed Training (now Reed
Learning). Now, he only presents report writing courses under his own
banner to his own clients.
The business report writing course
has often been adapted to meet the specific needs of various clients.
For example, different versions of the course have been designed and
presented to Ofsted (350 delegates), the Financial Services Commission
(Gibraltar), Careers Wales, the London Birmingham Railway, Univar,
NCAS, E.ON. etc.
COURSE FEES
Please email or phone for a
quotation. Email direct to Tony
Atherton or phone 07976-390960.
SOME COMMENTS FROM DELEGATES
- I was
very impressed (with the business report writing course) and found my
facilitator to be very approachable. A job well done!
- We have
now had the minute taking course and report writing course with you and
both were great.
- Very good
course - struck perfect balance - just what I needed and no more. Thank
you, Tony.
COURSE DETAILS - Business Report
Writing Course
BUSINESS REPORT
WRITING COURSE: INTRODUCTION
- What types of business
report do you write?
- What do you like or dislike
about report writing?
- What distinguishes a good
business report from a poor one?
- Some extracts.
- How to write a business
report - the three stages of report writing: Preparing, Writing and
Editing.
BUSINESS REPORT
WRITING COURSE: PLANNING YOUR BUSINESS REPORT
- Defining the purpose or
objective of your business report.
- Who has asked for the report?
Why? Terms of reference.
- Putting the readers first.
- Who are your readers? What do
you know about them and their needs?
- How much detail will be
needed to achieve the objective?
- What do you want your
readers to know and do, how do you want them to react to your report?
- Planning your business
report.
- Achieving a logical flow and
getting the structure right.
- Sections and sub-sections.
Summary, Introduction, Main Body, etc. Who reads what?
- The purpose of each section
of a normal business report.
- Writing the Executive Summary.
- Structuring complex
information when report writing.
- Structuring your argument or
process. Generic frameworks.
- Writing a beginning, a
middle and an end for your report.
- Structuring the text down to
paragraph level.
- Do you need illustrations?
Planning illustrations.
- Your Plan.
BUSINESS REPORT
WRITING COURSE: WRITING YOUR BUSINESS REPORT
- Going from plan to draft.
- General tips.
- The order in which to write
your report's sections.
- Determining style.
- Titles, headings and
sub-headings.
- Numbering systems.
- Using short paragraphs and
sentences.
- Using appropriate words and
jargon; plain English.
- Using pronouns or not, bullet
points and lists.
- Using appendices.
BUSINESS REPORT
WRITING COURSE: EDITING YOUR BUSINESS REPORT
- Only using a single draft.
- Going from the draft to the
finished report.
- Editing for accuracy,
brevity and clarity.
- Eliminating waffle,
superfluous words and wordy phrases.
- Improving the grammar.
- The Microsoft grammar checker.
- Differences between passive
and active verbs.
- Avoiding 'smothered' or
'hidden' verbs. Using 'strong' verbs.
- Superfluous adjectives and
adverbs.
- Conventions for writing
numbers.
- Some troublesome points of
English grammar.
- Avoiding sexism in writing.
- Using Microsoft's readability
statistics.
- Punctuation, reference list.
TRAINING STYLE
For the Business Report Writing
courses we use a mixture of talks, discussions, group work and
individual work in a mix that is as appropriate as possible to the
delegates. The actual course may differ slightly from the fine details
above as the training is adjusted to match as accurately as possible
the needs of the delegates. For this reason, we will discuss your
priorities with you and build them into the day as best as possible.
Delegates are often asked to help one another to achieve their action
plans. Full course notes are provided and serve as a reference book
later.
THE TRAINER
As a training consultant and
published writer, Tony draws on a career in both the public and private
sectors including employment in the Royal Navy, GEC-Marconi, the
Independent Broadcasting Authority and the University of Hong Kong. For
five years he was the Training Manager at NTL and since 1997 he has
been an independent trainer and writer. As a published writer he has
four books and around 90 articles to his name.
He has trained thousands of
delegates from blue-chip organisations - both independently and on
behalf of large training companies. He has also inspected
government-funded training on behalf of the Training Standards Council
and the Adult Learning Inspectorate (now merged with Ofsted).
MORE DELEGATES' COMMENTS
- Excellent
course. Thank you.
- Overall,
very impressed with the day's training.
- Excellent
delivery of course and an obvious expertise in Report Writing.
- Excellent
training, got the message across in an entertaining and productive
manner.
- I really
enjoyed today and Tony made everything very easy to understand.
- The report
writing course was beneficial and has given me confidence to write
reports.
- Felt Tony made
the report writing course very enjoyable, determined from the outset
what was relevant.
- Very good
course - struck perfect balance - just what I needed and no more. Thank
you Tony.
- Please pass on
my thanks to Tony for the delivery of the training on Report Writing
yesterday. The group had an excellent day. The feedback is very
encouraging and I would like to arrange another session with Tony later
this year for our senior accountants.
- Thank you for
arranging yesterday (Report Writing Course) and I will be in contact
shortly to arrange a further date.
- Overall, very
impressed with the day's training on writing reports.
- Excellent
report writing course. I think I will definitely put into practice
immediately.
- An excellent
course - very involving and up to date. Enthusiastic trainer.
- Tony was
entertaining and made a traditionally boring subject fun. Very
enthusiastic.
- Very good
trainer, kept it light and fun.
- Perfect.
- Very
practical and to the point. Adapts well to varied delegates experiences
and needs.
- Clear
presenting, easy to understand, made the content interesting and
enjoyable. Nothing like the horror of school days.
- Good
structure - made it interactive.
- I thoroughly
enjoyed the report writing course and was glad I attended. The
instructor was pleasant and clear in his approach.
- I was very
impressed and found my facilitator to be very approachable. A job well
done!
A
selection of our
clients for various courses
Click
here for:
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