Learn how to make your business writing clear and compelling with this practical online course
Become a stronger, more confident writer – whether it's for reports, briefs, emails, proposals or general business communications.
Imagine if you were more persuasive. Effective. Influential.
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Learn writing skills and techniques you can immediately apply to your work.
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Filled with plenty of exercises that allow you to put theory into practice.
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Entertaining and easy to understand.
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Taught by a former newspaper editor and journalist with extensive business writing experience.
A business writing course that covers all the essentials – and then some
This practical business writing course will teach you key techniques that you can apply to almost anything, including business emails, letters, reports, briefs, tenders and grants.
More specifically, this writing course will show you how to:
- use short sentences effectively
- write in the active voice – and know when to use the passive
- use positive language
- make your writing stronger and more confident
- apply the right tone of voice
- use plain English to express complex ideas
- avoid jargon
- deliver bad news
- show, rather than tell, to create a picture in the reader's mind
- cut copy
- use the inverted pyramid style
- structure and frontload content
- put the reader first
- format your writing to make it easier to scan and read
- use the power of three (a rhetorical device) to become more persuasive
- avoid common grammar and punctuation issues
- proofread your own work
- use style guides
- craft effective headlines.
How is this business writing course taught?
This is a self-paced course: meaning you learn by watching videos filled with exercises and examples. You can start and stop whenever you want – but the overall course is equivalent to a full-day training session.
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There are six video sessions that each take between 45 minutes to an hour and a half. You can pause and resume each video whenever it suits you.
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Every time you’ll learn a new technique – such as writing in the active voice – you’ll then be given exercises to allow you to practice it until it becomes second nature.
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As the course progresses, the exercises become progressively more complex, allowing you to gradually put all the techniques you’ve learnt together.
Hear from other people who've taken the course:
“Dan’s online Business Writing Course is an eye opening experience. It’s simple to access and what you learn can be used immediately. People want to feel heard, so learning to write clearly is a game changer. I recommend this course for people who have something to say.”
Tilly Haughton – GMHBA
“I would highly recommend this course to anyone wanting a clear, helpful guide to business writing.”
Christy Tesoriero – Macquarie University
“It was a really useful workshop. It helps you think about how you write and the words you use. I learnt a lot about the importance of using plain and everyday language. I will definitely be using what I have learnt in my job.”
Paige Wall – Australian Super
“Thanks for a great course. Learning to write simply and effectively has been invaluable.”
Nat Ord
“I've done a few writing workshops in my career and this was the best.”
Tara D'Souza – ACCAN
One-on-one feedback when you need it
If you want personalised feedback – or to workshop your own business writing – we can arrange a one-on-one Zoom session for an additional fee.
You will receive:
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a PDF handbook filled with practical writing tips and techniques
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a digital certificate of completion.
Learn from someone with over 30 years of writing and business communications experience.
Most courses aren't taught by professional writers who have lived and breathed the craft for decades. This course, however, is different.
Dan Kaufman
I've worked as a journalist and an editor for over 30 years.
I began my career as a journalist, first on magazines and then at The Sydney Morning Herald, where I edited almost every section – meaning at one time or another I was the technology editor, the travel editor, the health editor ... you get the gist.
I also wrote for almost every section, across every subject area.
When I left the paper I then found myself in a whole other world: one where I had to write board and executive committee papers, briefs, reports, memos, tenders ... you name it. At first, I struggled with the structures and the templates of these business documents, and could see why people used such dense, formal and cliched language.
Yet I rapidly realised that CEOs, board directors and other leaders don't want to waste time – they just need to understand what something is about quickly. This is when I realised that good writing is good writing, regardless of what the topic is about, or what kind of document you're working on.
I then began applying the same key writing techniques I'd learnt in journalism to business writing. It worked.
Since then I have studied business writing in detail and worked with a wide range of organisations, from government departments and universities to financial organisations and not for profits. In other words, I've worked across every kind of document there is, and understand the various issues that each one has.
I have also:
- taught at the University of Sydney, UTS and the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ)
- worked as a content specialist, copywriter and communications manager
- taught business writing courses for over a decade across almost every industry.
I am now the director of Media Survival, which is an editorial consultancy that helps businesses to improve their writing.
Who is this business writing course for?
This course will help anyone who wants to make their writing more effective.
Participants come from a wide range of industries and organisations, from government departments to corporations.
Whether you're new to the workplace or are an experienced executive who wants a refresher, this business writing course will make you a stronger, more confident writer.
A plain English business writing course that will not dumb your writing down
Writing in plain English is about using the simplest and clearest words possible – and most people worry that this will make their writing unprofessional.
As a result, most business writing verges on gibberish, filled with ridiculous – and at best abstract – phrases and words that suck the life out of their sentences.
The next time you read something – whether it’s a brief or an email – and you immediately understand it and know what you need to do as a result, I suggest you stop and reread it. Any money, it’s been written in plain English. And yet it won’t feel dumbed down: on the contrary, it’ll feel smarter, more confident and, most importantly, more helpful.
This business writing course will show you how to write this way: and it’ll make you more confident about doing so.
Then again ... this is actually more of a plain language business writing course
You might have heard the term plain language – after all, many organisations, from government departments to financial firms, have started to use it. So what’s the difference between plain language and plain English?
Whereas plain English is about using the simplest and clearest words possible, plain language is a broader concept that focuses on making writing as usable as possible in addition to being clear and easy to understand.
Almost everything – even legal and financial information – can and should be written in plain language. That’s why this course doesn’t just explain how to use simpler and clearer words: it also shows how to make your writing as effective as possible.
And no, you do not need AI to write – it will just slow you down
The biggest myth out there is AI will speed up your writing. It won’t. Writing well is far easier than most people realise, and this course will show you how to do so in a way that’s natural for you.
For example, let’s say you’re writing a brief. AI doesn’t know what’s most important to your reader. It doesn’t know how to structure it for your reader. And sure, you can prompt it, and prompt it, and then edit what it has to say – but it’s much faster, and better, to just do this yourself.
Don’t believe me? No problem: after all, even if you do use AI (and perhaps especially if you do), this course will show you the tips and techniques you’ll need to then make its writing as good as possible.