On-Demand Webinars

EFFECTIVE WRITING FOR PROFESSIONALS: PART 1
Get Started, Apply Writing Tips, and Respond to Editing

Online Workshop to Improve your Writing Habits, Forever

Face it, one of the biggest problems in our industry is poor writing knowledge and skills. Some of us don't appreciate the power of effective writing - it is a key factor in personal professional development and in providing quality services. Others realize that writing is critical but are in denial - they don't see themselves as ever being effective writers.

So ask yourself: What are the consequences of poorly written reports, proposals, work plans and even emails? Individual and organizational credibility and efficiency will erode resulting in financial and other losses because of questionable text, re-work, and/or failure to earn/retain the trust of colleagues and clients.

Even when your work, as an individual or organization, is an "A+" product, you can have it graded "C" or less by colleagues and clients because of poor written communication of what you did and what you recommend. As explained by engineer Henry Petroski "Some of the most accomplished engineers of all time have paid as much attention to their words as their numbers, to their sentences as to their equations, and to their reports as to their designs."

This two-part webinar will empower you with simple suggestions to help you write with consistency, efficiency, and accuracy according to your own writing style. This webinar offers some participants a personalized review of their writing style and suggestions for immediate improvement.

LEARNING OUTCOMES --
AS A RESULT OF PARTICIPATING IN THIS WEBINAR SERIES, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

• Be more aware of what you really think and know
• View writing as one of 5 complimentary forms of communication
• Appreciate the one-way, single-channel challenge of writing
• Learn 31 widely applicable writing tips
• Obtain the names of over 60 writing resources
• Engage your subconscious mind to help you write more effectively
• Listen to your writing
• Increase your writing efficiency - use fewer words to say more
• Improve your writing effectiveness - engage and influence your audience
• Benefit from the editing of others and edit their work
• Produce documents that are more reader-friendly
• Expand your influence within and outside of your organization
• Communicate more effectively with those you serve

TOPICS:

• The complete communicator
• Speaking versus writing
• Types of written products
• Profiling the audience
• Defining the message
• Style guides
• Writing starts on Day 1
• Brainstorming, mind mapping, listing, outlining, and incubating
• Retaining the outline
• Writing the "easy parts" first
• Selecting the "person"
• Gender neutral, active - not passive
• Less is more
• Rhetorical techniques
• Tin ear
• Trimming hedges
• Flexible format
• Lists
• Standard maps/diagrams
• Format writing
• Writing milestones
• Appearance
• Citing sources
• One more time
• Responding to editing and editing the work of others
• Resources for additional study

Instructors Bio

Stu Walesh, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, D.WRE Author of Engineering Your Future: The Professional Practice of Engineering and Managing and Leading: 52 Lessons Learned for Engineers and Urban Surface Water Management

Stuart G. Walesh, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, D.WRE is an independent consultant providing management, engineering, education/training, and marketing services. He has 40 years of engineering, education, and management experience in the government, private, and academic sectors. Stu has served as a project engineer and manager, department head, discipline manager, marketer, legal expert, professor, and dean of an engineering college.

Water resources engineering is Stu Walesh's technical specialty. He led watershed planning, computer modeling, flood control, stormwater management, and floodplain management projects.

Stu authored or co-authored seven books, including the three noted above. His book Introduction to Creativity and Innovation for Engineers will be published early next year by Pearson Prentice Hall. He authored or co-authored many engineering and education publications and presentations and facilitated several hundred workshops, seminars, webinars, and meetings throughout the U.S. For the past decade, he has been active in the effort to reform the education and early experience of engineers. Stu has been recognized with awards from ASCE, Consulting Engineers of Indiana, Indiana Society of Professional Engineers, NSPE, University of Wisconsin, and Valparaiso University.