Reinventing Your Writing for Government in a New World
Thursday, 8 February 2024 | 9:30am – 4:45pm AEDT | Online
Training Overview
Write clear, relevant content that connects with a diverse audience
For decades, the public sector was known for its formal, almost parental, tone. Government communication – from letters and forms to web content and emails – was often dense and jargon-heavy, with convoluted and ambiguous messaging. This was accepted as the norm.
But now we’re in a new world where a human-centred approach to written communication is expected. Your readers demand content that is clear, inclusive and highly targeted to their needs. So your writing needs to evolve as a result.
In this course, Reinventing Your Writing for Government in a New World, you’ll get all the advice you need to bring your writing up to best practice in 2024.
You will shape a more user-centric, modern government voice that is clear, concise and relevant, and connects with all the readers in your diverse community.
Who Should Attend
This course is designed for government leaders charged with driving, enabling and advocating modernisation including Heads of, Director, Managers, Leads and Specialists:
Internal/External Communications and Stakeholder/Community
Engagement
Website, Content, Communications and Marketing Communications
Community Development and Online Platforms
Learning Outcomes
Understand the needs of government readers
Learn to write clearly, concisely and correctly
Improve the ease and speed of your writing
Gain confidence in your writing skills
Meet Your Facilitator
SANDRA HOGAN
WriteBusiness
Sandra Hogan, an experienced journalist and senior public servant, has been providing tailored writing training since 2005. Specialising in enhancing business professionals’ writing skills, her courses cover a range of work-related documents. With over 1,000 training courses delivered to government staff, Sandra’s workshops are lauded for their practicality, fostering newfound confidence and skills. Her courses consistently ranked as the most popular in the Institute of Public Administration’s annual reports.
Key Sessions
Write for the reader and achieve your purpose
- What is good writing in government?
- Audience and purpose: learn to achieve your objectives and engage your readers
Write clearly and concisely
- Plain English: We hear the term a lot, but are we really meant to write in plain English? Do people in government really want it?
- Learn to recognise the kind of writing you should be delivering.
- Learn how to improve your writing – one simple technique at a time.
- Learn to write inclusively.
- Conciseness: Why do government writers have to reduce complex topics to one page?
- Learn how to write a one-pager.
- Learn how to craft concise sentences and paragraphs.
- Learn simple principles for good structure.
- What is different about digital writing?
Write quickly and correctly
- Steps in writing: A recipe for writing quickly and easily.
- Learn how to give and receive feedback on writing.
Practice and Planning
- Practise editing, proofreading and using government style guides
- Make a plan to keep improving