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ICML training courses > Business writing > Effective business writing course
Effective Business Writing Course
The business world is doing more writing than ever thanks to email, texting, Slack and other channels. Yet many professionals have done too little to refine their writing skills.
When documents are clearly written, concise and compelling, they will be more influential with the reader, capturing their attention and encouraging action. This business writing course helps participants become more effective with written professional communication.
This highly interactive business writing course builds the skills to quickly write crisp and logical business documents. This tailored course is available in-house or online in the following locations:
Melbourne | Sydney | Brisbane | Adelaide | Perth | Hobart | Darwin | Canberra
All regional areas | Asia | And anywhere else
Course audience
This business writing course is designed for people who are required to write any business document such as emails, proposals, reports, submissions, or any other official document.
Course outcomes
In this business writing course, participants learn how to:
- Use a mind map to organise research and structure their thinking
- Significantly reduce their writing time
- Write interestingly and persuasively
- Make their documents concise
- Create clear sentences and paragraphs
- Apply formatting techniques to increase readability
- Proofread and edit documents
- Avoid common spelling and grammar mistakes
- Write powerful business documents.
Duration
- One-day face-to-face or
- Two x 3.5 hours live virtual training
Delivered in-house at your premises or in an online virtual classroom
We deliver our training programs either through:
- Face-to-face workshops at your offices – in line with restrictions on people gatherings in your state.
- Impactful live online workshops.
All our facilitators are certified in COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control Training by the Australian Department of Health. Therefore, you can rest assured we will deliver safe face-to-face workshops in collaboration with you.
Business Writing group training – using participant documents
Where relevant, we will use your organisation’s internal formats, templates and style guide.
We will also use anonymised examples of participants’ writing in the workshop. With this material the facilitator:
- Assesses their writing ability
- Gains a thorough understanding of the written work they prepare
- Extracts examples for use as training material within the program.
Ask us how we apply this to your organisation.
- Call 1300 655 098
- Start a chat at the bottom of our page
- Send us a message.
Some of the business writing course topics we can include in a tailored program:
For more information go to our business writing training programs page to see some of the programs we offer. The page gives more details about:
- Report writing
- Writing tenders and proposals
- Writing business cases
- Email writing
- Customer service writing
- Sales proposals writing training
- Reports and board papers writing training
- Minutes and agendas writing training
- Submissions, requests for funding and proposals
- Writing in local government
- Writing in state and federal government
- Writing government and ministerial briefs
- Technical writing
- Copywriting
- SEO-savvy blogs and social media for business writing training
- Public relations writing training
- Editing skills for managers training
- Writing training for people with English as a Second Language (ESL).
- Punctuation and grammar training
We also coach individuals to build their writing skills; an effective way to improve writing, fast. Ask us how we can tailor the business writing course to suit your needs:
- Call 1300 655 098
- Start a chat at the bottom of our page
- Send us a message
More about business writing as a course
If you’re still unsure about the benefits of taking a business writing course, we’ve put together extensive information to help you make the best decision for you and your organisation.
Who should take a business writing course?
Business writing is important for everyone, no matter what level of the organisation you are at.
If you work at the front desk, you should strive to be able to pass along even the most basic messages as clearly as possible, so recipients aren’t getting potentially distorted messages.
Likewise, if you are overseeing a team or the entire company, you want to be able to communicate core directives as clearly as possible, so that there is no confusion or wasted time in implementing your goals.
What is effective business writing?
When you are trying to write effective business communications — whether it’s a basic email, a proposal document or presentation — you need to be able to get your point across clearly and concisely. That includes making sure your writing is error-free.
That means you write every sentence with a purpose, and make sure nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Sentences that are too long, paragraphs that come across like a big block of text, spelling errors and so on can all individually hinder your message. If they are too frequent, the point you’re trying to make can be lost entirely.
For that reason, a critical part of effective business writing is actually reading. Specifically, it requires proofreading what you’ve written before you send it (or saying it aloud), so that you can be sure what you wrote makes sense.
What are ‘the 5 C’s’ of business writing?
To help you get a better handle on your business writing, particularly as you refine those skills, it helps to understand and remember “the 5 C’s.” Your writing should be:
Clear: You should make sure that everything you want to communicate with your writing is coming across to readers or listeners. Begin every paragraph with an idea of what you’re trying to convey. Being clear also means writing in plain English and not complicating your message unnecessarily.
Complete: Along similar lines, you should strive to make sure you pass along all the information you want to convey. You just want to make sure your audience isn’t left with any lingering questions.
Concise: We’ve all experienced the feeling of reading something that’s two pages when it could have been two paragraphs. You don’t want your writing to drag on, so aim to say as much as you can in as few words as possible. That includes avoiding the passive voice. At ICML, we teach course participants how to identify and remove redundant words and reduce the total word count by 30 percent.
Courteous: You need to keep in mind that every minute someone spends reading your writing is time they could be devoting to other business tasks that could be equally important. Write without talking down, and with gratitude for the opportunity to pass along crucial information.
Correct: Obviously, you want to make sure everything you write is accurate. This includes using good grammar and proper punctuation. Double-checking that this is the case before you hit “send” is a must.
Which writing style is most effective for business writing?
While there is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all approach to business writing — everyone has their own writing style and preferences as a reader, after all — you should certainly make sure you’re following the five principles outlined above.
However, you must also tailor your writing to the specific kinds of communications you’re sending. How you write an email to a co-worker who you know well should be quite different from how you write a business letter you’re sending to a prospective customer or client. Such skills are equally important.
How can you learn business writing skills?
At ICML, we have several business writing training courses that can help you hone your skills and knowledge, both in general and for very specific types of communication skills. These lessons should be part of your broader professional development.
Our various courses will equip you or your entire company with the unique skills you need to succeed. We offer both in-person training and online courses. Contact us to learn more about what we can do for you.
What documents will participants see improvement in after taking ICML’s business writing course?
We’ve listed just some of the areas in which course participants may see improvements in their writing skills:
Essential communication and administration
- Emails
- Letters
- Memos
- Internal communication
- PowerPoint presentations
- Agendas and minutes
- CVs/resumes
- Project briefs
- Task descriptions
Legal documents
- Interpretation of legislation
- Contracts
- Legal advice
Accounting and finance
- Invoice enquiries
- Tenders
- Audits
- Financial reports
- Grant applications
Technical writing
- Technical assessment reports
- Product assessment reports
- Product specification manuals
HR documents
- Recommendations
- Policies and procedures
- Work instructions
- Inductions
- Training content
- Performance reviews
- Performance plans
Business development
- Sales proposals
- Strategy documents
- Sales reports
Media and marketing
- Press releases
- Website content
- Creative briefs
- Marketing strategy documents
- Speeches
- Articles and blogs
- Newsletters
- Social media copy
- Creative copy
Customer service
- Customer communication
- Responses to customer complaints
Virtual Effective Business Writing training course for individuals
We offer this program in two 3-hour workshops over two consecutive weeks. You can attend this program from anywhere: your workstation or from home.
Duration
Two 3-hour online workshops, 9.30am to 12.30pm
** AEST – please check your local time
Dates
- Wednesday 10 and 17 February 2021 (AEDT)
- Thursday 29 April and 6 May 2021 (AEST)
- Thursday 22 and 29 July 2021 (AEST)
- Wednesday 8 and 15 September 2021 (AEST)
- Thursday 2 and 9 December 2021 (AEDT)
Investment
$ 495 + GST
Small group sizes
We limit the group size. This means the workshops are highly interactive and we’ll be able to focus on your personal challenges.
Includes
- Electronic editable participant manual – great for reference
- Feedback on participants own documents
- A PDF certificate
- The Quick Reference Guide: a handy one-page summary of the business writing course in PDF format.
What you need
- A device with a camera – preferably a laptop or desktop
- Good internet access
- A quiet room.
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Business Writing training testimonials
Had a valuable day with Peter developing skills that will be of great benefit professionally and personally. Was a good learning environment for me. Exactly what I needed. It has given me renewed confidence and an ability to more effectively plan and write with purpose and direction. It was great.
Peter was an excellent facilitator that engaged well with the course participants and was able to communicate the content in a relevant way.
A great combination of basic writing principles with application options and examples.
Brilliant workshop. Wish I attended years ago. Will assist in everything I do in the office. Thank you.
Using samples from our own drafted documents made all the difference to the learning.
Lynne was very structured in her presentation and explained everything very clearly and succinctly. She was also a pleasure to listen to with her explanations on writing styles and the little things that can help with your writing of documents and emails.
Well done Lynne - very interactive, great examples across a range of disciplines and topics. Need to extend the program to as many staff as possible.
Peter was a great facilitator with fun material to learn. Interactive learning and engaging environment.
The sessions were invaluable. Really easy to follow, engaging, I learned a lot. The perfect amount of conversation and collaboration. I'd recommend to everybody. I thought it was run really well. I appreciated that the need for extra breaks was factored in, so it never felt too tiring or overwhelming.
I gained valuable information on audience, structure writing and the correct use of grammar and punctuation
Lynne is an accomplished presenter who retains people's attention by keeping things active. I love writing, believe I'm above average, and was happy to pick up a few tips to improve further.
The most useful and productive training I have ever attended.
Jill was very personable and concise with her approach. The day flowed extremely well because of her styles and organisation. Very beneficial. It’s been refreshing to understand contemporary ways of writing.
I really enjoyed this course and can immediately deploy tactics I’ve learnt today, in my work. Lynne was a fantastic presenter, knowledgeable, funny and professional.
Peter was very engaging and inclusive. Honed skills, particularly around making my writing more concise and effective. I write so many emails, I can already see how this will help me tomorrow.
Peter is a great trainer/facilitator. Very clear and engaging in his presentation. Very helpful in my every day email correspondence and program report writing.
I feel ten-fold more confident after completing today’s workshop. Thank you Peter!
Great presentation skills. Kept the course flowing well. Peter was a great facilitator.
Lynne is extremely knowledgeable and up to date with all tips and tricks for professional writing. Thanks for everything!
Many takeaways and actions/skills I can apply and use in my day to day work. Small group – extremely beneficial to ask questions off topic. Much appreciated.
Fabulous day spent with Lynne. Really engaging and informative.
Thanks Lynne – really enjoyed the session. Logical structure and great range of topics covered.
I found the course very informative and look forward to applying all I learnt to my writing.
Lynne was fantastic and presented in a very informative style! Her delivery was excellent – very interesting. This program is very beneficial, as I am required to write business cases and reports in my role.
Lynne is an excellent coach who knows the subject extremely well and ran the course in an interactive and very enjoyable manner.
The course was excellent. I would recommend the course for someone like myself because you gained a lot that you would not know.
Lynne’s session was excellent and I would highly recommend it to others. The program was well-delivered and engaging - could have easily become a very dry subject in someone else's hands.
Loved the day and found it all very useful. Lynne is knowledgeable, interesting and effective. I came into the workshop wondering how to write more directly and effectively, and I got exactly that.
Highly recommended! Thanks, Lynne. The workshop was very useful and practical. Lynne was easy to connect with, experienced and responsive.
Good fun, ideal level of participation. Could be a dry subject it was delivered in an interesting way. Loved it, thanks. Excellent course and Lynne is a very professional facilitator. Great tools that were relevant to activities and which I’ll be using in the immediate future.
Lynne was great – delivered really well and kept it interesting. I learned skills and tips that will really easy to apply to my writing.
A significant period of change in our organisation resulted in the identification of a broad range of training requirements. We contacted ICML who meet our immediate needs, but have also continued to work with us to further develop our employees. Training has been delivered at our business site, tailored to our objectives, with a personalised and practical focus. I don’t think I have ever received such positive and strong feedback from participants on the courses we have held – even our CE has heard the ‘buzz’ about the recent session, Advanced Business Writing, and the Executive team are participating in a further session. I would recommend ICML for any customised training to help your employees learn practical tips and reach their potential!!
I thoroughly enjoyed the course and would recommend it to others, Very enjoyable.
Lynne was an engaging and energetic presenter who addressed the subject matter succinctly and effectively. Lynne has a very persuasive way of engaging her audience and challenging them in a positive way to reflect on their work. Great platform for me to engage with colleagues further on this important topic.
I liked how the course covered various types of writing (documents, emails etc). The small group was perfect and a good environment to learn in.
Fantastic program - very rarely do we host training that participants want to extend or wish lasted longer, but that's the response this writing, presenting and communicating with influence course received.
This is a fantastic course for anyone looking to improve their writing skills. Examples were relatable and highlighted areas for improvement. Lynne is enthusiastic and full of knowledge. A great course – never a dull moment!
Fantastic! Lynne had done great research and prepared relevant documents that were presented well. Lynne was fantastic. She gave great tips that will make a huge difference to our business both externally and internally.
Lynne is clear, concise and great communicator. Excellent at transferring knowledge. Provides feedback without causing embarrassment. Excellent training. Worth a full day out of the office due to the outcomes. Practical and results orientated.
Very worthwhile. Having break out sessions was great and so too was having your own work evaluated as part of group discussions.
Lynne is knowledgeable and an excellent presenter. The content was concise and at just the right pace. Had fun!
Lynne was very helpful and provided relevant details. Very easy to follow.
It was our absolute pleasure to recently have ICML deliver the Writing Powerful Emails course at our premises. The facilitator, Lynne, was both an informative and engaging presenter and held our interest through the half day session, with even a few laughs along the way. Already what I have learned is proving valuable in my work and will make a difference to the professionalism of my team. Thank you to the ICML team for making the process of organising the course easy and everything went without glitch. Highly recommend this course for even those who consider themselves competent email writers. We never stop learning.
Great course! Lynne was a charismatic facilitator and great teacher. Great, interactive and well balanced between activities and learning. Great learning tools. Looking forward to reflecting and implementing the key points.
Lynne is wonderful. She made the training fun and interactive. I could easily do days of this! Lynne is excellent, knowledgeable, interactive and inclusive. We learnt things I thought I was doing right for some years that I can now rectify.
Lynne was engaging the whole time – no moments of nodding off or inattention. Plus working on real life examples made the practice very relevant. The best one day course I have attended in quite some time. The skill and experience of the facilitator is evident.
Andrea was well prepared, smart and humorous. What I learned will not only benefit my work but also my life. Andrea is a very experienced and considerate instructor.
Very practical, good to use real-life examples. Communication is important to your business, that’s why you should take this course.
Another informative session that will be highly encouraged for all management to attend. It was great! Highly engaging.
Really good session to bring the participants up to date with current practices. Lots of good tips on how to keep your report succinct and on point. Lynne was great, very engaging.
I am already using the skills by referring to the quick reference guides and participant manual. I am now writing in the active voice and am clearly including my main message first. I have booked for the Advanced Business Writing workshop – I can’t wait.
Lynne was very engaging and enjoyable to learn from. I write a lot of emails and diary notes and the course has helped me identify where I can improve on my writing. I actually have no suggestions for improvement – the program was fantastic, especially the use of our own examples.
Lynne was engaging and brought us out of our protective shells to access our own work constructively. Lynne was very thorough, entertaining, succinct and used relevant examples.
Lynne was very talented at engaging the group and facilitating active learning. I was alert and interested throughout the day.
Lynne was fantastic! Valid examples and real-life experience. Really fun learning and unlearning!
Great balance of theory and practical application to improving my business writing skills.
The course was practical, interactive, informative and action oriented. With little background in business writing – it was useful to learn new and practical skills.
Peter was an engaging trainer. Best training day I have ever had! The training day with Peter was insightful and enjoyable. This course and day exceeded my expectations – I can’t recommend this enough!
Highly recommend course. Really kept me engaged.
The Report Writing Training delivered by ICML was extremely engaging, professional and highly beneficial for council officers to develop and advance their report writing skills. The training provided staff with not only useful writing techniques and resources, but with a greater confidence and understanding of writing practices. I would highly recommend ICML to anyone wishing to progress their writing skills!
This is not your average communication training session. If you want some real skills that will help you personally and professionally this is it! Suzanne was brilliant. Highly engaging and brought light to some very interesting thoughts and methods. I thought I had some skills in this are but I’ve been turned on my head. Mindblowing information and learnings. I would have liked another day (I would never normally say this).
Lynne is a fantastic training facilitator because she made learning simple, interactive & enjoyable. During our virtual Business Case training with Lynne, I noticed a significant difference between self-paced online learning and a personalised training program, like the one delivered by ICML. I have learned and absorbed more information in one day’s worth of training (delivered via 90-minute sessions over multiple weeks) than I have in last 6 months while completing a self-paced online Project Management course.
Excellent program!! All aspects were very helpful, even after years of writing. It’s nice to have an experienced facilitator making the trick of good writing explicit. Lynne was excellent – very good pace (not too slow) and not going down rabbit holes. Very engaging.
The pace and class size were spot on and the facilitator Lynne was clearly very knowledgeable. Lynne is easily one of the best presenters I’ve seen.
Lynne was knowledgeable and engaging and maintained a good pace for the workshops. The live workshop worked well, the breakout rooms were a good substitute for the usual breaking off into groups during a face-to-face workshop.
A course that takes your personal input and uses it to improve your professional skills in an enjoyable and effective way. Facilitation was enjoyable, engaging and effective in communication.
Loved the real world examples of AITSL content, felt the logic of the workshop was fantastic. Online format worked really well, great interactive elements as a group and in breakout rooms.
The workshop gave me the skills to write more persuasively and I have a better understanding as to how I should structure my writing. ICML's organisation was excellent; I had a reminder several times about my attendance including email, text message.
Really beneficial to the organisation. Lynne was fantastic and I highly recommend this course to everyone in the organisation.
Loved it! I thought my writing skills were already high but I’ve learned there is lots of room for polishing and improvement!
Very good facilitator. Peter had a warm and inviting manner and was very inclusive of all participants.
Lynne is wonderful. Very knowledgeable and easy to listen to. Lynne has a high level of knowledge and is a clear communicator. Fun!
A very enlightening course, which was well presented. I thought I was good at writing until I realised I have much to learn and practise. Lynne is very knowledgeable and uses clear messages and examples.
We have been utilising Lynne’s skills over the years. Lynne is our ‘go-to’ person for writing, editing, writing for government courses every 2-3 years. We will continue to do so.
A well organised and facilitated course of excellent, contemporary, meaningful content which was well structured and delivered.
The training was very informative and engaging. Zoom was also an effective platform for remote training.
Lynne is a great presenter and very engaging with everyone. Lots of tips Lynne showed us when writing emails I would have never picked up prior to the session.
Peter was engaging, funny and very knowledgeable on the Effective Business Writing course. Course materials were well structured and easy to navigate with exercises that were fun, varied and perfectly timed to avoid “post lunch dip”. The course more than paid for itself in re-invigorating my writing.
Peter was a great and informative facilitator who made us feel comfortable from the beginning and working as a team at the end.
A fantastic trainer and great session. I can’t wait for Lynne’s next course!
This has been an eye opening experience and will definitely change my old habits. This program will definitely get you thinking about changing old writing habits and help you to develop a new set of writing skills to communication to high level executives, managers and board members.
Suzanne was fantastic, lovely, very entertaining and extremely knowledgeable. I found the program very beneficial. Will help me become more confident when presenting at workshops and addressing landholders, peers and industry bodies. Fantastic couple of days. Very constructive. Would highly recommend to others wishing to build on or improve their written and communication skills
Lynne knows her stuff and can work a crowd! Lynne has a way of making writing fun and interesting. Great critiques and insight into writing styles.
Lynne was a fantastic facilitator who delivered a great program. It was an engaging and interesting use of examples to illustrate some of the issues within the organisation.
I would highly recommend this program to anyone, even if you think your writing skills do not need improving.
Lynne is fantastic and very knowledgeable. Thank you. I would recommend all businesses to participate in this course. I really enjoyed how it was done, how we got to correct our errors and the examples related to our line of work.
Very informative, one of the best training sessions I have undertaken since joining local government.
Excellent delivery. Lynne is engaging and very knowledgeable. I now have a much better understanding of how business writing is different to other forms eg. academic.
The programme was excellent, content was personalised and allowed opportunity to edit our own work. Lynne tailored the programme, kept it engaging and taught us a lot.
Free eCoaching: ask an ICML trainer – get advice on business writing
Do you have any questions about business writing you’d like to ask? Do it here. One of our trainers will answer on the page and we’ll let you know by email when we post the response. We aim to come back to you within a few business days. If you need more urgent advice, try our chat at the bottom of the page.