Training for editors
Learn the technical skills to strengthen and perfect documents quickly
Our editing workshops teach international best practices, but from the perspective of improving and putting the finishing touches on documents. Editors and reviewers learn how to:
pinpoint exactly what works and what doesn’t
resolve issues with structure, language, formatting, and consistency
put words to the changes, so writers can learn from them too
create readable, usable content that serves its readers and your organization
complete the process more efficiently
From our Facilitated
Editing workshop
This was the most immediately applicable training I have ever taken. Our whole team got excited. We went back and applied what we learned to our Proposal Guide and cut the page count by 50%.
- Manager of the team who took our workshop to revise one of their collaborative documents
This document became a runner up for an international plain language award!
Learn how to edit
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Effective Editing
Get the step-by-step process Wordsmith uses when we edit. You’ll learn to pinpoint, resolve, and communicate issues in structure, language, and formatting. This course includes a takeaway checklist.
In-house and live virtual training
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Effective Writing and Reviewing for Leaders
Review documents more efficiently, give stronger guidance to writers, and improve your team’s process time.
In-house and live virtual training
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Live Team Editing
Come with a collaborative document your team needs to edit. We’ll show you what best practices look like on your content, and you’ll leave with a list of specific tasks to finalize the document.
In-house and live virtual training
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Effective Proofreading
Put the final polish on strong content. This is practical, hands-on training to catch errors and improve consistency.
In-house and live virtual training
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Editing Workbook
Coming 2026
Practice your editing skills—this workbook is based on the science of learning. Exercises get progressively more difficult—with answer keys—until you reach mastery.
Other courses you might be interested in
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Use AI to Think More Deeply and Get Smarter
Get the right relationship with AI as an analysis tool. Use it to gather information, test assumptions, identify risks, and develop capacity for more thorough and refined thinking.
In-house and virtual options
Self-paced online course **coming soon**
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The Dos and Don'ts of Using AI to Write
In-house, and virtual options
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Streamline the Writing and Review Process
Analyze process steps and time for the briefing note drafting, reviewing, and finalizing cycle in your organization. We help you identify inefficiencies, cut time, resolve back-and-forth cycles, and create stronger end products.
In-house and live virtual training
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Write Effectively as a Team
Learn best practices to manage the process to draft a document when multiple writers are involved. Use an orderly, efficient process to create clear content with less stress.
In-house and live virtual options
Take a workshop to level up your editing
We support your editors to update documents and build editing skills throughout the workshop. We analyze the document ahead of time and prepare material to:
assess the document, define the types of changes, and create a plan
create before-and-after examples from the document as models
edit with your team live in the workshop
give the team tools to edit faster and more effectively
leave them with checklists to complete and perfect the document
Case study: training combined with editing
The Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program under the Government of Northwest Territories took a writing workshop from us. Their goal was to rewrite their Traditional Indigenous Knowledge proposal guide in plain language.
We edited excerpts from the guide beforehand, so they could get a head start. They applied what they learned in the workshop and cut the length of the original document by 50% themselves. We then helped them do a final edit.
Besides being shorter and clearer, the revised Proposal Guide was runner-up for an international plain language award.
Hands down, you have truly helped my writing and editing abilities. Thanks! (Where have you been all my life?!
—A writer/editor on the Cumulative Impacts Monitoring Program team
This was the most immediately applicable training I have ever taken. Our whole team got excited. We applied what we learned to our Proposal Guide and cut the page count by 50%.
—Manager of the Cumulative Impacts Monitoring Program team
What we teach your people to do
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30 words
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After
17 words
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51 words
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After
50 words
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26 words
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After
11 words
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32 words
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13 words
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48 words
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33 words
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“One of the best workshops I've attended. Inspiring and motivating to get better at writing."
Councillor for City of Medicine Hat
(5 star Google review) -
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"Sessions were well led by presenters who were very aware of the briefing note process in government. This meant I was able to get maximum value from the information."
Manager at Alberta Education
(5 star Google review) -
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"Wordsmith facilitators are as confident, clear and helpful as your writing aims to be. More to learn about effective writing than many might think."
Policy Analyst at Alberta Education
(5 star Google review) -
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"This was the most immediately applicable training I have ever taken. Our whole team got excited. We went back and applied what we learned to our Proposal Guide and cut the page count by 50%."
Manager of the Cumulative Impacts Monitoring Program
