Drive better, more efficient decision making at a much lower cost

Briefing notes are among the most important—and most time-consuming—documents government and policy professionals write. Decision makers use this information to weigh options and shape policy with broad implications.

Briefing notes are deep thinking translated to paper

Our courses are built from discussions with thousands of writers, reviewers, and decision makers. They are designed to solve common problems and:

  • improve clarity, quality, and readability

  • deepen analysis

  • speed up the process of writing

  • reduce the number of reviews

Briefing notes and memos course list

Learn core skills

  • Briefing Notes for Beginners

    Learn what briefing notes are, why they matter, how to use templates effectively

    In-house and live virtual training

  • Effective Briefing Note Writing

    Learn a step-by-step process to deliver strong, concise analysis decision makers can trust

    Self-paced, in-house, and virtual options

  • Effective Briefing Note Writing and Reviewing for Leaders

    A condensed version of Effective Briefing Note Writing with a focus on leaders’ needs and how to give clear, useful feedback to writers.

    In-house and live virtual training

  • Use AI to Get Smarter and Think More Deeply

    Briefing note writing is only as good as the thinking behind it. Learn how to strengthen your analysis, then deliver it on paper.

    Self-paced, in-house, and live virtual options

  • Effective Briefing Note Editing and Proofreading

    A step-by-step process to identify and resolve problems in briefing notes and streamline the process

    In-house and live virtual training

Build on and deepen your core skills

Workbooks and coaching??

  • Advanced Briefing Note Writing

    Build on and deepen the foundation of the core course. We cover complex cases, how to handle multiple options, and develop skill in analysis, messaging, and supporting evidence to give decision makers the best possible information.

    In-house, and virtual options

  • Streamline the Review Process

    An overlooked element of briefing notes is the process itself—documents often boomerang back and forth between levels of review without significantly improving content. This course teaches practical strategies to improve clarity and speed (with much less cost)

    In-house and live virtual training

  • Write Effectively as a Team

    Make decisions early to create consistent, clear, well-ordered content when writing collaboratively

    In-house and live virtual options

  • We teach internationally established best practices for clarity, as well as a new staged process to help participants reduce writing and review time.

    We suggest taking the core course before our document- or skill-specific training because it covers foundational content.

    More on core courses

  • These courses teach writers how to:

    • work skillfully with key documents that governments and regulators produce regularly, like briefing notes and decisions

    • avoid the pitfalls for that document type

    • write clearly and quickly under pressure

    • use templates effectively

    • gain from others’ experience with these types of documents

    More on document-specific training

  • These courses focus on and strengthen certain skills your team may need, depending on what they write. These include:

    • editing and proofreading

    • delivering negative messages

    • writing complex documents with multiple drafters

    Ask us if you need a course you don’t see here.

    More on skill-specific training

  • If you prefer to work at your own pace, check out our online school. We offer:

    • a roughly 12-hour course called Briefing Note Fundamentals

    • coffee-break courses that are densely packed mini modules you can take in 40 to 60 minutes

    Our current coffee-break courses are:

    • Why workplace writing is difficult and often unclear (it’s not you)

    • How to structure documents for readability

    • The best style for modern workplace writing

    • More coming soon!

    See online courses

Choose training that fits your needs

We offer on-site training, live webinars, and self-paced online courses. Each workshop is customized to your organization and group.

Our workshops

Some of our clients

  • Alberta Energy Regulator

  • British Columbia Financial Services Authority

  • British Columbia Securities Commission

  • Canada Energy Regulator

  • Canadian Human Rights Commission

  • Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization

  • Cities of Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Vancouver, and more

  • Civilian Review and Complaint Commission for RCMP

  • Federal and provincial governments (across nearly every ministry)

  • Local Government Administrative Association of Alberta

  • Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

  • Municipal governments across Canada

  • Nunavut Impact Review Board

  • Office of the Veterans Ombudsman

  • Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments

  • Workers’ Compensation Board

Other related courses

  • Effective Editing and Proofreading

    Understand the fundamentals of efficient reviewing (and reduce process time significantly)

  • Deliver Negative Messages Skillfully

    Write professional and respectful messages when readers may not want to hear what you have to say

  • Build Strong Rationale

    Focus on creating strong, evidence-based analysis in any type of document

  • Write Effectively as a Team

    Make decisions early to create consistent, clear, well-ordered content when writing collaboratively

  • Write to Persuade

    Learn to write in a powerful, compelling, and clear style and build a reputation for clarity

Ask for a course description

What we teach your people to do

  • Before

    30 words

  • After

    17 words

  • Before

    51 words

  • After

    50 words

  • Before

    26 words

  • After

    11 words

  • Before

    32 words

  • After

    13 words

  • Before

    48 words

  • After

    33 words

  • “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)

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "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