Write more effective documents for your city or town
We’ve been training municipal writers for over 45 years. This workshop brings together input from council, city managers, and department heads for what they want to see in quality writing. You will learn how to:
write documents that are clearer, more usable, and easier for readers to act on
resolve challenges specific to municipal writers
apply research-based principles for strong writing
use a step-by-step writing process to reduce writing and editing time by 50%
The workshop applies to every document you write—council reports, briefings, internal reports, RFPs, policies, procedures, emails, bylaws, and more.
Effective Municipal Writing
The content is practical, interactive, and hands-on
Before the workshop, we ask you to fill out a from and we use what you tell us to customize the workshop. We ask:
what documents you write
where you struggle
what you hope to get out of the workshop
for an optional sample document
During the workshop, you will collaborate, discuss, ask questions, learn from peers, and do exercises. Each person comes with a document in mind to write. We will walk you through a writing process live to get a real piece of work done during the workshop.
Some of the municipalities we’ve worked with
City of Calgary
City of Edmonton
City of Lacombe
City of Red Deer
City of Saint Albert
City of Saint John
City of Saskatoon
City of Spruce Grove
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Town of Drumheller
Town of Edson
Town of Elk Point
Course details
7 hours of live content, plus 3.5-hour self-paced follow-up
Online (Zoom)
Day One—November 24, 2026 9:00 - 12:30 MST
Day Two—November 26, 2026 9:00 - 12:30 MST
$750 per person
Certificate of completion
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We limit attendance to 20 people per session. This keeps workshops interactive and gives everyone a chance to ask questions.
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Absolutely! If you want to register more than 10 people, please email us. We can discuss hosting a private session customized to your team and documents.
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All participants get access to:
a recording for one week after each session
a 100-page course manual that covers all the principles taught in the workshop
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The training is valuable for anyone who writes or reviews municipal documents—from admin staff to senior leaders.
When your team shares a common vocabulary and approach, documents get clearer and the review process gets faster and smoother.
Module 1—Think Deeper to Write Faster
We’ll walk you through a new writing process that:
reveals the reasons behind workplace writing struggles and how to solve them
adapts to the needs of different audiences, including Council, senior leaders, technical reviewers, and the public
creates a strong, readable structure
helps you deepen your thinking and analysis
allows you to write much more quickly and confidently
Course content
These three modules cover all the core skills necessary to be a strong writer
Module 2—Write in a Clear, Accessible Style
We cover how to:
refine first drafts quickly
write in a clear, professional style
write concisely without losing important context
avoid government jargon and insider language
structure active, strong sentences
explain technical content to non-technical readers and the public
Module 3—Self-paced workflow to use AI effectively in the writing and editing process
The first two modules give you the foundation to be a faster, more effective writer. This module integrates AI into that process. We cover ways to use AI to:
assess your audience, purpose, and structure
speed up the process
act as a thinking partner and writing coach
perfect tone for the audience, purpose, and context
edit and proofread thoroughly and quickly
We also cover where it’s appropriate to avoid using AI and rely on your judgment and expertise. This guidance prevents AI from creating confusing text, wasted time, and hallucinations.
Build strong analysis that supports decision-making
Communicate complex information clearly while respecting accuracy, context, and political sensitivity
Move documents through review with less stress, clearer feedback, and fewer unnecessary revisions
Wordsmith has helped our organization tremendously. We broadly trained our staff in writing reports and I’ve seen an improvement in our writing. The reports are clearer, better organized, and simply easier to read. The more staff we can get this training for, the better.
—Ray MacIntosh, CFO of the City of Red Deer
The training was beneficial and will definitely help me review documents, RFDs, and RFPs before submitting them to the SLT Team and Council.
—Municipal writer at the Local Government Administration of Alberta
I found this very useful. It gave me a new way to organize my thoughts and build strong rationale. I would highly recommend.
— Writer with City of St. Albert
Other live webinars
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Effective Workplace Writing
This is our foundational writing training. It covers core skills for writing both private- and public-sector documents.
We introduce you to an entirely new way to approach writing—one that gets around all the common writing struggles people face. The content is applicable to reports, briefings, policies, procedures, proposals, emails, and more.
Live virtual workshop
December 8 and 10, 2026
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Effective Briefing Notes
Live virtual public workshop
Dates TBD
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Think Deeper to Write Faster
This half-day webinar covers our step-by-step process to create stronger documents.
The material applies to every document you write—reports, briefings, policies, procedures, emails, and more. This half-day can be taken as a standalone course or as Part 1 of our longer Effective Writing course
Live virtual public workshop
January 12, 2027
