Effective Briefing Notes
Support strong decision making and
cut writing time in half
“Before beginning this course, it took me three full days to finalize a briefing note I was asked to complete. After being halfway through and learning new techniques, I finished a briefing note in an hour and a half with no editing!! This course is a huge win for me and the work I do daily, thank you!!”
—A participant from our online courses, from a federal ministry
Watch our course preview
Transform your briefing notes
Briefings are incredibly important documents—let’s make sure they work
This course brings together what we’ve learned from four decades of reviewing briefing notes and working with writers, reviewers, and decision makers. We collected all the common problems that bog briefing notes down or lead to multiple revisions—and then built this course to solve those problems.
This course presents the best of what we've learned from over 40 years of experience working with workplace writers. See our other online courses and examples of our work to learn more.
Get started now!
Regular course fee
$350
Group pricing—Contact hello@wordsmith.ca for group pricing for 5 or more
*We have grant options available for students and Not-for-Profit. Apply here.
give decision makers focused, useful information
draft content more quickly and confidently
identify the primary issue in a briefing note and choose the right supporting information
differentiate between background and analysis
build strong, clear, evidence-based arguments
shorten or expand a briefing note depending on the amount of information needed
use templates more effectively with less struggle
communicate your expertise to non-experts in a clear, understandable way
structure content for readability
edit your own and others’ briefing notes effectively and reduce number of reviews
What you’ll learn
This course teaches concrete skills to:
This was a revolution! It completely changed my approach to writing briefing notes."
—Writer from a provincial health ministry
The mixed use of video and audio slides enhances the delivery by 1000% compared to our typical online training.
—Writer from a federal review body
This will really help reduce bloat in my documents. I feel every member of our team could benefit from this—I’m almost excited to write my next briefing note! The examples were relevant and helpful.
—Writer from a provincial Public Service Commission
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It's up to you. We've designed the course so you can choose the pace that suits you best. But this will give you a rough idea:
The speed version—If you only watched the videos and read (but didn’t do) the main exercises, it would take you roughly 4-5 hours back-to-back. You might do this short version if you are a manager who wants a sense of what your staff are learning to help you review their work.
The full version—To do the exercises and master the concepts takes roughly 10 to 15 hours. (We then recommend doing the speed version once more, as you write an actual briefing note.) -
The course is self-paced, with access for 4 months from the day you register.
If you get busy and need more time, just email us and we can extend the timeframe.
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Our goal is always to create useful, applicable material. If you aren't satisfied, please tell us why, and we can refund your money.
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You walk away with real skills. It is not theoretical. Every piece of guidance in the course is practical and immediately applicable—to great effect.
We built the course to be interesting and varied. We use white board video, film of instructors, exercises, before-and-after examples, quizzes, immediate practice of concepts, and opportunities to comment and learn from other people who take the course.
We interact with you. You ask us questions and send us your exercises, and we respond with useful feedback.
It won't waste your time. We built the course the same way we recommend writing a briefing note—with focused, useful content and no fluff that doesn’t add value.
We look at briefing notes in context. Writers are not the only factors in creating strong briefing notes. We show how you can improve your organizational process as a whole.
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