Reinforce and deepen foundational principles
Like any new skill, strong writing develops over time. Consider taking a refresher six months to a year after the foundational training to:
deepen your core skills
reinforce best practices and sustain momentum from the first training
fill in gaps and answer questions that came up
practice resolving problems on a variety of documents
Problem solve with real documents live
The refresher deepens what you learned by practicing the skills live. We work on real documents to resolve common problems.
Refresher training
Some of our clients
Alberta Energy Regulator
Canada Energy Regulator
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Department of Ocean and Fisheries Canada
Ministries of Energy and Minerals, Environment and Climate Change, Lands, Infrastructure, Parks and Protected Areas
International Association for Impact Assessment
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board
Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board
Nunavut Impact Review Board
Verra
Workshop details
This course uses the neuroscience of learning to make sure information sticks with you long after the course is over.
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Recommended length:
In-person—1.5 days (11.5 hours)
Live webinar—3, 3.5-hour sessions on Zoom (split over a few days or a week)
We can also offer 1-day or half-day refreshers.
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Everyone who took the first workshop (we recommend it as a prerequisite).
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We recommend refresher training 6 months to a year after the initial course.
It’s common for participants to have a wave of momentum after the first training and to gradually slip into old habits over time. This is the moment you want to offer refresher training.
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We meet with your team to discuss what’s been working well since the initial training and what specific areas you want to focus on next.
We read your documents again and note new patterns.
We prepare exercises and excerpts for your team to improve together, along with our suggested rewrites.
What you’ll learn
Understand and apply key skills more deeply
Practice, discuss, learn, and analyze to continue making progress
Keep developing new habits to replace old, ineffective ones
Briefly revisit principles from the original training, then put them to work
Problem solve a range of documents live
Collaborate with others to redraft sections, so you learn by doing and seeing what others do
Keep building the habit of strong, message-focused content (and avoiding essay-style content)
Refresh how to build strong structure and work on structural problems in documents
Deepen your understanding of the components of the clear, direct writing style that’s effective at work
Refresh how to draft and review efficiently
Add more advanced content based on your organization’s goals
I have taken this workshop four times, and I will probably take it again. Each time I learn something new.
— Investigator at the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate
The week after the first training staff were already asking when Wordsmith would come back. We had budget cuts this year, so we said “If we are only able to offer one training, it has to be this one!”
—Manager in Government of New Brunswick, Justice
We all needed to be reminded of the basics you taught us last year. In the beginning, everyone was serious about following the advice, and you could see a big improvement. Now we’ve slid back. That's in human nature. It’s hard to learn a new skill.
— Manager in a police service
