Technical and environmental training
Create clear, readable technical documents
Really clear technical writing is hard to do, and the writer or firm that creates it stands out. We teach a repeatable formula and objective principles writers can apply to write strong documents more efficiently.
Learn new techniques that apply to everything you write
Our training can radically improve everything you write as a subject matter expert—technical reports, proposals, environmental assessments, inspection reports, policies and procedures, compliance manuals, and so on.
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These courses are the starting point to significantly improve your documents and develop skills in your staff.
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These courses teach writers how to:
work skillfully with key documents that you produce regularly
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
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These courses focus on and strengthen certain skills your team may need, depending on what they write.
Ask us if you need a course you don’t see here.
Offer a workshop for your team
Choose on-site training, live webinars, or self-paced online courses. Each workshop is customized to your organization and group.
Ways to work with us
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We offer multiple levels of training to reinforce, deepen, and advance your drafters’ skills.
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Apply this training across your branch, department, or organization to level up and standardize all the documents you produce.
When writers and reviewers are both trained in this way, it reduces complexity, editing time, and back-and-forth reviews.
Transform documents across your organization
One workshop produces real results. Those results are exponentially increased if you train more deeply and systematically.
Some of our clients
Alberta Electric Systems Operator
Alberta Energy Regulator
Alberta Environment and Protected Areas
Alliance Pipeline
Anthratech Western Inc
APEGA
Associated Engineering
Canada Energy Regulator
Clow Canada
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Fortis Alberta
Government of Northwest Territories—Departments of Lands, Environment and Climate Change, Infrastructure
ISL Engineering and Land Services
Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board
Municipal governments across Canada
Nunavut Impact Review Board
TransAlta
Verra
Core courses
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Effective Technical Writing
Learn the core skills you need to deliver technical content in a way that captures both precision and readability.
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Effective Writing and Reviewing for Managers and Leaders
A condensed version of Effective Technical Writing with a focus on leaders’ needs and how to give clear, useful feedback to writers.
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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.
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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 more thorough and refined thinking.
Courses for specific documents
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Effective Technical Report Writing
Deliver technical findings and recommendations in a way that’s easy to understand and act on
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Effective Environmental Assessments
Communicate complex technical results in a concise, accessible format
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Effective Policy and Procedure Writing
Reduce risk and confusion, maximize readability and usability
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Effective Proposal Writing
Write proposals that communicate your skills and experience and win bids
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Effective Email Writing
Write emails that are task-focused, easy to read, and get the results you want
Courses in specific skills
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Streamline the Writing and Review Process
Analyze process steps and time for the 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.
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Build Strong Rationale
Focus on creating strong, evidence-based content in any document type. This trains writers to approach problems more flexibly, analyze issues more deeply, and produce a clearer set of options for decision makers.
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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.
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Deliver Negative Messages Skillfully
Balance authority, professionalism, and empathy when delivering difficult messages. This training is effective for consumer complaints, complex stakeholder engagement, charged emotional situations, and impartial investigations.
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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.
What we teach your people to do
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Before
43 words
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After
43 words
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74 words
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After
49 words
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32 words
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After
12 words
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"Best writing course I have ever taken."
Benoît Clément, Director of Financial Innovation at Verra
(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%."
Lorraine Brekke, Manager of the Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program GNWT
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“Wordsmith went the extra mile to really help everyone at my company improve their writing. I think anyone would benefit from their services and I would highly recommend them."
Carlos Rodriguez, Associated Engineering
(5 star Google review) -
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"Fantastic. I plan to revise my process of creating reports and proposals. This will help my writing be more efficient and clear. Should save time and generate a better final product."
Participant from ISL Engineering
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"I highly recommend Wordsmith. I learned a systematic approach to writing more quickly, clearly and with more persuasion. It was one of the best courses that I've taken since becoming a professional.
Samantha H
(5 star Google review)
