'An excellent course - very involving and up to
date.' Report
writing courses - there are many of them, but not many are presented by an
experienced trainer who is also a published writer. This one is and it is run
for up to 12 people are your premises. (Click here if you are looking for a
Technical
Report Writing course.)
COURSE AIM - Report Writing Course,
1 day To help
delegates to write reports that are clear, concise and easy to read and
understand. It covers the principles and practice of preparing, writing and
editing reports.
Report writing
can be difficult but we can make it easier for you to write good reports. This
one-day course is normally run at your premises for up to 12 delegates. It will
also help delegates when writing other types of document.
IS THERE A TRACK RECORD?
There is. Tony presented his first
Report Writing course at Barclaycard in April 1998. That was on behalf of the
Manchester-based training company, Fielden House (now Fielden-Cegos).
Subsequently, he ran over 100 report writing courses for London-based Reed
Training (now Reed Learning). Now, he only presents it under his own banner.
The report writing course has often been
adapted to meet the specific needs of various clients. For example, different
versions of the course have been designed and presented to Ofsted (350
delegates), the Financial Services Commission (Gibraltar), Careers Wales, the
London Birmingham Railway, Univar, NCAS, E.ON. etc.
COURSE CONTENT - Report Writing
Course, 1 day
- What distinguishes a good report
from a poor one?
- A process for report writing:
planning reports, writing reports, editing reports
- Planning
- Defining the purpose, agreeing the
terms of reference
- Knowing your reader and writing
for the reader
- Formatting and structuring reports
and their content
- Writing, using plain English in
report writing
- Editing reports: editing for
accuracy, brevity and clarity
- Active or passive voice;
preferring verbs to nouns
- Writers' tips and some common
myths
- Punctuation
problems
- Using MS Word's readability
statistics
- I was very
impressed (with the report writing course) and found my facilitator to be very
approachable. A job well done!
- Excellent
report writing course. I think I will definitely put into practice
immediately.
- Great
trainer. Kept my attention all day.
COURSE
DESCRIPTION - Report Writing
Course
REPORT WRITING
COURSE: INTRODUCTION
- What types of report do you
write?
- What do you like or dislike
about report writing?
- What distinguishes a good report
from a poor one?
- Some samples.
- How to write a report - the
three stages of report writing: Preparing, Writing and Editing.
REPORT WRITING
COURSE: PLANNING YOUR REPORT
- Defining the purpose or
objective of your report.
- Who has asked for the report?
Why? Terms of reference.
- The readers matter. Putting
readers first.
- Who are your readers? What do you
know about them and their needs?
- How much detail will be needed
to achieve the objective?
- What do you want your readers to
know and do, how do you want them to react to your report?
- Planning your report.
- Achieving a logical flow and
structure.
- Sections and sub-sections.
Summary, Introduction, Main Body, etc. Who reads what?
- The purpose of each section of a
normal business report.
- Writing the Executive
Summary.
- Structuring complex information
when report writing.
- Structuring your argument or
process. Generic frameworks.
- Writing a beginning, a middle
and an end for your report.
- Structuring the text down to
paragraph level.
- Do you need illustrations?
Planning illustrations.
- Your Plan.
REPORT WRITING COURSE:
WRITING YOUR REPORT
- Going from plan to draft.
- General tips.
- The order in which to write your
report's sections.
- Determining style.
- Titles, headings and
sub-headings.
- Numbering systems.
- Using short paragraphs and
sentences.
- Using appropriate words and
jargon; plain English.
- Using pronouns or not, bullet
points and references.
- Using appendices.
REPORT WRITING COURSE:
EDITING YOUR REPORT
- Going from the draft to the
finished report.
- Editing for accuracy, brevity
and clarity.
- Eliminating waffle, superfluous
words, and wordy phrases.
- Improving the grammar.
- Differences between passive and
active verbs.
- Avoiding 'smothered' or 'hidden'
verbs.
- Superfluous adjectives and
adverbs.
- Conventions for writing
numbers.
- Some troublesome points of
English grammar.
- Avoiding sexism in
writing.
- Using Microsoft's grammar checker
and readability statistics.
- Punctuation, reference
list.
TRAINING STYLE The training style uses a mixture of talks, discussions,
group work and individual work in a mix that is as appropriate as possible to
the delegates. The actual course may differ slightly from the fine details
above as the training is adjusted to match as accurately as possible the needs
of the delegates. Delegates are asked to help one another to achieve their
action plans. Full course notes are provided which also serve as reference
books for later. The normal maximum number of delegates is 12.
THE TRAINER As a training consultant and published writer, Tony
draws on a career in both the public and private sectors including employment
in the Royal Navy, GEC-Marconi, the Independent Broadcasting Authority and the
University of Hong Kong. For five years he was the Training Manager at NTL and
since 1997 he has been an independent trainer and writer. As a published writer
he has four books and around 90 articles to his name.
He has trained thousands of delegates from blue-chip
organisations - both independently and on behalf of large training companies
including Reed Training, Fielden-Cegos, the Institute of Management and
Right-Coutts.
He has also inspected
government-funded training on behalf of the Training Standards Council and the
Adult Learning Inspectorate.
Some comments from
clients:
- Excellent delivery
of course and an obvious expertise in Report Writing.
- Excellent
training, got the message across in an entertaining and productive manner.
- I really enjoyed
today and Tony made everything very easy to understand.
- The report writing
course was beneficial and has given me confidence to write reports.
- Felt Tony made the
report writing course very enjoyable, determined from the outset what was
relevant.
- Very good course -
struck perfect balance - just what I needed and no more. Thank you Tony.
- Please pass on my
thanks to Tony for the delivery of the training on Report Writing yesterday.
The group had an excellent day. The feedback is very encouraging and I would
like to arrange another session with Tony later this year for our senior
accountants.
- Thank you for
arranging yesterday (Report Writing Course) and I will be in contact shortly to
arrange a further date.
- Overall, very
impressed with the day's training on writing reports.
- Excellent report
writing course. I think I will definitely put into practice
immediately.
- An excellent
course - very involving and up to date. Enthusiastic trainer.
- Tony was
entertaining and made a traditionally boring subject fun. Very enthusiastic.
- Very good trainer,
kept it light and fun.
-
Perfect
- Very practical
and to the point. Adapts well to varied delegates experiences and needs.
- Clear presenting,
easy to understand, made the content interesting and enjoyable. Nothing like
the horror of school days.
- Good structure -
made it interactive.
- I thoroughly
enjoyed the report writing course and was glad I attended. The instructor was
pleasant and clear in his approach.
- I was very
impressed and found my facilitator to be very approachable. A job well done!
- Found the course
interesting and learned a great deal from it.
Click here
for:
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Call 07976-390960 E-mail
Tony
Atherton Trainer and
writer
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'The
feedback [Report Writing course] is very encouraging and I would like to
arrange another session with Tony later.'
Clients
Client organisations for all subjects over the
years include:
Clients on behalf of the Institute of
Management, Reed Training, Right-Coutts and Fielden-Cegos include:
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