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Writing Machine’s blended virtual training model is an excellent alternative to face-to-face blended writing training and the perfect solution for those needing to train geographically dispersed teams including those working from home.

The delivery is suitable for all courses based on the Structured Writing Method including Writing for Professionals and Writing for Bids.

The courses are delivered over two or more virtual classroom sessions and can be spread over several weeks. By default we include 7 hours of virtual classroom tuition; however more can be added to provide extra focus where required.

Delegates have access to a bespoke learning portal where our eLearning content – now in its second generation – is split into the different lessons. Relevant content is made available as the course progresses. Access to the portal is for three months.

What about smaller teams or individuals?

Our corporate training is available for teams of 10 or more. If there are fewer people in your team, or if you are an individual, you may find our open courses suitable for your needs.

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Find out more about the Structured Writing Method

The training benefits of our blended virtual classroom model

Spacing

There are some important benefits associated with learning over a period of time. This will give you opportunity to take on board the content, and to start putting it into practice between virtual classroom lessons.

Priming

Our virtual blended classroom courses feature ‘Thinking Ahead’ insight videos from our eLearning to prepare you for active learning. Priming such as this has been shown to significantly increase knowledge retention.

Active learning

Our virtual classroom sessions feature breakout sessions, activities and class discussion to ensure that you are not sitting passively but are genuinely engaging with the material. The virtual classroom sessions are recorded and uploaded to your portal which means that if you are unable to attend a session you won’t miss out.

Consolidation

Following the classroom sessions, you will consolidate the learning in your own time by completing corresponding eLearning lessons. An Apple IOS or Android app means that you can go through this material on a smartphone or tablet as well as a laptop or desktop computer.

What our clients say

‘The course made me aware of how easy it is to make mistakes.’

EY delegate

‘I will use the structuring every day.’

Advanced Delegate

‘The Writing for bids course was spot on. People left the training with real skills and techniques that they could implement immediately, on a day-to-day basis. I’m very confident that our writers now have the foundation they need to produce clearer, punchier documents.’

Andy Sampson, Senior Bid Manager, NATS

‘Writing Machine’s Structured Writing Method has not only improved the way we write our reports, it has also changed the way we think as a business.’

Senior Manager, Leadership, Management and Talent Development, Principality Building Society

‘I’m sure that the course will help me produce better quality, more engaging documents and challenge the status quo around content headings.’

Hewlett Packard Delegate

‘The team has absorbed many valuable skills and techniques for creating and communicating clear and concise messages in their writing with greater confi dence. The interactive eLearning format is great. It lets each participant proceed at their own pace and the ability to re-visit course modules over weeks and months is a useful tool for reinforcing and refreshing the learning experience.’

Special Advisor, Indra Navia AS

“The training provided some great insights for the team who were inspired to put the learning straight into action.”

Jodie Yates, Strategic Development Manager, CBRE Global Workplace Solutions

‘My writing will totally change.’

Deloitte delegate

‘I have a clearer idea how to adapt sentences to ensure the messaging is clear.’

AXA delegate

‘[The Structured Writing Method] will help me improve the way I structure my documents, which will also improve my efficiency and the time spent working on them.’

Critical Software delegate

‘I thought I was OK at writing, I know now that I can improve a lot!’

Principality Building Society delegate

‘I feel much more confident when starting to write now – I won’t dread it like I used to!’

Mitchells & Butler delegate

‘It will make me question everything I write… Is it necessary? Is it clear?’

Adelphi delegate

‘I feel more confi dent with my writing and starting with a blank page.’

Electrolux delegate

‘I will think more about structure and headings to bring out key messages and themes.’

Deloitte delegate

‘[I would recommend this course for]… new joiners.’

DLA Piper delegate

‘[I would recommend this course for …] ‘… anyone who writes.’

Principality Building Society delegate

‘I think the course will help my communications to be clearer and more succinct.’

Lloyds Banking Group delegate

‘This course will improve my writing greatly and give me confidence in the future.’

Brand Rexcruitment delegate

About the courses

Writing for Professionals

Whether you write for marketing, pre-sales or general business reasons, Writing for Professionals will enable you to write more compellingly, clearly and professionally – and to do so faster.

Writing for Bids

Writing Machine’s unique Writing for Bids enables individuals and teams to write clearer, more compelling, professional, and far more competitive bid and pitch documents.

Writing is an important part of most people’s professional lives. Being able to communicate a message clearly and concisely is an incredibly important skill – whether that’s when writing reports, emails, marketing documents of pre-sales materials. Poor writing, meanwhile, can lead to frustration and miscommunication.

This course teaches Writing Machine’s unique Structured Writing Method, and tried-and-tested specialist techniques used by our agency to provide writing services to companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, BAE Systems, BT Global Services, Carter Jonas, Experian, HP, Kapsch CarrierCom, QinetiQ, Siemens, SITA and TomTom.

Ideal for pre-sales, marketing and general professional writers, Writing for Professionals is based on our unique Structured Writing Method™.

It includes seven hours of virtual classroom sessions plus access to our second-generation eLearning.

The course is delivered at a time, and pace to suit you. It can, for example, be delivered across two half-day sessions on consecutive weeks or a larger number of shorter sessions spread out across a number of weeks.

The course includes lessons on the following areas:

  • An introduction to the Structured Writing Method
  • ‘Objective setting’
  • Messaging
  • Structuring
  • Writing for skim readers
  • Engaging your readers
  • Writing with clarity
  • Writing with authority
  • Grammar and punctuation
  • Proofreading

Consolidation of learning and ‘Thinking Ahead’

Please be aware that your delegates will be asked to use the eLearning to consolidate their learning and complete any lessons not fully covered in the virtual classroom sessions. They will also be given eLearning tasks to ‘think ahead’ towards the next session

In addition, all delegates get access to the Structured Writing Method eLearning materials for three months.

On completion of this course, your delegates will be able to:

  • Implement an effective writing process
    making their writing more efficient, and leading to better quality documents
  • Clarify objectives and messages
    before writing leading to clearer and more focussed writing
  • Effectively plan and structure documents
    to create a logical flow and, again, to speed up the writing process
  • Use clear and concise language
    to get their points across
  • Improve the quality of writing style
    to make their documents grammatically correct, appear more professional, authoritative and easier to skim-read
  • Proofread your writing
    to ensure their documents are free of mistakes

Significant discounts are available for organisations that book courses for groups of 10 people or more.

Please either email us or call us on +44 (0) 1962 841250 to find out more.

Email us to find out more

When competing for large contracts, it’s sometimes not enough to have a technically excellent, credible and cost-competitive solution. Very often, organisations lose tenders simply because they are unable to articulate a clear, compelling and competitive proposition when writing the commercially significant bid and pitch documents.

Writing, then, is a critical part of any sales proposal, RFP or pitch. Good writing can, quite simply, improve an organisation’s win rate. With the right specialised training, companies can make significant improvements to the bottom line simply by improving the quality of their writing and the efficiency of their writing processes.

Created by the writers at Writing Machine Agency, the course teaches the method, and tried-and-tested specialist techniques used to provide bid writing services to companies such as BAE Systems, HP, Fujitsu, Logica, Mott MacDonald, SITA, Thales, and QinetiQ.

Ideal for those who work on critical, ‘must-win’ tender documents, Writing for Bids is based on our unique Structured Writing Method for bids.

It includes seven hours of virtual classroom sessions plus access to our second-generation eLearning.

The course is delivered at a time, and pace to suit you. It can, for example, be delivered across two half-day sessions on consecutive weeks or a larger number of shorter sessions spread out across a number of weeks.

The course includes lessons on the following areas:

  • An introduction to the Structured Writing Method
  • Objective setting and bid requirements analysis
  • Advanced messaging for bids
  • Messaging for executive summaries
  • Messaging for complex bid questions
  • Structuring
  • Structuring for executive summaries
  • Structuring for complex bid questions
  • Better teamwork with storyboarding
  • Writing for skim readers
  • Engaging your readers
  • Writing with clarity
  • Writing with authority
  • Grammar and punctuation
  • Proofreading

Consolidation of learning and ‘Thinking Ahead’

Please be aware that your delegates will be asked to use the eLearning to consolidate their learning and complete any lessons not fully covered in the virtual classroom sessions. They will also be given eLearning tasks to ‘think ahead’ towards the next session

In addition, all delegates get access to the Structured Writing Method eLearning materials for three months.

Your delegates will be taught a variety of techniques and processes to follow in order to write bid documents that are clearer, more concise, compelling and competitive. By teaching an effective and unique writing process, the course will help them become much more productive. On completion of this course, they will be able to:

  • Implement an effective writing process
    making bid creation more efficient, and leading to better quality tender documents
  • Identify key messages from existing source material
    to speed up the transition from subject matter to sales bid
  • Formulate sophisticated, highly competitive messages
    whether for executive summaries or when answering complex bid questions
  • Effectively plan and structure lengthy bid and pitch documents
    using structured writing techniques and Microsoft Word’s Outline View functionality to ease the stress of managing document creation
  • Rapidly structure executive summaries
    using the messaging and Microsoft Word’s Outline View
  • Successfully answer complex bid questions
    to optimise scoring
  • Use storyboards to improve writing efficiency
    by enabling editorial ideas to be captured, negotiated and agreed before writing starts
  • Use writing embellishments effectively
    to make the writing clearer, more concise and interesting
  • Improve the quality of writing across the tender document
    to make bids and pitches more professional in appearance and easier to skim-read
  • Proofread their writing
    to ensure your bid documents are free from typos, grammar and punctuation mistakes

Significant discounts are available for organisations that book courses for groups of 10 people or more.

Please either email us or call us on +44 (0) 1962 841250 to find out more.

Email us to find out more

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