Written communication training

Some exercises you may consider…
Some fun activities that have worked for me are (of course the level of your group will determine whether or not these are appropriate.)

1. Shapes exercise. In pairs, trainer gives Person A and Person B a pre drawn shape. Partners not to show each other shapes. Each partner to write written instructions to the other on how to draw their shape. Instructions are swapped and based on them, partners try to draw the described shape. Finally shapes are handed over to each other and results of drawings are examined. Always gets a giggle. Discussion then occurs re the instructions written. Points about jargon, clarity of writing, use of long words, assumptions about knowledge etc will come out. A good lead in to a session on reader / writer problems.

2. The 60 second punctuation exercise. On pre hung butchers paper, participants are given 60 seconds to write a sentence using a number of pieces of punctuation. Trainer announces the punctuation – eg “Write a sentence using a colon, comma and quotation marks.” A bit of fun and a refresher look at punctuation. Most people haven’t thought much about punctuation since school – it is surprising how much we forget about it.

Also a reasonable Australian movie I have seen to show is called “Wipe out the jargon”. It is cheap and uses Australian humour to make its points. It can be bought on the web – but am not sure from which company.

Bottom line to all written communication training is lots and lots of practical exercises – and because it tends to drag peoples minds back to school – try to make it fun and use very relevant work examples and case studies.

2 Responses

TrainingZone says:

November 18, 2002 at 11:10 pm

Some exercises you may consider…
Some fun activities that have worked for me are (of course the level of your group will determine whether or not these are appropriate.)

1. Shapes exercise. In pairs, trainer gives Person A and Person B a pre drawn shape. Partners not to show each other shapes. Each partner to write written instructions to the other on how to draw their shape. Instructions are swapped and based on them, partners try to draw the described shape. Finally shapes are handed over to each other and results of drawings are examined. Always gets a giggle. Discussion then occurs re the instructions written. Points about jargon, clarity of writing, use of long words, assumptions about knowledge etc will come out. A good lead in to a session on reader / writer problems.

2. The 60 second punctuation exercise. On pre hung butchers paper, participants are given 60 seconds to write a sentence using a number of pieces of punctuation. Trainer announces the punctuation – eg “Write a sentence using a colon, comma and quotation marks.” A bit of fun and a refresher look at punctuation. Most people haven’t thought much about punctuation since school – it is surprising how much we forget about it.

Also a reasonable Australian movie I have seen to show is called “Wipe out the jargon”. It is cheap and uses Australian humour to make its points. It can be bought on the web – but am not sure from which company.

Bottom line to all written communication training is lots and lots of practical exercises – and because it tends to drag peoples minds back to school – try to make it fun and use very relevant work examples and case studies.
TrainingZone says:

November 25, 2002 at 3:35 pm

Materials and Exercises
I have some exercises that may be useful. E-mail me with details of your objectives etc.