Effective Technical Communication

Course Description:

Learn best practices for authoring effective documents and composing your communications with clarity, relevance, and precision. In this course, you will learn how to prepare documents that clearly and concisely convey technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences. Discover your writing style and develop a plan to help you overcome writer's block. Analyze your audience and tailor your writing accordingly. Learn the five Cs of writing-correctness, clarity, conciseness, coherence, and control-and how to apply them to your own writing. You will also learn how to copyedit documents written by you and others.

This course is suitable for anyone who wants to improve his or her ability to communicate technical information.

At the end of this course delegates will know:

• Define what is technical writing
• Analyze audiences
• Discover the five Cs of writing
• Learn best practices for communicating up and down the organizational structure
• Prepare various forms of written documentation
• Structure and compose communications for clarity, relevance, and precision

This course includes the following modules:

Technical Writing Foundations

• What are Technical Communications?
• Technical Writing vs. Business Writing
• The History of Technical Communications
• Types of Technical Communications
• Role of the Technical Communicator

Your Writing Style

• Your Writing Style
• Your Writing Approach

The Communication Loop

• Sending the Message
• Receiving the Message
• Barriers and Filters

Getting Started

• Set Up for Success
• Define Your Objective
• Identifying Your Team
• Making Your Team Effective
• Understand Your Audience
• Types of Audiences
• Identifying the Audience
• Identify the Right Communication Method
• Message Formats
• Time-Value of Formats

The Writing Process

• Create a Plan
• Understand Every Task That Needs to Get Done
• Assign Tasks
• Develop the Timeline
• Write the Purpose Statement
• Brainstorming and the Sticky-Note Technique
• Outline the Document
• Tips for the "Write" Stuff
• Dealing with Writer's Block

The Five Cs of Communication

• The Five Cs;
• Clarity
• Conciseness
• Correctness
• Coherence
• Completeness

Visual Cues

• White Space
• Fonts and Text Layout
• Headings
• Bulleted and Numbered Lists
• Tables and Figures

Oral Communications

• Why a Presentation?
• Best Practices for Effective Presentations
• Guidelines for Writing Presentations
• Format the Presentation Slides
• Deliver Effective Presentations