Writing Essentials course

Full course title: Writing Essentials for producing Helpful Information

One-day professional development course applicable to all knowledge workers, delivered publicly and privately.

Courses
Full day
Individual (public course, Wellington) NZ$995pp*
Group of 8+ (in-house) NZ$550–650pp
Includes Clear Concise Compelling full-colour course book and a separate workbook

* From March 2027 at Kāpuhipuhi Wellington Uni Professional. Course dates to be confirmed.

Why is this course essential?

Join the thousands who have benefited from attending the Writing Essentials course since 2008.

If you write for your work, you are a professional writer. This means your writing should always be clear, concise, well-organised, and of value to readers.

Do you know how to efficiently write in this manner, no matter the task and with or without the assistance of AI?

Based on Simon Hertnon’s popular writing guidebook, Clear Concise Compelling, and now enhanced by Simon’s groundbreaking new Helpful Information Framework, this course teaches the process and essential skills of professional writing – skills that are not typically taught at New Zealand schools or universities.


Image of the Helpful Information Framework version 1.0
The Helpful Information Framework radically broadens the scope and impact of plain language practice.

Writing Essentials now has a companion half-day course for your organisation’s leaders and managers, so they can easily learn how to to play their crucial roles in the production of helpful information.

What does this course cover?

Part 1: Clarifying our need for information

  • What is information and how does it serve society?
  • What is unhelpful information?
  • What are the principles of persuasion?
  • What are the essential ingredients for producing helpful information?

Part 2: The optimal process for producing helpful information

  • The role of leaders and managers
  • Clear briefs
  • Organised outlines
  • Confident first drafts
  • Polished final drafts
  • How does using AI help and hinder the production of helpful information?

Part 3: Efficiently designing and drafting helpful information

  • The impacts of style
  • Familiar tone
  • Document structure and design
  • Headings and paragraphs
  • Sentence structure
  • Word choice and grammar
  • Punctuation and numbers

Part 4: Making helpful information the norm

  • The benefits of adhering to an information standard (the Helpful Information Framework)
  • Further reading (Clear Concise Compelling) to evolve your skills
  • Options for evolving expectations, capabilities, and performance at your organisation

What will you learn?

The morning session is focussed on being clear about why you should communicate, when you should choose the written medium, and what process you should follow to ensure your writing efficiently delivers value to its audience.

In the afternoon session, you will learn about making wise choices as you write-up your draft document from your outline.

Overall, you will learn:

  • How to write more effectively and efficiently by confirming briefs and creating outlines
  • Effective document structure and design for any document
  • Why we overwrite and how to avoid the verbosity trap
  • The purpose and effective usage of all punctuation marks
  • How to efficiently critique any document

Please note, in-house courses can be customised to focus on particular types of documents (emails, reports, business cases, etc) and particular business areas (customer service, finance, IT, etc).

All attendees receive a workbook and a copy of the (2021) second edition writing guidebook, Clear Concise Compelling, by course facilitator, Simon Hertnon.

Clear Concise Compelling (2ed) open

How do you book this course?

You will find everything you need to know (course dates, booking instructions, and booking conditions) on our courses page.

For individuals: You will soon be able to book a place on a 2027 public course through Kāpuhipuhi Wellington Uni-Professional.

For groups: If you have already reviewed the booking conditions for in-house courses, please contact us and Simon will call you to answer any questions, confirm your requirements (attendees, date, location), and make your booking.

Writing Essentials course on Wellington Uni-Professional web site

You can also book a private, fully-catered Writing Essentials course at Rutherford House, Wellington, by contacting Chris Ortiz, program manager at Kāpuhipuhi Wellington Uni Professional.

Note: A condensed version of this course is available as part of the Skills Essentials course.