Event Report: Two Days Course On “Professional Business Writing Skills”

On the 9th May 2011 (Monday), a two days course on Professional Business Writing Skills was held by the IEM G&S YES. The course was presented by Dr. Alistair King. The talk was held in Tan Sri Prof. Chin Fung Kee Auditorium, 3rd Floor, Wisma IEM, PJ. The total number of participants were around 52 people approximately.

The program started at 9.00 am with an opening address by the organizing chairman.This course aims to provide participants with a set of skills and awarenesses which they can use with immediate effect. These skills and awarenesses are:

• Transferring spoken input into written material
• Understanding the progression from the beginning of the document to the end
• Knowing in which type of documents to use the Active or Passive Voice
• Using phraseology which is stylistically appropriate
• Knowing how to connect various points in order to present the best possible impact and therefore, the best possible outcome
• Knowing how to use the different past tenses in a way which promotes accuracy and immediate understanding
• Knowing how the various components of letters and reports fit together and flow into each other

On the first day, participants were exposed to:

1. Important features of a business document
2. Grammar in business document
3. Language style
4. Dealing with letter of complaint

And on the second day, participants were presented with:

1. How to compose a cohesive text
2. Composing a cohesive document from notes
3. Grammar: Use of tenses
4. Major editing tasks with presentations (In groups)

The synopsis of the course to help participants learn how to write/edit/fine-tune documents which are concise, cohesive, grammatically accurate and stylistically appropriate. Grammatical forms and stylistic concepts had been introduced and practiced throughout the course. The talk was mainly targeted to people who had to supervise, contribute to or edit business documents. This course consisted of trainer’s presentation, individual and group writing tasks with presentations to plenary. Authentic material and case studies will form a large proportion of the course materials.

The course ended at 5.00 pm on 10th May 2011.

Prepared by Engr. Puvanesan Mariappan
Posted by Engr. Mei Wong