Tuesdays through June @ 9:30am - 3:00pm
Overview
The Write Month – The Right Words
Writing. It’s a fundamental skill for public relations and communication practitioners – but is the writing on the wall for the written word? In today’s world, where artificial intelligence can produce the content we read in a heartbeat, is your writing good enough to stand up to the robots?
To help you meet the challenge, this June sees the return of The Write Month, four online sessions exploring how writing, reading and meaning has changed. Each session is designed to build your confidence as a writer, help you find the right words to engage your communities and tell stories that transform. Take one session – or take them all. Mix and match sessions to rethink, refresh and renew your writing skills.
7 June 2022 – The Right Words – Storytelling for Humans REGISTRATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED
Faced with our ongoing battle with the algorithms, this session looks at ways to find and develop stand-out stories that can be seen, heard and understood – even in the age of outrage. Explore ways to tell stories that build trust, demonstrate leadership and engage humans. The session is designed to challenge your thinking – it is pertinent, practical and full of new perspectives. We cover the fundamentals of storytelling, from finding your story to choosing the right words, the right tone and the right style so you can connect with your readers. Online, practical and an opportunity to refresh your approach to writing, this session is designed to get you off the blank page and bring your story to life.
- What’s the story – how to get to the heart of what’s going on
- Trust, truth and transparency
- Finding humanity – making the softer voices heard
- Engage readers with your first five words
- Season with style – how to adapt your tone and style at speed and still make sense
- Interest and intrigue – how to keep your readers with you to the end
- Chop and change – how to keep your copy concise and your ideas clear
- When the full stop is your friend – secrets of practical punctuation and excellent editing
14 June 2022 – The Right Words – News Writing for Now REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
9:30 am -12:00 pm and 12:45 pm – 3:00 pm.
Misinformation, disinformation, mainstream media under fire – who believes anything they see in the news right now? Is it the truth or just another opinion amplified? This practical and provocative session takes you through the principles of good news copy, what makes news now and the steps you can take to create good media relationships. Online, practical and a chance to refresh your approach to news writing, this session is designed to get you off the blank page and move you closer to a front page.
- Make sure it’s news – understanding what makes a news story
- Structure and length
- The art of the edit
- Headline hacks
- News scents and snacks
- Fake or fact? Managing accuracy and timing
21 June 2022 – The Right Words – Web Writing for Now REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
9:30 am-12:00 pm and 12:45 pm – 3:00 pm.
Did you know Google’s rewriting your words? And have you worked out which websites are written by AI helpers? No? Then come and take a deep dive into data and writing for the web in all its forms. This session is designed to show you how to weave words for the web, write for your user and create content that gets found. Online, practical and a chance to refresh your approach to writing for the web, this session is designed to get you off the blank page and connect you with your users.
- Informavores – understanding user needs and behaviours
- Content conundrums – finding the right words for the right place
- Social structures – developing style and tone, care and consideration across the networks
- Full of character – meeting the challenge of the very short story
- Search me – developing content that finds your user (even when they didn’t know that’s what they needed)
- A writer’s little helpers – looking at the new AI content machines
28 June 2022 – The Right Words – Speaking Out
9:30 am-12 pm and 12:45 pm – 3:00 pm.
The spoken word is powerful. It persuades. It motivates. It changes hearts and stimulates minds. But before we speak, we need to write, whether we are preparing a speech or weaving threads of thought together for a video presentation. This session develops your speechwriting skills, looks at the language of persuasion and influence and delves into structure and scripting. Online, practical and a chance to develop your persuasive writing and influence skills, this session is designed to help you move from notes to nuance.
- The language of persuasion – ethics, logic and emotion
- Move me – understanding what your listener needs to hear
- Strength and circumstance – finding the right words for the right moment
- Structure and form – the rules to follow and the rules to break
- Stand and deliver – building confidence, influencing styles
Learning outcomes – all sessions
- Developed understanding of storytelling in complex times
- Developed understanding of different writing styles
- Review and understanding of basic principles
- Developed understanding of new approaches to writing
- Developed understanding of structure, speed and clarity
- Improved understanding of varying channel demands
Who should attend?
The session is designed for anyone who wants to refresh and improve their writing skills in our rapidly changing world of words.
Presenter
Catherine Arrow, LPRINZ, FCIPR, Founding Chartered Public Relations Practitioner
Catherine Arrow is an international public relations consultant and educator. She heads PR Knowledge Hub Ltd, a learning and development centre for public relations and communication professionals delivering online and face-to-face training.
A PRINZ Life member, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and a Founding Chartered Public Relations Practitioner, Catherine has served the public relations profession for many years contributing at national and global levels. She is a former Secretary of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, serving on the board from 2008 – 2015.
Alongside her own consultancy work, she lectures, writes and speaks about public relations. Her career has spanned both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and, in 2012, she was presented with the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand President’s Award for exemplary contribution to the profession.
This course content aligns with the communication capabilities section of the Global Capability Framework with particular emphasis on this summary:
Communication Capabilities
- To align communication strategies with organizational purpose and values
- To identify and address communication problems proactively
- To conduct formative and evaluative research to underpin communication strategies and tactics
- To communicate effectively across a full range of platforms and technologies.
This course has a minimum number requirement, so please book early to ensure the course is not cancelled.
The ticket prices are GST inclusive. Please be aware of PRINZ payment and cancellation policy.
Sessions can be bought individually or as a pack of four. Please select your ticket carefully as numbers are limited to 9 per session.