Proof Reading

Course Overview

Your copy is often the first point of contact with customers and other stakeholders. It says something about the standards you apply and the level of care you take. Poorly produced communications materials can affect your credibility and that of your organisation. This workshop will teach you how to avoid the pitfalls and the embarrassment of copy errors.

Audience

This workshop is designed for busy managers, assistant managers, personal assistants and anyone involved in writing or checking copy before it is sent out.

It will be particularly useful to people responsible for checking reports, proposals and all forms of marketing copy.

Skills Gained

This workshop will improve the quality of written materials produced for internal or external communication. Errors in copy can prove costly in financial terms and in terms of credibility among customers and channel partners.

Mistakes in copy can have serious consequences and be extremely embarrassing. Such copy is treated with less respect and your credibility is adversely affected. You will learn how to become further adept at finding and removing errors in copy.

Course Outline

• Structure copy so that it is readable
• Recognise good and bad copy
• Read copy objectively, identifying errors, correcting grammar and punctuation
• Edit written work so that it can be re-keyed correctly
• Improve the readability of the written piece
• Understand basic proofing symbols and apply them
• Construct a style guide and develop common standards

The content of this workshop can be applied immediately on return to your desk. There will be an immediate improvement in the quality of reports, proposals and marketing copy. You should also be able to introduce a more structured approach to proofreading that can be adopted by your colleagues. This should lead to an improvement in the overall quality of proofreading within your organisation.