education

IABC Business Writing Conference

Learn how to write clearly and persuasively.

2-3 October, Chicago Business Writing Conference Program

Browse the program below.

Schedule at a glance

Thursday, 2 October

Friday, 3 October

Conference Program

Thursday, 2 October

7:45 a.m.
Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m.–12 p.m.
Transparent writing: Learn to think clearly and write what you mean

Information is plentiful in business. But how you communicate that information is critical. Communication professionals at all levels and in every type of business must continually turn information into knowledge to help their colleagues and their clients make the right decisions.

In this energetic, hands-on presentation, you will learn:

• The most important goal in writing (it's not what you think)
• The No. 1 question on every reader's mind (you're thinking it right now)
• Why thinking about tomatoes will make you a better writer - guaranteed!

Whether you're a seasoned wordsmith or you struggle with every sentence you write, The Writing Workshop will give you the confidence and skills you need to communicate your ideas clearly and persuasively. Best of all, you'll walk out of The Writing Workshop with a fresh perspective and renewed enthusiasm for writing.

John Sturtevant has taught business people how to think clearly and write what they mean for over twenty years. He co-developed and taught a business writing curriculum at Harvard Business School for five years. Sturtevant was also a professor of business communication at The European School of Economics in Rome. Prior to this, Sturtevant was vice president of marketing for an Internet software company and co-founded SturtevantFishbourne, an award-winning, full-service advertising and marketing agency in Boston. In 1985, as senior producer at AVW, Houston's premier multimedia production company, he created programs designed to motivate employees and simplify complex ideas.

12:15–1:30 p.m.
Keynote Luncheon:

Best practices: Business blogs
Unexpected successes and unpredictable failures are typical among businesses launching their first blogging efforts. In some ways, blogging is as old as the written word, the maintenance of a personal journal. In other ways, we have never seen the like of blogs before and their potential as a business tool is limitless. In this session, online communication authority Shel Holtz will guide you through the elements of a successful business blog focusing on the roles and rules for writing and editing these interactive windows.

You will learn how to:

• Counsel leaders who undertake blogs
• Write your own blogs as a company spokesperson
• Serve as an editor for others' blogs
• Participate in conversations that emerge from your posts
• Monitor the fruits of your labor

Shel Holtz, ABC, IABC Fellow, counsels organizations on the effective use of online media to achieve communication goals. He is the author of several books, including Public Relations on the Net and Corporate Conversations. He is also the co-author of Blogging for Business and is currently co-writing How to Do Everything with Podcasting. Holtz has more than 30 years of experience in business communication in both the corporate and consulting worlds.

1:45–3:15 p.m.
Select and attend one of two breakout sessions:

Workshop One / Writing for the web
Far too many writers believe that good writing is good writing, applicable to any medium. None of these same writers would pen a video script the same way they would a brochure. Yet they continue to write for the World Wide Web as though it were print, when the web is as different from print as video. Following a brief introduction to the reasons for approaching web content differently, participants will be guided through the tactics and techniques that will increase audience absorption and understanding of online content.

You'll learn how to:

• Craft context-independent chunks of text
• Improve your headlines and subheads
• Distinguish between copy people will scan and copy they will read
• Move away from traditional web content and into "Web 2.0" material
• Produce copy that works in the emerging world of online social media

Shel Holtz, ABC, IABC Fellow, counsels organizations on the effective use of online media to achieve communication goals. He is the author of several books, including Public Relations on the Net and Corporate Conversations. He is also the co-author of Blogging for Business and is currently co-writing How to Do Everything with Podcasting. Holtz has more than 30 years of experience in business communication in both the corporate and consulting worlds.

Workshop Two / Fine-tune your editing skills
All editors need some sharpening of their editing pencils from time to time, and that includes you. In this hands-on session, you'll do some micro- and macro-editing and review seven (and only seven) reasons to change copy.

In this session, you will review:

• Eight "always" rules for commas
• The relationship of sentence structure to punctuation rules
• Three steps for cutting copy
• The fundamentals of coaching writers

Don Ranly, Ph.D., IABC Fellow, is professor emeritus of journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism where he taught for 32 years. An author of articles and books on writing and editing, he has conducted more than 950 seminars for individual newspapers and magazines, corporations, associations and organizations. He has led seminars at 25 IABC international conferences and for 36 IABC chapters.

3:15–3:45 p.m.
Coffee break

3:45–5 p.m.
Select and attend one of two breakout sessions:

Workshop One / Creative writing: Bring your writing to life, and life to your writing
If “the act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe,” (David Hare) then this session will inspire a renewed and personal voice in your everyday writing for business. Building on the premise that the best storytelling is borne of asking the right questions, this working session will refuel your quill to remind you that corporate creative writing is not an oxymoron. Come prepared to find life—literally and figuratively—in your written words.

Your next storytelling opportunity will benefit from:

• Thinking differently about the way you gather details
• New tricks to inspire your true storytelling voice
• Twenty questions you’ve never thought of asking

Jennifer Wah, ABC, uses a passion for strategic storytelling to help individuals become inspired, organizations become engaging places and causes become motivators. She is head honcho of Forwords Communication Inc., based in North Vancouver, Canada, and she has won more than 23 awards for communication planning, creative and editorial management, and writing. Front and center are five IABC Gold Quill Awards.

Workshop Two / Produce a newsletter that employees anticipate and absorb
Every company has or wants a newsletter, and yet many publications fail to deliver interesting, well-written content that captures attention. Turning a lifeless newsletter into an exciting communication tool is an effective and essential way to engage employees. As a communicator, your job is to find and share company news, much of which will be obscure, technical, or dull. How then do you create a newsletter that engages and inspires? Where do you find stories, and how do you make them fresh and captivating?

In this interactive session, you’ll review outstanding newsletters and samples of breathtaking corporate prose. (Yes, it exists.) You’ll also wrestle with troublesome scenarios and work with the instructor to find solutions.

By the end, you’ll be able to:

• Grab a busy reader’s attention and hold it until your last sentence
• Know what it means to write with “flair”
• Turn a deadly dull assignment into a living, memorable story

If you’re just starting out, this session will show you basic principles of good writing and good storytelling that will last your whole career. If you’ve been writing newsletters for years, this workshop will show you practical ways to revitalize your employee newsletter, drive up readership and deliver business results.

Paul Matalucci, ABC, is president of Wordwright Communications Inc., a consulting agency specializing in employee communication. Wordwright’s corporate clients include Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Business Objects, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Gilead Sciences. His book reviews have been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, and his features, interviews and fiction have appeared in The Madison Review, Christopher Street and The Capitol Times. Matalucci is the 2009 Gold Quill Awards chair.

Friday, 3 October

7:30–8 a.m.
Continental Breakfast

8–9 a.m.
General Session:

Rev up readership
In the U.S. alone, 5,000 messages bombard people each day—totaling more than a million messages a year. For writers, editors and other communicators, the challenge lies in overcoming this information overload to reach your readers.

In this session, you'll learn how to:

• Utilize the formula readers use to determine what to read—and what to throw away—to increase your copy’s readership
• Shift focus and put yourself in your reader's head so you can write copy that gets read, not ignored
• Take a simple step to make your copy nearly half as fast to absorb, easy to remember and satisfying to read

Ann Wylie is the author of more than a dozen learning tools that help people improve their communication skills, including “Rev Up Readership,” “Think Like a Reader” and Planning Powerful Publications, published by IABC. As president of Wylie Communications, Wylie handles special writing and editing projects for Sprint, Readers Digest, The Mayo Clinic and dozens of other major clients. Before starting her firm, she was editor of Hallmark Cards’ employee magazine, Crown. Her work has earned 40 communication awards, including a Women In Communications (WIC) Clarion award and two IABC Gold Quill Awards.

9:15 – 10:30 a.m.
Select and attend one of two breakout sessions:

Workshop One / Writing the strategic communication plan
Strategic communication planning is necessary for any business, but the thought of going through the process, the research and the writing can make even the seasoned communicator shiver in their shoes—it shouldn’t. Learn the critical elements of a communication plan and be guided through the steps of creating one that integrates activities, focuses on goals and objectives, and aligns with the varied interests of your target audiences.

You’ll learn:

• The importance of research and how it can make communication planning easier
• The process to develop messages and tactics for your key target audience
• The tips to integrate measurement into your plan

Jeffrey Ory, ABC, APR, is vice president for Deveney Communication, an internationally-recognized public relations firm based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ory is recognized globally, working on projects that have earned the highest national and international honors in the profession, including two of the pinnacle recognitions in the communication profession: the IABC Gold Quill Award and Jake Wittmer Research Award. A long-time IABC member and volunteer, Ory served as the chair of the 2008 Gold Quill Awards program.

Workshop Two / Writing the magazine feature article
Writing features does not mean writing fluff. What it does mean is writing copy of all kinds with a flair that readers find compelling and enjoyable. This session will push you to write more stories that readers read and remember. Through use of literary devices (similes, metaphors, examples, etc.), you'll have more fun and your copy will spring to life.

We'll discuss:

• Using narrative style versus the inverted pyramid
• Discovering characters rather than sources
• Writing for story rather than merely reporting facts

Don Ranly, Ph.D., IABC Fellow, is professor emeritus of journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism where he taught for 32 years. An author of articles and books on writing and editing, he has conducted more than 950 seminars for individual newspapers and magazines, corporations, associations and organizations. He has led seminars at 25 IABC international conferences and for 36 IABC chapters.

10:45 a.m.–12 p.m.
Select and attend one of two breakout sessions:

Workshop One / Writing the interview
To write a compelling business interview for a publication, some critical components need to be in place. In this session, CW editor Natasha Nicholson will explore the development and use of a content plan that helps you focus on the essentials. She will also address the preparation required to produce a clean and workable transcript.

You’ll learn:

• Why live interviews often produce the best copy
• How to turn a raw interview transcript into a first-rate article that maintains the voice of your subject
• Strategies for streamlining copy by identifying key messages and removing unnecessary passages
• Ways to avoid the approval process taking over your copy

Natasha Nicholson has been with IABC since 1991 and currently serves as the vice president of publishing and research, as well as the executive editor of Communication World magazine and its online supplement, CW Bulletin. Throughout her career, she has conducted and edited numerous interviews with high-level executives working for prominent organizations.

Workshop Two / Writing for the media
Breaking through cluttered inboxes to secure traditional media coverage requires writing that is smart, targeted and compelling. While having great contacts and strong relationships matter most, the message must be clear and newsworthy.

By combining case studies, insight and interaction, this session will teach attenders how to:

• Write pitches and releases that connect
• Craft the right message for the right time
• Resist bad habits that get in the way of great headlines

Shawn M. Kahle, APR, is managing director at Arment Dietrich Inc. With more than 25 years of senior-level public relations and communication expertise, Kahle’s media relations experience is extensive in multiple sectors including retail, nonprofit, telecommunications, real estate, trade shows, hospitality and consumer events. Kahle currently is on the public relations faculty at Loyola University in Chicago, and previously was a lecturer at Wayne State University in Detroit. Kahle serves as a board member of both IABC/Chicago and PRSA Chicago.

12–1:30 p.m.
Keynote Luncheon:

Ideaspotting: Fuel for fresh writing
You may have a wonderful writing style and sharp technical skills, but without fresh ideas, you'll wind up with page after page of stale content. That's why you'll want to hear Sam Harrison talk about how to spot great ideas.

Attenders will learn how to:

• Turn off your Negative News Network and burn your excuses
• Break out of ruts and abandon "Not Invented Here" thinking
• Focus on details and spend your creative energy wisely

Sam Harrison is the author of two best-selling books: Zing! Five Steps & 101 Tips for Creativity on Command and Ideaspotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea. His clients include organizations such as the National Football League, Major League Baseball, Merrill Lynch and John Denver Environmental Group.

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