Education and Training Services

We offer programs in the following categories:

General Business Communications
Presentation Skills
Scientific and Technical Writing and Editing
A Methodical Approach to User Documentation
Academic Writing for Essays and Exams
The English Language

We also offer private tuition for individual students.

General Business Communications

The two most common forms of everyday communication in the workplace are letters (or memos) and meetings. Policy and Procedure documents are not far behind. Despite their familiarity, they are often poorly handled. Letters and memos are unclear or confusing; meetings spend too much time going nowhere; policies and procedures reflect ad hoc responses to issues rather than strategic pursuit of organisational goals.

Strategies for Effective Writing (2 days) is an intensive workshop that provides some simple, practical ways to improve writing: to make it clearer and more focussed. It identifies the causes of ineffective writing, and provides skills and techniques to ensure that written communication is effective and efficient.

Writing Effective Policies and Procedures (2 days) is an intensive workshop that examines the nature and purpose of policies and procedures, then provides techniques for developing policies to achieve objectives, and procedures to implement policies. It deals with the principles of clear and unambiguous writing, and offers some principles for effective visual presentation.

Effective Meeting Management (1 day) is an intensive workshop that analyses the causes of failure in meetings, and offers simple and useful strategies for overcoming the problems. It provides skills and techniques for increased effectiveness in organising and participating in meetings.

These programs include case studies, so that the practice of new skills can reflect the sequence of events in the real world.

Presentation Skills

Presentations — formal "speeches", usually accompanied by slides or other visual aids — are a common form of communication in the workplace. Well done, they are very effective; poorly done, they are often a waste of everyone’s time.

Better Business Presentations I (2 days) is a workshop that provides a variety of established techniques for all aspects of preparing and delivering a presentation.

Better Business Presentations II (2 days) is a workshop intended for experienced presenters: it provides additional skills and techniques in all aspects of preparation and delivery.

These programs have a strong practical focus, allowing participants to practice and develop new skills in a supportive environment. Please note that they are not about using "presentation software" such as PowerPoint!

Scientific and Technical Writing and Editing

Scientific and technical information must often be transferred from people with in-depth knowledge to people who need answers to specific questions. In general, scientific writing is concerned with underlying principles and theory, while technical writing is concerned with practical application. In both cases, the writer must have a clear understanding of the reader’s needs and expectations.

Writing Skills for Scientific Communicators and
Writing Skills for Technical Communicators (each 3 days) provide practical skills and techniques for devising appropriate communication strategies. These strategies form the basis of document content, organisation, and style. The Scientific and Technical programs differ in their detailed treatment of many issues, but the two courses have essentially the same scope and provide similar skills and techniques.

Principles of Scientific Copy-Editing and
Principles of Technical Copy-Editing (each 3 days) cover much the same ground as the corresponding Writing Skills programs, but with a very different emphasis. The Writing Skills programs focus on the creation of new material, and are therefore chiefly intended for scientific or technical people who must write; the Copy-Editing programs focus on the improvement of existing material, and are therefore chiefly intended for non-specialists who must provide support to their specialist colleagues.

These programs provide sufficient theoretical background for participants to adapt their newly-acquired skills to a variety of situations.

A Methodical Approach to User Documentation

If you produce equipment, tools, or systems — if your customers need to be given some guidance in using the product — you need to provide some kind of user instructions. It doesn’t matter whether you produce industrial machinery, office equipment, or domestic appliances; computer software, administrative procedures, or even board games. The user instructions may be simple booklets, hefty manuals, or on-screen "help" displays. In every case, the user’s satisfaction with your product depends largely on the effectiveness of that documentation. Brandle’s Methodical Approach to User Documentation is a comprehensive documentation methodology, supported by a powerful computer-based content management system and a series of in-depth training programs, designed to ensure effectiveness in user documentation.

MAUD Implementation (3 days) covers use of the methodology to develop effective documentation.

MAUD Administration (2 days) covers planning, estimating, and project control;

MAUD Content Management System (2 days) covers setup and use of the computer-based support system.

Academic Writing for Essays and Exams

New or intending tertiary students are bombarded with advice about self-discipline, study skills, and other perceived differences between life at school and the world of the university. Yet the most important and fundamental differences are rarely mentioned: the goals of study are different, and the role of written assignments changes to reflect those different goals.

It is surprisingly common for students to fail to come to grips with these differences throughout their university studies. As a consequence, they waste considerable time and energy, using techniques they learned at school to do a job for which those techniques are simply not suitable.

A clear understanding of the goals of tertiary study and the role of written assignments, coupled with effective strategies for understanding and meeting the requirements of each task, ensure an improved "return on investment". The student is able to achieve comparable results with a lower amount of effort, or better results with an unchanged amount of effort. Best of all, because improved techniques make the whole process far more satisfying and rewarding, students are often motivated to even greater achievement.

Essay Writing Skills for Students (2 days) begins by examining the fundamental differences between study goals at school and at university, then develops techniques and strategies for assessing the demands of an assignment, planning an appropriate treatment, and writing a competent essay.

The English Language

All programs described elsewhere in this booklet adopt an "instrumental" approach, starting with a consideration of the communicator’s purpose — "What am I trying to achieve with this communication?" Treatment of grammar and punctuation is limited to common problems that inhibit the achievement of communicative goals. Most people have enough "informal" knowledge of grammar for most purposes.

But more formal knowledge of grammar is often required. People who received limited education opportunities; people who are struggling with English as a second language; people who find it difficult to express their ideas with real clarity: all can benefit from a detailed understanding of the nuts and bolts of language.

Essentials of Written English (2 days) is an intensive course in sentence organisation, word functions, and the correct use of punctuation for supporting and clarifying grammatical structures.

Beyond Grammar (1 day) focuses on language structures and features that go beyond our normal understanding of "grammar": What are the characteristics of a too-complex sentence? What are the causes of — and remedies for — ambiguity? How do sentences combine to form meaningful texts? How can visual techniques such as lists and tables add clarity to the words?

Private Tuition

There are often cases where a formal training program is unsuitable. Candidates for private tuition include:

Individual employees, if it is not possible to assemble enough people to make up an effective training group;

Individuals, whether in employment or not, who want to improve their communication skills but cannot — or do not wish to — obtain support from an employer;

Tertiary students who want to improve their "marks for effort" ratio.

In all these cases, private individual tuition can be a convenient and effective solution.

An individual program of private tuition begins with a 30-minute Assessment Session (usually at Brandle’s office) to identify the student’s specific needs and to develop a plan for the continuing program. This session is at no charge, and there is no obligation to proceed with the program. At least one sample of the student’s written work must be supplied beforehand (by fax or mail).

Tuition sessions are then conducted according to the schedule developed as part of the plan. Usually, these sessions are held weekly and last for one hour each. All tuition sessions can be conducted at Brandle’s office, at the student’s home or workplace, or elsewhere as agreed.

We recommend that private tuition be on an individual basis. We can conduct small group sessions, but these can only be effective if all members of the group have closely similar needs.