Guides, tools, and articles

Making sense of investing: why clear communication matters

Confusing company announcements cost investors and companies alike. The research says it pays, literally, to write clearly for your shareholders.

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That meeting could have been an email

Unnecessary meetings cost around $25,000 per employee per year. The maths on replacing your update meeting with a well-written email.

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The bold text trend: helpful highlight or just shouting?

Bolding half your sentences doesn't make them clearer. What usability research and style guides actually say about bold text, and when to use it.

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AI's impact on your ability to write well

Does leaning on AI erode your writing skill? What the research says about ChatGPT, critical thinking and cognitive debt, from someone who uses it daily.

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The connection between plain language and customer service

Plain language cut one agency's support calls from 1,128 to 192. The documented evidence that clear writing is a customer service strategy.

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Business writing: the growth lever small businesses keep ignoring

Marketing and sales get all the podcast airtime. But your writing is doing your first impressions for you, and a single typo can halve online sales.

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Communicating through a restructure

During a restructure, silence gets filled with fear. What staff need in writing at each stage of workplace change, and what NZ law expects.

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Engagement is more than interactions

Flip cards and sliders don't make eLearning engaging. The learning science is clear: well-written content beats decorative interactivity every time.

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How to get your learners to actually read the content

Learners read about 20% of what's on screen. Stop copy-pasting SME content and start writing for readers: practical techniques that earn attention.

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Why nobody finishes your compliance training

Field research found video compliance training had no detectable effect on misconduct. Why the genre fails, and how to build training that changes behaviour.

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How to turn a policy document into training people actually use

A six-step method for converting dense policy documents into training that changes behaviour, built on plain language and memory science.

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Do business writing workshops actually work?

An honest look at the evidence on writing training: when workshops change how people write, when they don't, and what separates the two.

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AI in workplace learning

75% of knowledge workers already use AI at work. What that means for L&D teams: the jobs AI genuinely does well, and the ones it quietly botches.

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The easy-learning problem

Most corporate eLearning isn't too hard, it's too easy. Why designing for the lowest common denominator buys expensive admin instead of learning.

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The second thing every module teaches

Every module teaches its subject and a habit of mind. Why most compliance training installs a compliance reflex, and how to design for judgement instead.

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The plain language series

Seven free, hands-on modules built on the POWER method. Plan, organise, write, edit and review, 15 to 30 minutes each, no sign-up.

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Plain language training for science resource designers

Two hands-on Zoom sessions gave a new resource design team a shared standard and a common language for clear, accurate science writing.

Jane Hoggard Resource Design Manager, House of Science

Training graduates in business writing

Junior consultants levelled up their writing, with measurable before-and-after improvements in clarity and confidence.

Hannah Johnstone Senior Advisor, People & Culture

Building an internal peer review culture

The planning team now writes and reviews independently, reducing managerial rewrites and lifting the quality of every document.

Workshop participant District planning team

Coaching leadership on data-heavy reports

Reports now drive faster, more informed management decisions, with data turned into clear, compelling narratives.

Linda Huang Team Leader, NZQA

Copy editing a thesis for examination

A fast, high-standard final edit brought formatting and referencing up to scratch, so the thesis was ready to certify.

Dr Pete Cammock Director, Leadership Lab

Rewriting a website to generate leads

A value-led rewrite of five core pages, plus a new tax help page, more than doubled their website enquiries.

David Owner, The Number Studio

Scoring a sales proposal for clarity

A scored document review gave the team an objective, prioritised read on where their proposal could be sharpened.

Ryan McMillian Atlas Digital

How I Write: David Perell's podcast for anyone who writes

A free YouTube podcast covering all sorts of writing, not just plain language. Novelists, screenwriters, songwriters and more explain their craft.

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