Welcome: 'To the Point' Quicklearn's First Monthly Newsletter

This newsletter has been sent to you because you may have attended one of our programmes or you have talked to me about learning opportunities at some time. Please feel free to unsubscribe athough I do hope you don’t and will want to read on......

When you know you can communicate effectively with your customers your business grows. When your people present your company to customers as well as you do yourself then you know you will be successful.

During the last year we have listened to our customers and helped them to identify what will make a difference to their organisation. In meeting those needs Quicklearn has concentrated on making learning effective and immediate. We design the learning in a way that helps you and your staff to learn quickly the best ways to communicate. How to write concise and readable business communications for example, or make confident sales presentations. We can also help people to deliver consistently effective customer service both on the telephone and face to face. We make the learning practical so you can practise the skills in the workshop. The learning is focused on your business, relevant to your daily work, and memorable so you can use the new or enhanced skills from day one.

Charlotte Mannion

Word of the Month

Each month in this slot we will examine some of those tricky grammar or punctuation points that can have an effect on how we are judged by others.

“These workshops will be a great 'compliment' to our Do It Yourself Website Promotion Programme”

This quote is straight from a website I visited this week but it appears the workshps are not free of charge. It seems they really meant to use the word 'complement'.

Complement or Compliment? They are very different words which have the unfortunate problem of sounding the same. The dictionary describes them as follows:

Complement - full quantity, completeness, perfection
Compliment - an expression or act of act of courtesy, respect or regard; a gift, a gratuity.

So many advertisements, mail shots and press releases get them the wrong way round. So beware next time you are writing a report, a letter or advertisement, check that you are using the right word in the right context.

Customers make judgements about people’s attention to detail in their written communications and once published you can’t put it right. I have made a judgement, maybe unfairly, about the writer of the website quoted above!

Here is a great new book which everyone who writes will want to read.

‘What not to Write’

The Guide to the Do's and Don’ts of Good English.

I think it’s the best book out on the market at the moment for business people who want to get their English right. It is entertainingly written and yet easy to dip into and easy to find the answers to your queries. It is arranged alphabetically and coupled with cross-references and a comprehensive index.

The author, Kay Sayce, lists in the introduction the sorts of questions that people often ask each other in the office and then tells you where you can find the answer.

Questions such as:

What is the difference between American English and British English?
Do you write ‘yours truly’ or ‘yours sincerely’?
Is a semi colon like a comma?
What are split infinitives and should you avoid them?
Is it ‘between you and me’ or ‘between you and I’?
It’s a website? Its website? Where do you put the apostrophe?
Is ‘a hotel’ or ‘an hotel’?

It's pocket sized, information packed, entertaining and invaluable and that’s just what the blurb says….

Normally £8.99 + P&P we are selling it for just £6.99+ £1.20 P&P and giving it away in a lucky draw on our business writing courses. Email charlotte@quicklearn.co.uk for more information or to order your copy.

National Learning at Work Day: Thursday 24 May 2007

The Campaign for Learning, the co-ordinators of National Learning at Work Day believe this day of learning celebration could be just the start people need.

Linda Siegle, Joint Chief Executive of Campaign for Learning, urges everyone to get involved in Learning at Work Day and see what it can do for them. "Even if you think learning isn't for you or you've been put off by bad experiences of past training courses and school classrooms, the mixture of fun and business related learning that's promoted in workplaces on the day reveals the lighter side to learning, helping to build confidence and uncover true potential".

"And if you find yourself bitten by the learning bug or having identified skills you need or qualifications you'd like to have, you'll find a whole world of opportunities and possibilities for further learning open up at work and in your local area."

The Campaign for Learning is encouraging organisations to use the day, and the whole week, to focus on identifying, developing and reviewing employee skills to help achieve business benefits and individual career choices.

Lucky Draw

To recognise Learning at Work Day, Quicklearn is offering you the chance to win the ‘Learners' Pocketbook’ by Paul Hayden. It encourages individuals to take responsibility for their own learning with lots of fun activities looking at brain power, learning theory, intelligence styles and lots of other learning techniques all in the highly visual Pocketbook style. Visit www.quicklearn.co.uk and enter your name in the draw. The winner will be selected on 24 May 2007

Do you find it difficult to keep your desk organised? If the answer is YES then download your 'FREE Quick Tips for Keeping Your Desk Clear' www.quicklearn.co.uk