Technical report writing

A one- or one-and-a-half-day workshop

This programme is designed to help participants write effective technical reports. It’s presented by a double-act of trainers with a unique blend of the necessary skills and experience to really bring the subject to life, for lasting impact.

Reports play an important part in the life of many professional people: they are a link between writer, colleagues and clients worldwide. Reading and writing reports occupies a considerable proportion of working time, particularly for senior staff. Yet many professionals (particularly those in engineering and technology) lack confidence in their report-writing skills and feel that their credibility suffers because their reports are not a fair reflection of their expertise.

Objectives

Learning objectives

By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:

  • Write effective technical reports that achieve their aims
  • Relate to their target readers
  • Select the right content for their readers
  • Select the best length and design for the report
  • Present their findings in a clear manner
  • Understand the importance of writing an accurate, concise and straightforward report
  • Create good summaries
  • Include accurate references
  • Include appropriate well-labelled diagrams
  • Understand the benefits of independent proof-reading

Audience

Who should attend?

All those aiming to improve their technical writing skills, including engineers, scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, data providers, IT professionals, economists, accountants, etc, etc.

Format

Format

A one- or one-and-a-half-day programme (the latter works best, for a group of up to 10). Can be delivered virtually or face-to-face.

Meet the trainers

Expert trainers

Steve Mallaband BSc (Hons), C Eng, MIET, FITOL. Co-author of Building Excellence in Strategic Procurement and Building Excellence in Commercial Negotiation. Co-creator of Transform©, a procurement diagnostic tool, dedicated to building excellence in procurement and contract management.

Steve has over 25 years’ experience as a procurement and contract management practitioner, holding senior positions in a number of leading organisations worldwide, such as InBev, ESO and Novartis. He has particular experience in the commercial aspects of contract negotiation, contract drafting, contract management, claims handling and dispute resolution. He has conducted sourcing exercises for a vast range of products and services and guided internal customers through the specification-writing process. For the past seven years he has written courses and provided training and consultancy in all aspects of procurement and contract management to professionals around the world.

 

Ros Howard BSc (Hons), PGCE, FITOL. Co-author of Building Excellence in Strategic Procurement and Building Excellence in Commercial Negotiation. Co-creator of Transform©, a procurement diagnostic tool, dedicated to building excellence in procurement and contract management.

Ros has a rich variety of experience in industry and education: working in the construction, pottery and defence industries; teaching in schools and colleges. In 2003, she set up her own business in Brussels (Reaching Overseas Scientists) designed to help those working on scientific and technical topics get their message across with a particular focus on improving the written and spoken skills of non-native English speakers. During this time, she worked for organisations such as The Belgium Royal Observatory, REACH and TINE. For the past seven years she has written courses and provided training and consultancy in all aspects of procurement and contract management to professionals around the world, concentrating on the building of soft skills, such as negotiation and communication. Having taught English as a Foreign Language to business professionals, she is particularly sensitive to the needs of the non-native English speakers.

1 Introduction and defining your purpose

  • The basics of communication
  • Understanding what your starting point is
  • Identifying the key challenges you face and the things you find difficult
  • The importance of knowing what you hope to achieve by your report
  • Identifying the key elements that are relevant
  • Making better choices in the material you present
  • 10 laws of good report writing

2 Gathering information for your audience

  • Understanding who your audience is and what they need to learn
  • Identifying the key elements that are relevant
  • The 80:20 rule
  • Making the correct choice of material
  • Story boards
  • Removing distracting information from your message

3 Deciding on your format

  • Designing your report
  • Sections and sub-sections
  • Appendices
  • References and bibliographies

4 Writing your report

  • First drafts
  • Writing your report into a story
  • The use of paragraphs
  • Clearer, shorter sentences
  • Grammar gremlins
  • Punctuation pitfalls
  • Active or passive?
  • Spellings, tenses, acronyms and other common conundrums

5 Data visualisation

  • The importance of your visualising data
  • Which type of graphic suits your purpose
  • Using graphs, charts, heat maps, etc
  • Where to position graphics
  • How to reference graphs and tables

6 Finishing the report

  • Summaries and Abstracts
  • Table of Contents
  • Title page
  • Appearance
  • Proof-reading

Any questions? Please just give us a call on 01582 463463 – we’re here to help!