Update: Registration deadline is Thursday, April 9, 2009.

White papers drive literally billions of dollars worth of B2B sales every year, and technical writers are ideally suited to write them. In today’s economic downturn, anyone who knows how to write white papers is positioned for better success. Technical writers who can produce effective white papers have better earning power both as employees and as freelancers.

But many writers hold themselves back, because they don’t know how to write a white paper. This workshop will show you how, and give you the tricks of the trade that took our presenter 10 years to learn.

Purpose

This full-day workshop is for technical writers who have never written a white paper, or would like to improve their white paper writing skills. After taking this workshop, you will know what a white paper is, how companies use white papers, and many of the best practices for writing white papers and managing a white paper project.

Topics

• What is a white paper anyway?
• Why technical writers are well-suited to write white papers.
• How can you tell if your company needs white papers?
• Seven things you must know before you start writing.
• The 10 deadly mistakes of white papers, and how to avoid them.
• How to format a white paper for best results.
• What about graphics, when you have no budget?
• An all-important sentence not to leave out.
• Numerous white paper samples will be presented and discussed.

Download the registration form (Word format, 48KB)

Workshop Format

This workshop will be a lecture in English with some hands-on exercises.

When and Where

When: Thursday, April 16, 2009 — 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Where: Ruby Foo’s Hotel, 7655 Decarie Boulevard, Montreal (Quebec) H4P 2H2 (Show map)

Pricing

STC members, EAC members,
and students with valid full-time student ID
Early Bird Registration — Until March 26, 2009 — $150.00 CDN
Regular Registration — Until April 9, 2009 — $175.00 CDN

Non-Members
Early Bird Registration — Until March 26, 2009 — $175.00 CDN
Regular Registration — Until April 9, 2009 — $199.99 CDN

About Gordon Graham

Gordon Graham has worked on more than 50 white papers since 1997, researched the field extensively, and given many presentations about white papers. His clients include Autodesk, HP, IBM, Intuit and Oracle, plus many smaller firms with big dreams. Gordon is a former member of the STC Montreal chapter, a former editor of its newsletter, and the winner of 14 STC awards. He is a partner in Gordon & Gordon and carries on business as ThatWhitePaperGuy. He is also the editor of www.SoftwareCEO.com, the world’s largest online community of software executives.