Date: September 24, 2009

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Place: Hotel Ruby Foo’s
7655 Decarie Boulevard
Montreal (Metro Namur)

Instructor: Christine Hastie

Cost:
$160 for members
$220 for non-members
There are no early bird discounts or student rates.

What you’ll learn

Web text should be concise, scannable, and written using simple language. Hundreds of studies have confirmed this. But your client’s draft is a long report and doesn’t look like a Web page at all. Or perhaps a client expects you to develop Web pages from a variety of materials. This presentation will help you identify your client’s needs so you can offer Web-appropriate text. We’ll share ideas on making fewer words do more as they become a vibrant source of energy that attracts readers and carries them through the information.

We’ll cover

• Understanding Web readers’ needs and expectations in various contexts
• Structure and other features of good Web writing
• Developing an approach to the project and steering through the challenges
• Adding value and ensuring quality

Note: This workshop can be helpful for editors looking to enhance their structural editing skills.

Your participation

Please submit your Web text problems and samples to the coordinator, Claire Sutton suttonc1 [at] yahoo [dot] ca especially if they can be shared with all participants. Handouts and exercises in Word format will be emailed in advance. Bring a laptop, arrange to share one, or use the paper copy supplied. (N.B. Laptop not required for this seminar.)

About the presenter

After living in a Cree and Métis community for several years, Christine Hastie established herself as a communications healer in Montréal in 1993. She freelanced for a number of years—creating her first Web page and a touch-screen interface in 1997—and joined the federal public service in 2002. Now working at Ste. Anne’s Hospital in Communications with Veterans Affairs Canada, she develops tools for a community of practice in mental health. Specializing in rewriting, she contributed an article to La révision professionnelle : processus, stratégies et pratiques (2007), edited by Jocelyne Bisaillon. Christine has a Master’s degree in English literature from the University of Western Ontario.