Course Description

During this program, you will discover five techniques for drafting clear emails and documentation. By applying these techniques, you will ensure that your clients and coworkers can fully understand your written communication, even when the content is complex.

Throughout this engaging video, the instructor will display before-and-after examples that demonstrate the five techniques for writing clearly. When displaying the “before versions”, the instructor will challenge you to identify why each writing example is ambiguous before he shows how to eliminate the confusion.

Upon learning the five techniques for achieving clarity, you will be able to visualize your own writing from the perspective of your readers. As a result, your readers will be more likely to approve of your ideas.


Learning Objectives 

After viewing this program, you will be able to achieve the following:

  • Explain sophisticated concepts using simple language.

  • Decide when to repeat a term versus when to use a synonym.

  • Determine when to use (and when to avoid) the word “and”.

  • Identify misplaced modifiers and ambiguous references, and

  • Draft emails and documents that are easy to read — even for non-experts.


Specific Example

Consider the following sentence: 

“I am teaching a course about writing clearly to CPAs”. 

  • How should that sentence be interpreted? If you look closely, there are two reasonable alternatives.

    • Alternative 1: I am teaching a course about writing clearly, and my attendees are CPAs.

    • Alternative 2: I am teaching a course about writing clearly, and my attendees are people who have to write to CPAs (and must do so in a clear fashion).

Ryan Standil

Ryan Standil leads CPD programs about effective written communication. The goal of the programs is to teach participants how to view their own writing from the perspective of their readers. Before he became a writing instructor, Ryan worked at a law firm in Toronto. Ryan attended Western University, in London, Ontario, where he graduated from the HBA program at the Ivey Business School and the JD program at the Faculty of Law. Today, Ryan delivers presentations at CPA Ontario, the Law Society of Ontario, and individual firms.