Improve your Writing
January 27th, 2021Be honest: if you sent me a piece of your writing, and I sent it back marked up like the page at the right, would you feel insulted? I know […]
read more...6 tips for editing your own work — and why you should solicit feedback from othersImprove your Writing
November 18th, 2020Twitter and Facebook have a lot to answer for: rampant misinformation, spiralling conspiracy theories, plummeting productivity. (And that’s just in my family!) But I fear social media echo chambers are […]
read more...4 tips for moving past mere ranting to effective persuasionImprove your Writing
October 20th, 2020I cry easily, whoop at the end of dance performances and am passionate about my work. My partner would tell you it’s not possible to have a conversation with me […]
read more...When it is (and isn’t) useful to focus on your feelingsMaster Media Engagement
September 9th, 2020Can you spot the strategic communications error in this Calgary park signage? (And do you know why it’s relevant for your next media interview?) I’m not talking about the graffiti’d […]
read more...Replace negative phrasing with positive imagery for more effective media interviewsImprove your Writing
April 6th, 2020In Stalinist Russia, poet Anna Akhmatova’s husband was shot and her son imprisoned. Every day for months she stood outside the prison walls begging for word about her son’s fate. […]
read more...“Poet, can you write this?” We need to write the post-coronavirus reality we want nowEffective Communication
May 24th, 2019These are just a few of the exchanges provoked by the Toronto Star’s recent publication of a commentary I wrote about the downside of filler phrases. Many of those who responded […]
read more...Clear speech advocate writes; Twitter sh*t storm erupts.Improve your Writing
July 18th, 2018In the dog days of summer 2017, when many people were at the beach, or glued to the media coverage of Charlottesville’s neo-Nazi march and the shocking response from the […]
read more...9 tips to improve the chances of getting your op ed publishedImprove your Writing
April 5th, 2015It could be a stressful exercise. But by the time we force our commentary writing workshop participants into allowing others in the room to vote on the engagement capacity of […]
read more...How to engage readers from the first sentence — and repurpose your content, tooMaster Media Engagement
May 12th, 2014Informed Opinions’ Writing Compelling Commentary workshop is chock-full of concrete suggestions designed to help you write a timely and persuasive op ed and get it published in an influential media […]
read more...3 Tricks to Improve Readership of your Op EdEffective Communication
February 11th, 2014Up until this week, Rob Ford’s life experience — elected office, crack cocaine, domestic abuse — had little intersection with mine. But hearing his contention that he’d been “profiled” for […]
read more...Making smart advice irresistible