Event details:
Nick Parker, creative director at The Writer, will talk about the way HR is changing how it communicates in writing.
He’ll be joined by Teresa Ewington, learning and development manager at Thames Water, who’ll explain how they’re changing the way they write, and the effect it’s having on their organisation.
HR has one of the trickiest writing jobs in business: we often need to explain complex policies and procedures. But we’re also often communicating about things which are very personal to people.
HR hasn’t always been good at this – often having a reputation for writing that’s too complicated, formal or officious.
But business writing is changing. And there’s now an opportunity for HR to lead the way in changing how businesses communicate – and even change the culture of organisations along the way.
Teresa Ewington will join Nick to talk about the journey Thames Water has been on with its writing – the impact it’s had, and the successes and challenges along the way.
Praise for Nick’s previous CIPD talks:
- 'Made me realise how grateful I am to learn about a company that truly values the power of language.’
- ‘The talk given by Nick was very inspiring.’
- ‘A very engaging speaker.’
- ‘It was to the point and effective. Overall an excellent workshop.’
- ‘A fascinating topic.’
- ‘The speaker was very engaging and humorous.’
- ‘It’s great to have learning events which involve personal skills rather than technical skills and expertise’
Nick’s helped all sorts of organisations make their words work harder: from cool brands like MTV, to global firms like PwC and regulatory bodies like the Financial Ombudsman Service. He has recently finished a four-continent ‘world tour of writing workshops’ for a client, training over 4,000 people along the way. He writes regularly about language in the national press, speaks at events – most recently at The Economist’s Big Rethink conference – and lectures on brand language at the University of East Anglia. Before joining The Writer he was deputy editor of The Oldie magazine. He is also the author of a collection of short stories, which the Guardian described as ‘astonishing... proof that the short story is still a public good’. Which was nice of them.