It’s true I’m not the chatty type, but I love teaching! As an introvert, my speech can get tangled up as my thoughts race ahead of my mouth, usually when I realize someone is actually listening. It served me well in government, with a few notable exceptions that I will not elaborate on here, but in running my own business, it can be a disadvantage. I’m not one to back down from a challenge, though, and so I am so excited to tell you that I’m getting back into teaching! This fall I will be launching a plain language webinar for urbanists, and a series of short videos that you will find on my website.
Technical writing is something that most urban professionals (never mind the general public!) aren’t familiar with, even though we do it, and read it, all the time, usually without realizing it. Unfortunately, it’s not often done very well. That’s why I started Scribe: to bring best practices forward, so those of us who work in urban-related fields can do a better job of communicating with diverse audiences, from our expert teams to the general public, and everyone in between.
In preparing a fall webinar on plain language (soon to be announced!), I have some big shoes to fill. I’ve learned so much over the course of my career, and I want to be at least as good as some of the great instructors I’ve had. Because I’m just as interested in the process of creating something new as I am in the final product, I started doing some digging. Last week I found a little series from a well-known editor for independent authors who provides short and sweet videos full of great advice, and each presented in just a few minutes. I took a close look at how she did it and realized that the format could work for sharing what Scribe is all about!
Teaching has been on mind as we start September and approach Scribe’s first anniversary (!!!). In the next few weeks, you’ll see updates to the website, and some new posts on LinkedIn and Facebook (I reserve Twitter for liking the hilarious and strange). In the meantime, feel free to message me. As an urbanist, or just someone who cares about the quality of life in our cities, what would be useful to you? Pro tips on report-writing or copy editing? Do you want to have better communication within your team? Or perhaps you want to just brush up on your clear writing skills.
I’m looking forward to getting out in the world again (even if by Zoom)! And I hope you join me to learn more about promoting civic clarity through plain language, so we can really make our cities the places we want and need them to be!