David Berman Communications
David Berman will help you repeat your successes

Getting it Right the First Time: Proofreading and Content Quality Control

la version française de ce séminaire

“A course everyone should take.”

– Suzanne Lachance, Statistics Canada

Course Description

This one-day intensive and interactive course provides a strong fundamental understanding of the value, principles and techniques of creating and maintaining accurate and consistent content quality control for Internet and print publishing.

This course incorporates adult learning principles and activities appropriate to a variety of learning styles, and qualifies for CEUs (certified by organizations such as PPAC).

What Makes This Course Unique

Our course leader, David Berman, is an internationally known speaker, has owned and operated several successful firms, and is considered an expert in communications.

Through lecture, examination of best practise tools, and hands-on exercises, the participants will gain concepts and immediately-applicable proven techniques that can be applied to a variety of communications channels, now and in the future.

“Excellent. Great speaker.”

– anonymous participant

Who Should Attend

This interactive course is appropriate for any member of a team responsible for the development or maintenance of published content online or in print.

Content Outline

  • Why quality matters: the high cost of getting it right the second time
  • Quality control vs. quality assurance
  • Where quality fits in the product development process: building quality in at every step
  • Style vs. spelling
  • Proofreading techniques that work best: on your own or in groups
  • Automating quality control: software tools to help catch errors and protect accuracy
  • Customizing your quality checklists
  • Evergreening quality

What You Get

When David Berman Communications hosts this course*, each participant receives:

  • a complimentary, comprehensive manual (also available separately for $97 with optional 1-on-1 distance coaching)
  • complimentary meals, snacks and beverages throughout
  • a thirty-minute personal coaching tele-session within a month of the course
  • the option to attend this course again in the future, as arefresher at no additional cost
  • money-back guarantee: if, after coaching and refresher, you don’t think you’ve got your money’s worth, we’ll refund your entire registration fee
(*If you are attending one of our courses hosted by another organization, confirm with them which of these items apply.)

About the Expert Speaker

David Berman has a unique approach to quality control.

David Berman is the principal of David Berman Communications in Ottawa. He has over 20 years of experience in graphic design and strategic communications. He brings both graphic design and information technology expertise to his work. He has been involved in the project management of numerous projects, including strategy or design for second generation sites for Health Canada, the National Research Council, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Industry Canada, Statistics Canada and Treasury Board, as well as various other government, private sector and non-profit organizations.

David is an internationally-celebrated speaker, having taken engagements in over 10 countries. In recent years David has also recommitted his career toward sharing his knowledge and unique talent as a manager and designer through professional development seminars for creative organizations. He trained at University of Waterloo in computer science and Carleton University in psychology and typography. He has worked extensively in the adaptation of printed materials for electronic distribution, including Web design and plain writing and design. He is also the architect of project management software applications.

David is a National Professional Member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) and the Global Speakers Federation (GSF). David is currently the Ethics Chair of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, and was named a Fellow (the highest professional honour for graphic designers in Canada) in 1999. David has been featured in the Financial Post, Marketing, and Applied Arts magazines.

Prerequisites: None

Language: English (French available upon request)

Duration: 1-day

Take This Course On-Site: This course is also available customized and on-site for your organization. Please contact usfor details.

If you would like to be notified via e-mail of when new instances of this course are scheduled, fill out a form to subscribe to ourEvents E-Newsletter.

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Reviewed December 27, 2011

Schedule

LATEST EVENTS LOCATION HOST/REGISTRATION FEE
Wed November 25, 2010 Downtown Ottawa David Berman Communications $495.
Thu November 12, 2009 Downtown Ottawa David Berman Communications $495.
Thu May 21, 2009 Ottawa, ON National Research Council Research Press N/A
Thu November 27, 2008 Downtown Ottawa David Berman Communications $495.
Wed September 24, 2008 (French) Minto Business Centre, Ottawa, ON David Berman Communications $495.
Wed June 4, 2008 Ottawa, ON opens in a new browser windowStatistics Canada TBA
Wed May 7, 2008 (French) Ottawa, ON opens in a new browser windowStatistics Canada TBA
Wed Mar 19, 2008 Ottawa, ON opens in a new browser windowStatistics Canada TBA
Tue Mar 11, 2008 Ottawa, ON opens in a new browser windowStatistics Canada TBA
Thu May 17, 2007 Ottawa, ON opens in a new browser windowStatistics Canada TBA

*Discount packages for non-profits, and travel subsidies available. Additional discounts available for groups over three people. If you refer at least four registrants to one of our courses, we’ll give you a complimentary registration to a course of your choice. Call (613) 728-6777 for details.

All prices, offerings, and dates subject to change without notice.

To register for a course given by our own organization,register online or call (613) 728-6777.

Event Schedule (all events)

“Entertaining, well-organized… VERY IMPRESSED and intrigued.”

– Carol Noël, Statistics Canada

“Dynamic, funny, very knowledgeable, tuned-in… great speaker! … a must for anyone who writes.”

– Anonymous participant

Resources

RESOURCES FOR HOSTS

Sample Poster for this event [930 KB]

RESOURCES FOR ATTENDEES

For the convenience of course attendees, we provide this list of hypertext links and books cited in this course’s manual:

When a comma can cost millions: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060806.wr-rogers07/BNStory/Business/home

Writing for the Web: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting

Proofreaders’ marks chart (from Merriam-Webster online): opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.m-w.com/mw/table/proofrea.htm

Markzware: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.markzware.com

ICC, International Color Consortium: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.color.org

ICC Color Profiles: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.color.org/faqs.pdf

Where you can get Website accessibility testing: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.gotraining.ca
http://www.davidberman.com

TBS Common Look and Feel Self-Assessment Guide: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf2-nsi2/index-eng.asp

W3C CSS Validation service: opens in a new browser windowhttp://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

W3C Markup Validation: opens in a new browser windowhttp://validator.w3.org/

W3C Link checker: opens in a new browser windowhttp://validator.w3.org/checklink/

HTMLTidy: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/

Browser compatibility testing: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.anybrowser.com/siteviewer.html

Browser compatibility for really early browsers: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.dejavu.org/

Screen size testing: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.html

Checking for broken links: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.anybrowser.com/linkchecker.html

Link maintenance: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.changedetection.com/monitor.html

Checking for bad links, HTML syntax, broken tags: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.xlanguage.com

Color deficiency simulator: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.vischeck.com

Subscribe to PWGSC’s Linguistic Recommendations e-mails: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.btb.gc.ca/btb.php?lang=eng&cont=041

The Editors’ Association of Canada: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.editors.ca

Clear reading on clear writing:
“Writing Readable Regulations” by Thomas A. Murawski, Carolina Academic Press (ISBN: 0-89089-849-9)
“Beyond Readability” by Dr. Janice C. Redish, American Institutes for Research (no ISBN number)

Quality:
In Search Of Quality by Ken Shelton, Executive Excellent Publishing, 1995 (ISBN 0-9634-9174-1)

Structure:
“The New St. Martin’s Handbook” by Andrea Lunsford and Robert Connors, St. Martin’s Press , 1999 (ISBN-10: 031216744X)

Typography:
“Stop Stealing Sheep” by Erik Spiekermann, Adobe Press, 1993 (ISBN 0-672-48543-5)

ISO 5776 book of the 16 standards, from ANSI:
opens in a new browser windowhttp://webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/product.asp?sku=ISO+5776%3A1983
Study Guide and Exemplars, Vol. 2 Proofreading, by Editors Association of Canada, 2010 (ISBN 978-0-9695265-5-1)
Order from: opens in a new browser windowhttp://www.captus.com/information/catalogue/book.asp?Book+Number=1035


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