Category Archive Blog

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Article in Live Sound Magazine

I recently wrote an in-depth article about a great Quebec company called Stageline. They are located in L’Assomption, near Montreal. Read the full article on page 54 here.

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Technical writing

Many non-technical writers ask me how they can become a technical writer. My first response is this: You’re already a writer! You have to have the same skills as any writer – good grammar, good research, and good composition. I always say that every piece of writing needs a Beginning, a Middle, and a Happy-Ever-After ending! Technical writing is no different, except for a couple of important points.

Technical writing, as opposed to fiction, autobiographical or novel writing, has the following characteristics:

  • there is no emotion or any need to create an atmosphere or mood
  • sentences are shorter with usually one thought per sentence (a sentence is usually 13 to 15 words). Plain language is encouraged
  • depending on what industry you write for, there are conventions you must follow (for safety, etc.)
  • the passive voice is not encouraged, but it’s not frowned upon either
  • there’s no place for imagery or abstract statements
  • every fact must be checked and substantiated

The one thing that is absolutely essential? Curiosity. Your role is to make the complex understandable. To do that, you need to dig deep and find a way to explain it. If you don’t understand the concept yourself, you’ll never be able to explain it to anyone else!

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How a Case Study can help you attract more clients

If you have a company web site or a blog and want to attract more business (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?) there is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to do it. Best of all, you probably have everything you need to start, and it won’t break the bank!

A case study is a résumé of a successful transaction between you and your client or a project. It might not have gone smoothly, but it must have had a successful outcome to be a good case study. A good case study is about two to three pages long. It can be much longer if you have more details and statistics or if it was a complicated project, but you must be careful to not give away any confidential or proprietary information to others, including your competitors!

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