Guidance News

ASTD Outstanding Contribution Award

Guidance President Jack Massa was honored with the 2010 Outstanding Contribution Award by the Greater Atlanta Chapter of ASTD (the American Society for Training and Development). The award was presented by 2010 Chapter President Don Bolen at a meeting December 6.

Jack is serving as the 2010-2011 Vice President of Technology for the chapter. In 2010, he led the effort to select, design and build a new chapter web site, driven by the content managment system Wild Apricot. The site went live September 1, 2010 and has greatly improved the efficiency of chapter operations and members' user experience, while simultaneously reducing costs.

Best Practices for Live Online Training

Guidance President Jack Massa spoke at the 2009 Society for Technical Communication Summit, May 6 in Atlanta. Jack led a discussion as part of the STC Instructional Design and Learning SIG Progressions. His topic was "Best Practices for Live Online Training."

In this session, Jack explored the pros and cons of live online training (or "synchronous e-learning") compared to other delivery methods. He then provided a series of best practices to make online sessions engaging, memorable, and effective.

Jack's research is also presented in this new Guidance white paper:

"Thirteen Best Practices for Live Online Training"

Thoth's Tips

Communication Lessons from the God of Scribes

In ancient Egypt, Thoth was the God of Scribes and the Scribe of the Gods. He was also a god of wisdom and of all things intellectual. If Thoth were around today, he might offer suggestions like these for communicating in the workplace.

Tip #2: A Good Flow - Communication Wisdom from Ancient Ireland

Tip #1: Emails That Get Results

Guidance Teaches Successful Business Writing

In today's professional environment, everyone must write effective emails and letters. Managers and engineers are often responsible for formal documents—such as specifications, reports and proposals. Yet the writing produced by many organizations is unclear and ineffective, resulting in confusion, lost productivity and lost revenue.

Now, Guidance Communications is pleased to offer workshops and coaching programs for successful business writing. We do not offer one-size-fits-all seminars. Instead, we analyze our clients' writing needs, meet with their people, and devise a custom program to make their writing successful. Guidance President Jack Massa has taught writing course in college and industry and has years or experience working with writers at every skill level.

To learn how to improve the writing in your organization, please see our Services page on Business Writing Instruction.