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Effective Technical Writing for Exploration and Production Staff - A Structured System (SSK24)

    Description

    This unique workshop provides guidelines for the efficient reporting of petroleum engineering, geological and geophysical studies. It will help you to produce concise and readable management briefings, well or study proposals and reports, tender documents, field development plans, operating manuals, procedures and legal agreements.
    Most 'communication skills' courses are presented by individuals from outside the oil industry. This one is different. It gives practical instruction rather than theory, and is based on the presenter‘s extensive experience of reporting and compiling integrated field development studies in an international oil company and consultancy environment, as well as board papers, expert determinations, unitisation and redetermination procedures and submissions, contracts and court papers.

    Course Level: Skill
    Duration: 3 days
    Instructor: John H. Martin

    Designed for you, if you are...

    • An E&P specialist or manager at any level in the oil & gas, consultancy / service or R&D sector
    • An experienced team leader or supervisor who needs to coordinate or review the reporting of multidisciplinary integrated studies

    This is not a basic English course so you should have a reasonable command of the language.
    Even native speakers are surprised at how many new ideas and practical suggestions this course contains. If relatively new to the industry, you will learn that 'commercial' technical writing requires a non-traditional approach.

    This course is designed specifically for the E&P professional, focusing on E&P documents and examples. Over four hundred individuals have attended previous versions of this practical course, presented as public and as 'in-house' workshops.

    The workshop is ideal as an 'in-house' presentation for company teams, where participants may find it easier to work on internal documents.

    How we build your confidence

    You will develop a 'toolkit' to help with your writing tasks, to communicate interpretations, results and recommendations more effectively. During practical sessions you will have the opportunity to apply the techniques demonstrated to your own material. You will very quickly see how to make improvements.
    One-to-one tutorials at the end of the course will allow detailed discussion of your own work.
    Together with a slidepack, a recently updated comprehensive manual in book style is provided, both in hard copy and digital form, for future reference.

    The benefits from attending

    By the end of the workshop you will feel confident in:

    • Applying all the practical techniques required to communicate technical work effectively in writing
    • Your awareness of several common misconceptions relating to use of the English language in the commercial E&P environment
    • Applying the many simple (but effective) suggestions contained in the workshop
    • Technical writing - you should even find that you start to enjoy it

    Topics

    • Why write reports?
      - Four basic types - make sure you use the appropriate one
    • How to write
      - Report compilation using a 'news-based' approach
    • Analysing objectives and developing 'messages'
      - How to develop a meaningful topic outline
      - Using verbal presentations to help structure a report
    • Tips to improve writing skills
      - Brevity and simple approaches
      - Handling numerical data and specialist terminology
      - Writing effective summaries
    • Optimal use of charts, figures, tables and enclosures
      - How to select and design illustrations
      - The science behind colour design
    • How to compile manuals and minutes
      - Making it easy!
    • Practical aspects of report preparation
      - Type styles, layout and arrangement
      - Making your reports a pleasure to read
    • Managing the reporting process
      - How to reduce editing time
      - Coordinating multiple authors for multi-disciplinary reporting
    • Digital documentation
      - Special techniques for on-screen display rather than hard copy
      - Use of advanced word processing and document design features for digital distribution
      - Effective use of emails

    Customer Feedback

    Participants’ responses have been universally favourable, with ‘excellent’ scores in categories including subject knowledge and communication skills:

    "The course is really important and it might be offered to everyone in the company" - Engineer at Marathon Oil

    "I really like the way the instructor presented the course. Excellent and relevant course." - Engineer at Marathon Oil

    "Every aspect of E&P reports was explained clearly and its implications highlighted."

    "Shows the course leader's understanding of problems faced by technical writers."

    "Instructor is knowledgeable and really achieved the purpose of the course."


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