Do we include “http” when we write out a web address? And is it “Web” or “web”? “African-American” or “African American”? Or “Black”? What are our thoughts on the Oxford comma? Are we allowed to use humor in our documents? What’s the right “tone” for us across digital platforms?

These are the kinds of questions that often spark the writing of an organizational style guide. When multiple options are “right,” consistency in writing throughout an organization—whether in brochures or on the Web site, on business cards or in white papers—is key to maintaining a level of professionalism and branding. Writing the style guide, however, can be a daunting task.

In this workshop, we provide the structure, questions, and facilitation necessary for building a comprehensive, usable style and branding guide. During this active session, teams have the chance not only to brainstorm and assess past work for style and branding choices, but they’re also prompted with key questions to allow them to further their thinking about how writing works for the organization. Participants are tasked with collecting a variety of organizational documents prior to the session for use in the workshop.

Teams will emerge with not only an understanding of what makes a strong, effective style or branding guide and how to get their colleagues to use it, but also with a living document that they can continue to develop over time.

Outcomes

In this workshop, participants will learn to:

• Assess and evaluate past documents in the process of creating the “rules” of style for their team or organization

• Develop a living style guide that clearly and effectively addresses sentence-level and formatting standards for their organization’s writing

• Consider terminology and concepts to ensure that documents are inclusive in every sense

• Pose questions and perform research about political, cultural, and other potentially complex language choices in order to ensure their organization’s public writing is appropriate

Standard workshops are typically limited to 12 participants to ensure active engagement and individual feedback. If you have a larger group, please get in touch to talk about your options.