Experienced Web Copywriter
Subject: Experienced Web Copywriter
From: "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: 6/27/08, 15:20
To: job-733610207@craigslist.org

Sirs-

I understand that you're looking for someone to rewrite the existing copy on your law firm's website, and I'd like to be considered. I've done similar work for clients across a number of varied industries, and my other freelance work has appeared in dozens of publications covering a wide range of topics. I also have a soft spot for Austin-based criminal defense firms, having made use of several back in my younger days. Also, I couldn't tell from your post whether or not this is a telecommuting gig; if not, please disregard.

Along with my resume, I've provided a recent sample; it's a website rewrite I did recently for the New York-based corporate training firm Illuminata Global. Please take a look and let me know if you'd like to discuss this further.

Thanks,

Barrett Brown

Brooklyn, NY

512-560-2302


BARRETT BROWN__ 512-560-2302 barriticus@gmail.com


Copywriter/ Feature Columnist/ Contributing Editor/ Book Author

With focus on political satire, policy analysis and contemporary humor.

Published Work/ Freelance Media Experience:

Studio 2a – Currently serve as marketing consultant for Chicago-based architectural rendering firm, handling all sales letters, marketing copy, and long-term branding strategies. 2007 – present.

PoliticalBase.com – Created content and served as paid blogger for online political news start-up founded by CNET. 2007-2008.

Fox Business Channel, Yahoo, Minyanville.com – Writer on freelance creative team for animated humor series Minyanville, which aired on Fox Business Channel's Happy Hour program as well as on Yahoo Finance. 2007

The Onion A/V Club - Freelance copywriting for The Onion's features department. 2006-2008.

Sterling and Ross Publishers – Authored nonfiction book of political humor, Flock of Dodos: Behind Modern Creationism, Intelligent Design, and the Easter Bunny, released in March 2007. Book received praise from Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Rolling Stone, Skeptic, Air America Radio, Huffington Post, others.

Anglesey Interactive, Inc. – Produced online marketing collateral (web text, press releases, blogging, etc.) in support of firm's "Riight.com" integrated search engine from June 2007 to March 2008

Dining Out - Feature writing for national restaurant publication. 2006-2008

National Lampoon - Occasional contributor; past features included "Pick-Up Lines That Don't Seem to Work," "Craig's Conspiracy Corner," "A Guide to Dealing with Housecats," more. 2003 - 2006

Evote.com - Weekly columnist and feature writer for political analysis site from October 2004 to November 2005.

AOL CityGuide - Web content writer from 2000 to 2004 – Researched/ created coverage of event and entertainment venues. Served as regional correspondent for Dallas, Austin, New Orleans, Houston and Little Rock markets.

Additional magazine work - Ongoing, have contributed feature articles from serious political commentary to humor pieces to fine dining overviews for outlets including business-to-business publications Pizza Today, 360, Club Systems International, Destination Dallas, D.C.-based public policy journal Toward Freedom, London-based public policy journal Free Life, humor magazine Jest, regional publications The Met, Austin Monthly, Dallas Child, Oui, literary journal Swans, dozens more.

Additional writing projects - Created both print and online marketing collateral for New York tech start-up Organic Motion, Inc. Created online marketing collateral for New York corporate training firm Illuminata Global. Researched and wrote entertainment/dining/venue content for Dallas ad agency Avacata and clients' marketing collateral, including that of luxury resort real estate firm. Have created marketing copy for Verizon via Dallas ad agency Sullivan Perkins, produced website copy for design firm NPCreate.com, provided public relations pieces for Texas energy company EBS and Dallas real estate firm Dunhill Partners.

Education:

1999 - 2003 University of Texas at Austin, College of Communications


Welcome


In an age that's increasingly come to be defined by communication, the methodology of expression takes on a more crucial role than ever before. At the same time, an increased focus on communication's more technological aspects makes it easier to forget that communication is first and foremost a human art – and that human communication is, at its core, a non-verbal technique.

Even the most accomplished public speaker may be unaware that such extra-content factors as style, facial expression, and body language account for nine-tenths of the meaning discerned by any given audience; or that the audience in question will ultimately place a greater emphasis on perceived degrees of likability and trustworthiness than they will on the intended message itself; or that such a dynamic applies to such things as Power Point presentations just as much as it does to a lunch meeting or even a brief exchange of words in a hallway. What this means, then, is that you may be presenting a fatally flawed message to your clients and colleagues without even realizing it.

Though some aspects of communication are universal, the needs of our clients vary dramatically. We offer all levels of training in communication on an individual basis for those who would benefit most from one-on-one coaching, but because skills such as these are sometimes best addressed in a more social setting, we provide a wide range of scheduled courses for groups as well.

The content of our workshops are similarly tailored to the particular needs of you and your company. In the course of our registration process, we'll work with you to determine what communication challenges exist and how they might be best addressed. Additionally, many of our classes are further divided into skill ranks so that our clients can be better served according to their varying needs; our basic "Presentation Skills" workshops, for instance, are supplemented by the intermediate "High-Stakes" and advanced "Executive Presence" courses.

As a global company, we offer all of our courses in the world's major centers of business and beyond:



Asia:

Shanghai

Singapore

Sydney

Tokyo



North America:

Boston

Chicago

Los Angeles

Mexico City

Montreal

New York

San Francisco

Seattle

Toronto

Washington D.C.

San Juan



South America

Buenos Aires

Santiago

Sao Paulo

Belo Horizonte



Europe

Berlin

Copenhagen

Frankfurt

London

Milan

Paris



Whether you find yourself called upon to speak before a board of directors Boston, a client in Calcutta, or a press conference in D.C., the array of communication skills you'll pick up by way of Illuminata Global's unique custom training courses will provide you with the tools and confidence necessary to succeed in modern professional life.



To view the schedule for upcoming courses in presentation skills and writing skills, please click on the Calendar button below. Or, click on Seminars to learn about our other course offerings.



Our Seminars


Anyone can improve their communication skills, but not everyone does, while those who do achieve a tremendous edge over the competition as a result.


Illuminata Global's seminars are designed to assist our clients in developing their natural style and thereby enhance the overall effectiveness of the manner in which they operate. Regardless of the line of work you and your employees may be involved in, we can provide the training necessary for effective, credible messaging of the sort that can mean the difference between success and failure.


Our presentation skills and business writing workshops are available in ten cities across the U.S. As well as several others in Asia and Europe, and we also offer on-site training across in other cities across the globe. To learn more about our open-enrollment seminars and to view the current schedule, please click the "Register" button below. For more information on our on-site programs, please click the "Contact Us" button, and an Illuminata Global representative will be in touch within 24 hours.



Presentation Skills


The art of the business presentation is anything but self-evident, even to those for whom such presentations are a common element of their business life. Many who turn to us for advanced training in this regard are astonished by the number of crucial elements of which they were previously unaware despite years of experience with such things. With the assistance of our expert instructors, though, participants are able to fill in the gaps with confidence and ease.


Our courses in presentation skills place an understandably keen emphasis on what we refer to as the "PDQ's" common to all successful presentations: preparation, delivery, and questions. Each of these elements is equally important; nonetheless, each is just as often misunderstood by the very people for whom a well-executed presentation often constitutes the difference between success and failure.


Our Presentation Skills course is the most basic of the three courses we offer on the general subject, geared towards those who would like to begin developing their abilities to present information to gatherings both formal and casual, and in a manner that will enhance their standing with clients and colleagues alike. With this employee training program, we assist our clients in reaching the following objectives:




High Stakes Presentation Skills


Among the various executive training seminars offered by Illuminata Global, our workshops related to the development of high stakes presentation skills may very well be the most crucially necessary to those executives who often find themselves called upon to deliver make-or-break presentations to clients, as well as to those for whom intra-organizational messaging is a major component of the average workday. In this class, our experienced business education instructors provide executive participants with the expertise necessary to deliver credible, compelling presentations to any audience.


Our High Stakes Presentation Skills course is intended for those who have achieved a degree of confidence in their ability to communicate to groups, but who also desire to take this skill to the next level. Whereas our basic Presentation Skills workshop focuses on such simpler issues as the development of Power Point slides and pre-delivery organization, this course instead emphasizes on more advanced topics such as question-and-answer sessions and the overcoming of audience objections. The end goal is to achieve the following objectives:


Executive Presence


Although most executives are aware of the integral role that demeanor plays in the overall effectiveness of their management skills, many who come to us for leadership development are unsure of how their presence comes across on a day-to-day basis. When one holds a high position in any organization, it can be difficult to get an accurate and honest read on how one is viewed among one's co-workers, and because dynamics like these play such a large role in a firm's overall cohesiveness, certainty is crucial. Our proven strategies in the realm of executive presence will ensure that your general management skills are informed by an appropriately assertive communication strategy that demands the best from colleagues and subordinates alike without causing damage to important intra-office relationships.


Because our Executive Presence course is the most advanced of our three presentation skills workshops, we focus largely on issues of direct relevance to executives who are likely to have already mastered the more intermediate arts. Instead of concentrating on Power Point presentations and the like, we focus on assisting course participants in identifying and developing an appropriately assertive strategy for use in day-to-day executive communication. To this end, we work with the client to achieve the following objectives:



Effective Sales Presentations


Every good salesman knows the importance of clear, concise presentation. But every great salesman takes this axiom one step further by adapting the techniques necessary to establish one's self as not simply another salesman trying to rack up his score without reference to the interests of the prospective client, but rather as a consultative partner whose judgment merits serious consideration and whose own success is ultimately tied in to the success of the client firm itself. Our training and development seminars in the sphere of sales presentations can help you or your sales department make the jump from adequate to indispensable in the eyes of your clients.



Executive Coaching – Presentation Skills


While the majority of executives are called upon to deliver high-stakes presentations from time to time, there are some for whom such make-or-break communications efforts are a fact of daily life. To those in the latter category, we generally recommend participation in Illuminata Global's one-on-one coaching program as a supplement to our standard group-oriented presentation skills seminars. In working with our experienced coaches on an individual basis and under a training regimen tailored towards your particular requirements as a communicator, you'll achieve breakthrough levels of presentation performance of the sort that will allow you to establish confidence and credibility in whatever message you may be required to deliver, regardless of the audience to which you're required to deliver it.


Presentation Skills for Pharmaceutical and/or Medical Professionals


With health care occupying a larger segment of the world economy than ever before, and with the field of pharmaceutical sales growing more competitive each day, those who seek to gain a competitive edge in these pursuits are best-served by honing their communication skills in order to better differentiate themselves from the crowd. And because a career in medicine entails a unique communications skill set, Illuminata Global employees instructors with direct experience in the industry that they might better coach participants to overcome the unique presentation skills required for those who wish to excel in the industry.


Nonetheless, the art of presentation is universal, which is why our medicine-oriented presentation workshops emphasize the same fundamental elements that we address in our more general presentation courses: preparation, delivery, and questions, or the "PDQs." And because expert presenters are made, not born, we emphasize practice just as strongly, which is why our participants are recorded in the act of practicing their newfound skills and then provided with a DVD compilation of their progress so that they might continue progressing on their own.


Communication Skills for the Entertainment Industry



Though there exists no magic bullet with which to guarantee success in the world of films and television, there do exist certain communication tactics common to all successful pitchers. The skills provided by way of Illuminata Global's customized training and development courses for use in the entertainment industry have proven wildly successful for those of our clients who have put them into play, as well as for our instructors themselves, all of whom are accomplished in the exacting art of obtaining green lights from major production houses.


Creating Clear and Concise Power Point Decks



If a Power Point deck is to speak for you and your company, it must also speak for itself. Unfortunately, even veterans of Power Point tend to hold misconceptions regarding what sorts of communication strategies are appropriate for a given audience, while some are in the habit of utilizing tactics and terminology of the sort that are rarely appropriate for any audience at all. The use of such things as clichés, unnecessary jargon, and "business speak" can reduce clarity dramatically, thereby weakening the audience's ability to focus on the message that one intends to deliver.



In order to address common problems such as these, our employee development programs in the proper use of Power Point focus on the message efficiency of the finished presentation deck as well as time efficiency with regards to the preparation stage itself. Our instructors provide participants with simple yet effective strategies for compiling one's research, gearing it to the needs of a particular audience, and creating a final product that's not only understandable, but actionable as well.



Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals



If you're a technical professional, you take understandable pride in knowing what you're talking about; problems begin to develop, though, when others have no idea what it is that you're trying to say. The overuse of "tech speak" is a common pitfall among those who are required to present their message to non-technical audiences, with the result being the sort of communication failure that can lead to lost business.

Our training programs for technical professionals provide for clear, proven methods whereby the technically-oriented can communicate with the technically-challenged without watering down the overall message or glossing over crucial details, and the skills you'll acquire in this course are just as applicable to virtual presentations and Power Point decks as they are to in-person speaking engagements in front of audiences both large and small.



Business Writing


As crucial as the art of business writing can be for the success of executives and managers alike, a surprising number of professionals who might be otherwise communication-savvy are critically deficient in this increasingly important aspect of management skills. Fortunately, Illuminata Global's one-day business writing workshop can achieve dramatic results in this oft-overlooked aspect of business education, thus helping you to translate your ideas into clearer, more actionable composition in less time than you may have previously thought possible.


Creating Clear and Compelling E-mail


Though e-mail composition is simply a special case of the larger business writing skill set and many of the same rules apply to written communication of both the virtual and traditional sorts, the art of the e-mail also presents different challenges and opportunities of the sort that are often overlooked. The supposed informality of the newish medium, for instance, often leads to compositional laziness among those who would otherwise be far more careful were they writing text for print. Likewise, e-mails have become one of the business world's more common repositories for jargon, cliches, and unnecessary "business speak," leading to unclear and ineffective messaging and further resulting in lost time for the sender and flawed understanding for the recipient.


In order to remedy this common source of communication friction, our business education courses in e-mail composition concentrate on the use of effective, actionable terminology by addressing such elements as syntax, vocabulary, grammar, and overall structure.


Powerful Coaching Conversations


The use of the term "coaching" has become increasingly ubiquitous among those who purport to offer management education as well as among those who would attempt benefit from it. But like many concepts of the sort, the term "coaching" often becomes a mere buzzword that cloaks the important realities of one-on-one training and the most effective methods thereof.


Any executive who seeks to maximize the ongoing process of day-to-day business education within a given organization must first address several core questions. When is coaching most important? What are the hidden organizational costs of missing teachable moments? And how can managers better capitalize on such opportunities?


Because the answers to these questions will differ wildly from firm to firm, our customized management training course begins with a thorough examination of your organization's structure in order that we might better identify those situations in which our advanced coaching techniques can have maximum impact.


Online Evaluations


After undergoing one or more of our management education workshops, participants are encouraged to provide us with feedback by way of our online evaluation process, which is itself based on Kirkpatrick's level 2 model. The bulk of the evaluation is based on numerical, one-to-ten responses to questions concerning the extent to which a given participant has improved upon existing skills while achieving a better understanding of new ones; the remainder is comprised of questions that require text responses.


The purpose of these evaluations are two-fold. On the one hand, they allow us to improve on any areas of our management training courses which may be less effective for some of our participants; on the other, this data is tabulated and sent to a designated contact within your organization so that your firm might have a more thorough understanding of what your participants have learned and what may need to be addressed in the future. This process provides the client with valuable human resources information, allowing a company's higher-ups to track the results of multiple programs, as well as to determine the necessity of continued training and to justify any future expenditures that might be required.


To review our evaluation process, please click on the link below. Note that the form provided is only a generic sample; the evaluation survey which participants will be asked to fill out can be customized to meet the specific needs of a given client.



Trainer Certification


Because many firms have continual training needs that are most efficiently addressed within the firm itself, Illuminata Global supplements its own employee development and executive training courses with additional programs that focus on maximizing the training and development skills of your organization's internal staff of facilitators, thus reducing your overall training cost.


Our Train-the-Trainer option provides your in-house training staff with the expertise necessary to implement the same coursework under which our own instructors operate, and to achieve the same kinds of results that have made Illuminata Global a byword for corporate training solutions in general. This is achieved by way of a five-day certification session in whichever program(s) that would be of most benefit to your particular organization, during which time participants will receive an intensive mix of coaching, feedback, and supervised practice sessions. Upon completion of the course, one of our master instructors will observe your participant's next training sessions and provide additional coaching as needed.


For those firms which have taken advantage of this on-site training program, the result has been a dramatic decrease in long-term training expenditures.


Customized Learning Solutions


In addition to the various training workshops offered by Illuminata Global, we also provide customized training programs built around the needs of our clients. By first assessing the skill level, background, and other particulars of a given participant, we can provide optimized courses that can better address one's individual developmental needs and then further link these to one's own personal and business-related goals. Additionally, this route allows our clients to choose the exact nature and subject matter of the training courses they want their personnel to undergo, which not only saves time and money for those concerned, but also better addresses the skill set development required by any given participant.


Illuminata Global can also incorporate a firm's in-house training materials and other special instructions into our training programs in order that they might better reflect your company's particular communications policies. If your organization has a preference for a certain style of Power Point presentation, for instance, or even just a company style guide covering fonts and text size, we'll be happy to accommodate you by tailoring our employee training courses as needed.



About Us


Illuminata Global ranks among the world's foremost providers of corporate training solutions ranging from executive seminars and customized coaching sessions to new-hire training workshops and employee development courses. Though we offer a wide array of such programs, we do not provide the standard array of industry-specific training programs. Rather, we focus on a universal area of expertise that is inherently crucial to the success of every organization: the field of communication skills.

Because Illuminata Global concentrates chiefly on communication and the subsets thereof, we are able to provide our clients with a degree of insight and expertise in this regard that is absolutely unparalleled by other, more generalized providers of business education. The results we have achieved by way of our various specialized courses have led us to be described as the "premiere training organization that galvanizes... your team."

And because we understand the degree to which communication strategies may differ between various industries, cultures, and individual organizations, we supplement our more generalized seminars and Our instructors possess backgrounds in a wide range of pursuits, including medicine and pharmaceuticals, information technology, and the entertainment industry, thus allowing us to provide participants with specified training that best capitalizes on the nature of their respective needs and goals. And as an international firm, we offer our training programs in nearly a dozen key languages.

As you'll gather from a review of what our company offers and how we provide it, Illuminata Global is the right choice for any organization that seeks to ensure its success by bettering its communication on both an external and internal basis. Our pricing is competitive; our intellectual property is consistently ranked as the best in the business; we work to provide customized solutions for clients large and small; we leave participants with the tools necessary for ongoing improvement; our training sessions are intense yet enjoyable; and, most of all, we love what we do and we bring unparalleled enthusiasm to our work.



Regardless of which courses you or your employees decide to engage in, Illuminata Global will provide a formula that will lead to an immediately noticeable improvement in communication skills, as well as further development long after the workshops themselves are complete.



We'll work with you to achieve the following objectives:





Multiple Languages


As markets and the communication that facilities them become further globalized, the importance of the non-English-speaking world has grown more evident even among companies who may have found themselves to be domestically-oriented in the recent past. Meanwhile, fast-growing firms around the world are reaching the point at which communication expertise becomes all the more crucial. Whether your organization is an English-speaking entity that seeks improved interaction with oversees clients or a largely non-English-speaking firm that would benefit from increased proficiency within the language of the country in which it operates, we can help. All of our employee development, management skills, and customized coaching courses are available in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Cantonese, and Mandarin.


Course Registration


Thank you for your interest in taking advantage of the courses we offer. All of our workshops are held on the first and second Tuesdays of each month. Additionally, many of our customized coaching programs and on-site training and development solutions are provided on a basis that's tailored to the needs of your firm.

Below, you'll find our registration form. After submitting it, you'll be contacted by an Illuminata Global representative within 24 hours, at which point we will work with you to determine the best schedule and programs for your participants.

If you have any questions you would like addressed before you begin the registration process, please feel free to contact us by using this web form.