WRITING TRAINING
Whether it’s internal or external comms – in today’s online world it’s all about keeping it short and simple. Marion’s workshops are designed completely around your company’s needs, using your employees’ work so they can benefit from one on one training, whilst learning the very latest writing techniques.
Courses
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Writing for the media Even getting the media to open an email/release these days is difficult. Very few people know the art of getting a media release message across in one paragraph – and sometimes one sentence. Marion teaches the art of capturing the essence of a product/campaign both in the written and visual context and getting it across in a meaningful and memorable way. Writing in the electronic environment Designed for anyone who writing for websites, bloggers or social media enthusiasts as well as those currently writing in the traditional fields of public relations, journalism and marketing. Professional Business Writing Skills Covering every part of business writing from emails to reports – with the emphasis on clear, concise writing. |
Business Writing Skills
Writing is manual labour of the mind: a job, like laying pipe.” John Gregory Dunne. Why you may ask do we need to learn these skills when we have AI generated content and ChatGTP?
Why AI is problematic for business writing:
- Most readers find AI generated substance irrelevant, too general or vague rather than specific.
- Although it appears efficient the language is generally bloated, weak and difficult to absorb.
- Because of ineffective messaging, writers have to spend more time editing, answering questions or dealing with confused readers. Also your AI message may not even be read.
- Even to write effective prompts you need strong business writing skills.
- More than ever people need quick reads in VERY CLEAR language!
Warren Buffet summed up plain language marvellously in this “writing tip” in the introduction to the 1998 SEC Plain English Handbook: “Write with a specific person in mind. When writing the Berkshire Hathaway annual
report, I picture my sisters, highly intelligent, but not experts in accounting or finance. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them. My goal is to give the information I would wish to receive if our positions were reversed”.
In our fast paced business world the need for clear, concise business writing is more important than ever. Information today needs to be focused, concise, accurate and compelling. People form opinions about you and your organisation by the way you write. Whether an email, business letter or report – each one is a reflection of your professionalism.
This business writing course is for anyone who has to communicate in their work on a daily basis, writing emails, minutes, presentations or reports, such as PA’s, administrative and managerial staff.
Course Content
- Writing professional emails, letters, and memos for both internal and external communication.
- Reports: Structuring and compiling professional written reports.
- Proposals: Understanding how to write clear and effective proposals, including those for clients.
- Meeting Documents: Creating agendas, minutes, and other documents related to effective meetings.
- Marketing and Online Content: Developing copy for company websites, marketing materials and thought leadership pieces.
Advanced Skills
- Planning and Organisation: Employing structured approaches to organise thoughts and content for various documents.
- Persuasive Writing: Mastering techniques to influence and persuade stakeholders effectively.
- Proofreading and Editing: Enhancing skills to produce error-free documents
SURVIVING THE MEDIA TRAINING
Master the art of media engagement – before the spotlight finds you.
Who should attend?
Executives and professionals who interact with the media—by choice or by circumstance. Whether it’s print, radio, TV, or social or online media, knowing how to handle the press is essential in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.
Why it matters:
In the age of AI, instant news and viral content, one misstep can damage your brand. This powerful one-day workshop gives you the skills to take control of interviews, shape your message, and stay composed under pressure.
Course Content
What you’ll learn:
🗞️How the media works – and what they’re really after
🎙️Print, radio, and TV interview techniques
📢 Crafting soundbites that get you quoted
💬 Owning the narrative—even in tough interviews
📲 Navigating the social media and AI minefield
🧠 Building strong media relationships
🧭 Staying on message and avoiding media traps
Hands-On Experience:
In the afternoon, participants face two on-camera interviews tailored to your organisation. With expert feedback and footage playback, you’ll see real improvement—fast.
Investment:
- Course: R30,000
- Optional cameraman: ~R6,000
- Or DIY filming for cost-saving playback
- Travel from Cape Town additional
About the Facilitator:
Award-winning journalist and author Marion Scher brings 30+ years of experience in print, radio, and TV. She’s trained top organisations from MTN to Discovery, judged SA’s top media awards, and knows exactly how journalists think—because she’s trained them too.
Newsletter Writing
A question that must be asked of every company is ‘Do your staff actually read your newsletter’? Nine times out of ten the answer will be ‘no’. Why? Because it’s not been changed in years, is totally out of touch with the
staff’s needs and is simply boring.
Many people in communications are terrified at the thought of writing and editing a newsletter but given the right instruction they can produce readable, entertaining and thought-provoking newsletters.
This newsletter writing course will look at every step in planning a successful newsletter as well as giving each delegate an individual assessment of their company’s newsletter with a plan of action for a way forward.
They will learn to
- write articles and columns, as well as
- commissioning articles,
- designing content and
- editing other people’s work.
Newsletters must be entertaining and not something to go in the bin.
Course Content
- How to identify what your staff want
- How they want to read it
- Gathering news on deadlines
- How to use AI for research – checking the information received
- Interviewing skills
- Writing catchy headlines and introductions
- Use of photos and writing captions
- Making articles clear and concise – making every word count
- Different types of articles your staff might enjoy
- Rewriting press releases
- Styles of writing
- Avoiding common newsletter mistakes
- Editing including common grammar mistakes
During the course we will look at writing articles on:
- Products
- Company news
- How to articles
- Company events
- Success stories
- Employees (promotions, new appointments etc)
- Sales
- Research and development
- Ad campaigns/promotions
- Customers
- Financial news
- Column writing/chairman’s letters
- Productivity
- Manufacturing
- Corporate social responsibility
- Human resources
- Back page humour
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
In these days of social media bad news travels at the speed of light and organisations only realise how seriously a crisis can affect their business when it actually happens to them and suddenly the media are knocking at their door.
Don’t wait until this happens. This workshop helps draw up a crisis communications plan and trains your staff to face the media should a crisis arise.
Course Content
TELL IT ALL, TELL THE TRUTH AND TELL IT FAST
They used to say the first 24 hours were crucial when handling a crisis – now it’s the first hour – or perhaps even less. It’s the time it takes to send an sms, make a phone call or horror of horrors, post a blog!
Often news comes out of newsrooms before the people involved even know about it.
You will be judged by your customers, staff and shareholders on how well you handle any crisis. UK consulting company, Oxford Metrica shows that companies are re-rated up or down – based on the perceived quality of management during a crisis. And this re-rating process begins the moment the crisis breaks.
Writing for the Digital World
Who’s it for?
Anyone who writes—emails, reports, marketing copy, thought leadership pieces or social media posts. If you’re communicating in the digital age, this course is for you.
Why take it?
In a world of endless screens, apps, and platforms, getting your message across clearly and effectively is more challenging—and more vital—than ever. This practical, one-day workshop shows you how to craft copy that cuts through the noise, engages readers, and drives action.
Course Content
What you’ll learn:
- How to use AI the right way – give accurate prompts
- How to avoid the pitfalls of AI – plagiarism etc.
- Grab attention in a content-saturated world
- Write clearly, ditch jargon, and make every word count
- Use tone and visuals to enhance your message
- Master web, email, blog, and social media copy
- Learn the power of trending and Twitter
- Improve your SEO to boost traffic
- Edit like a pro with real-time feedback on your writing
Duration: 1 day.
Result: Digital content that connects, converts, and gets noticed.
Presenting with Power & Persuasion
Command the room. Captivate your audience. Leave a lasting impression.
Even the best-written speech falls flat without powerful delivery. This dynamic one-day course helps you own the stage, whether you’re speaking at a board meeting or in front of a camera.
Perfect for:
Executives, leaders, and professionals who want to speak with confidence, clarity, and impact.
Course Content
What you’ll gain:
- Speak with purpose, passion, and persuasion
- Present with confidence—on stage or on screen
- Overcome fear and use nerves to your advantage
- Harness your natural style, humour, and presence
- Deliver compelling impromptu and prepared speeches
- Receive expert, personalised feedback
Add-on Option:
Can be taken as a powerful second day following Surviving the Media
WHAT ARE CLIENTS SAYING?
Dear Marion
Thank you very much for spending time with our delegates and sharing your knowledge. Here is some feedback from the evaluation forms:
Overall: 97%
Course format: 99%
Comments received: none
Presenter effectiveness: 100%
Other: 93%
Marion, your professionalism and commitment to skills development is appreciated. We have never received 100% before!
Good morning Marion. Hope you had a great weekend!
We, ASM Communication & Training Solutions thank you very much for the interactive, fun and informative presentation we had.
You contributed immensely in making the event a success.
The delegates really had fun and it was an eye opener.
I learnt a lot from you and once again thank you!
We will be hosting a Media Conference, and we will be needing your assistance in putting the event together.
We will come back to you soon,
I just wanted to say thank you as the feedback from both clients was exemplary and there was much talk about how you put them through their paces etc – great stuff!
Pfizer South Africa’s Biopharmaceutical Division truly benefited from Marion Scher’s media training. The training which took place earlier this year was delivered with a deep, analytical understanding of the media environment, given her vast media experience.
Essentially this type of approach is what corporate organizations appreciate as we navigate through our engagements with the media. She was extremely focused on ensuring that the needs of the client were met. Consequently, our training was tailor-made to meet our desired needs.
Your media training course was like a breath of fresh air compared to the other courses I have attended previously. It was practical (using real current examples) and filled with industry insight. We would highly recommend that all people facing the media – from the PR person to the CEO – go on this course. After the course, our spokespeople were geared up and more confident to tackle media opportunities head on – even the live radio and TV interviews. We are still using the notes from the training as a guideline in every interview we do. Thanks, Marion, for making sure our team is professionally media trained.
“Pfizer South Africa’s Biopharmaceutical Division truly benefited from Marion Scher’s media training. The training which took place earlier this year was delivered with a deep, analytical understanding of the media environment, given her vast media experience. Essentially this type of approach is what corporate organizations appreciate as we navigate through our engagements with the media. She was extremely focused on ensuring that the needs of the client were met. Consequently, our training was tailor-made to meet our desired needs.”
Good morning, ladies
Thank you so very much, Marion for what was an interesting and very entertaining session yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
I am also most grateful for the Style Guides you have sent us. I am sure that they will come in most handy.
Thanks
As a company we had traditionally and intentionally flown below the media radar, however facing the realities of globalisation and the rapid development and uptake of the internet we accepted that we would need to reassess our Group media policy.
Marion Scher and Media Mentors gave us first and foremost the confidence to accept this change to our media policy, as following a media theory session we were able to identify the risks and opportunities we as a company could realise from embracing media relationships. In light of this “media acceptance”, Marion assisted us in developing a clearly defined media strategy which is realistic and pragmatic in its approach, and which will ultimately assist us in driving the growth and profitability of our business into the future.
I attended your training programme last week and I found it to be very interesting and informative.
As you recommended, I got four copies of The Economist publication from our Economics Unit and I
plan to continue reading their weekly issue.
You are such a great teacher, thank you. I was most impressed by the wealth of experience and
knowledge you had.
I would rate this workshop 9 out of 10 – the workshop was highly useful, informative and a good
learning session. It was very informative, educational and a great learning experience.
Thank you very much for this opportunity. I really enjoyed the workshop, particularly the manner in
which Marion presented it. Everything was spot on in terms of content. I really learnt a lot in two
days – that’s unusual.
The course was simple and clear and Marion was a great facilitator. The information was simple and
applicable
Marion, your professionalism and commitment to skills development is appreciated.
Dear Marion
Thank you for your professionalism and amazing insights that you shared with
the team!
It was well received by the group.
Thank you
Good afternoon Marion,
Tsogo and I had a really good two days at the workshop and learned a lot from you. Thank you very
much for the informative workshop. Thank you for the contacts. We will definitely make good use of
the emailed contacts.
Warm regards
Marion has the uncanny ability of making you feel good while pointing out the errors in your writing.
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s marketing and corporate relations team have greatly
benefitted from her knowledge and insight when it comes to communications.
Your input is already bearing so much fruit … media coverage has gone up, and attitudes have
changed as evidenced in the correspondence below.
It was such a pleasure working with you.
I learnt more in one day than I have in 10 years about the media. BSi Steel (Ltd) will definitely be
using you for any media training
Your media training course was like a breath of fresh air compared to the other courses I have
attended previously. It was practical (using real current examples) and filled with industry insight.
We would highly recommend that all people facing the media – from the PR person to the CEO – go
on this course. After the course, our spokespeople were geared up and more confident to tackle
media opportunities head on – even the live radio and TV interviews. We are still using the notes
from the training as a guideline in every interview we do. Thanks, Marion, for making sure our team
is professionally media trained
From our very first meeting, I knew Marion was the one to bring my story to life. Without her
expert guidance, Saving My Sons – A Journey with Autism would never have been written.
She transformed my thoughts into a compelling, bestselling book that’s reshaping autism
treatment in South Africa.
Marion didn’t just write—she immersed herself in the story, conducted deep research, and
crafted a powerful narrative that has touched readers nationwide. Her storytelling talent,
media savvy, and unwavering dedication went far beyond expectations.
Thanks to Marion, our family’s journey was told with clarity, passion, and purpose. We’re
beyond grateful.
Marion recently joined the Profit Partnership team as a freelance journalist to write for the magazines
we publish on topics that span across well-being and mental health issues. Her thorough research,
interviewing and editing skills result in compelling and informative articles always managed with
professionalism and excellence.
We are proud to have Marion as part of our team, and what we have achieved through our relationship
with her. She is an insightful writer with an incredible resource of knowledge and expertise, and we look
forward to continuing our journey together.
Marion delivered media spokesperson training to Breadline Africa staff in 2023 and taught reporting,
writing, and case study skills to another group in 2025. Her sessions are now as engaging, enjoyable,
and fun as a decade ago when I hired her as a media mentor for Orbis International, Africa
spokespeople.
After just a few hours of training, staff demonstrate greater clarity in writing and an
increased use of simple visuals in reports, making them accessible to visual learners and those who
prefer reading. Marion trains by integrating theory with examples from her work and those she
collaborates with. How quickly attendees recognise effective methods to enhance their presentation
skills, camera performance, and writing is remarkable.
It is my privilege to write a recommendation letter for Mariom Scher. She has worked closely with the communications Unit at South African National Parks (SANParks) for the last 14 years.
She has assisted SANParks with various training in the South African media environment, writing, and communication. Marion also assisted in developing a crisis communications strategy.
Marion has been a judge for several years for the SANParks Kudu Awards, an award programme that recognises internal and external stakeholders who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to sustainability, improving livelihoods, and achieving real change on the ground in our national parks.
Her passion and love for conversation have been apparent in all the work she does with SANParks. We are happy to recommend her for diligent work.
Yours faithfully
“Frankly, it is hard to imagine a discussion about how media operates, how to engage
it, and to conduct media training, without Marion Scher in the room. She has a unique
way of presenting themes by using real-life examples that various audiences can relate
to and learn from.
As a co-trainer with her, in the past, I too have learned a lot for her
professional experience and approach to media training that makes participants see
only potential in themselves, instead of inadequacy.” –
We needed assistance with reports, which our consultants prepare for credit committees. With
Marion’s help we were better able to structure the reports and to make them easier to read, thus
improving the quality of our work and obtaining a better reception from the committees.
We will once again be using Marion’s services, this time to take this training one step further enabling our
staff to prepare their reports on a more professional level.
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