We deliver custom workshops online via Microsoft Teams or Zoom, or face to face at your preferred location.
Every custom workshop is tailored to meet the unique needs of your team. We work with you to select the most appropriate topics and design a workshop that supports the best learning outcomes.
A selection of custom training programs we've designed and facilitated for government, research and regulatory teams.
Case study 01
Infographics training for the National Environmental Science Program
We developed and facilitated a webinar and in-house workshop for early career researchers from the National Environmental Science Program (NESP). The sessions were designed to build capability in presenting data visually in briefs, reports, papers and posters, with take-home materials full of practical tips to help participants present data accurately and effectively.
Topics covered
- Defining audience and message
- Understanding the data
- Developing infographics
- Choosing infographic components
- Designing infographic components
- From brief to concept
What participants said
“Excellent day, learned lots and enjoyed myself.
“The diagram and creativity section was super useful.
“The Biotext facilitator kept the whole day lively!
Case study 02
Plain English training for the Therapeutic Goods Administration
We developed and facilitated a focused workshop to build skills in a technical team within the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). These technical experts come from diverse backgrounds, and for many English is not their first language. The TGA manager identified specific topics, and we built a workshop to develop the relevant skills.
Topics covered
- Find your purpose
Be clear about what your writing is meant to achieve
- Step into the reader's shoes
Write to meet their needs
- Choose content
Decide what to include, and what to omit
- Use the inverted pyramid
Lead with the key messages
- Make simple word swaps
Replace complicated words with simpler ones
- Shorten fragments and sentences
Cut empty phrases and wordy terms
- Write sentences that tell a story
Use active, intentful verbs
- Fix grammar and expression
Recognise and correct errors
What participants said
“Thank you for the great training.
“Thank you. I learnt a lot.
Case study 03
Plain English writing for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Biotext developed, piloted, refined and delivered a series of workshops on writing in plain English for staff from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). On request, the workshop was built as a series of four modules, each of two hours, to allow for flexible delivery. The content was identified in collaboration with ACCC leaders.
Topics covered
- Find your purpose
- Step into the reader's shoes
- Choose content
- Chunk information
- Use the inverted pyramid
- Write topic sentences
- Add helpful headings and emphasis
- Make simple word swaps
- Shorten fragments and sentences
- Write sentences that tell a story
- Fix apostrophes
- Fix incorrect words
- Fix nonparallel structure
- Fix grammar and syntax
- Fix capitalisation
- Check content against ACCC style
- Do a short copyedit
Outcomes
In post-workshop surveys, all respondents said they expected to apply their learning to their job, and more than 80% said they would likely recommend the workshop to a colleague.
Case study 04
Data literacy training for the Australian Public Service Academy
Biotext developed five e-learning modules and one face-to-face workshop as part of a move to increase data literacy across the Australian Public Service (APS). We worked with learning experts from the APS to scope, write, design and implement the modules, which were rolled out across more than 60 government departments and agencies. The third module — ‘Working with statistics’ — was buttressed by a workshop covering key aspects of data analysis.
To deepen the statistics training, Biotext researched, wrote and facilitated a series of one-day workshops, developing a workbook, presentation and series of activities and examples. APS officers worked collaboratively through the exercises, with the Biotext facilitator on hand to answer questions, guide their learning and discuss the rationale for the course.
The five e-learning modules
- Using data
- Undertaking research
- Working with statistics
- Visualising information
- Writing recommendations based on data
What our client and participants said
“The workshop evaluations show a really impressive shift in learners' self-rated capability, pre to post program.
Our client
“The presenter was professional, knowledgeable and engaging.
Participant
“We were able to discuss real examples. It was well paced and very interesting — I didn't realise how interesting statistics could be.
Participant