BackDRAFT inks first deal with Chinese VAR

BackDRAFT inks its first deal with a Chinese value-added reseller. This month, BackDRAFT will begin training Chinese youth in the subtleties of English writing, thanks to a unique arrangement with the Michael English Training School in Wenzhou, China. Under the agreement, some 4,000 students each year will be able to benefit from the interactive Journey to English curriculum. (January 11, 2008)

BackDRAFT rolls into Shanghai

Beyond providing some of the world’s most innovative, online English-language training, BackDRAFT Corporation supports its clients with one-on-one mentoring wherever the need is greatest. This month BackDRAFT trainers rolled up their sleeves in Shanghai to support a global corporation whose operating language is now English. Training included intensive diagnostic analysis of writing strengths and weaknesses, and a variety of seminar-style exercises designed to give corporate writers the opportunity they need to learn and practice advanced techniques of English writing. (December 19, 2007)

Journey to English goes into public beta

BackDRAFT’s first offering for the Asian market was released this month for beta testing and feedback. Featuring high-end animation and dual-language narration, the interactive curriculum is scheduled for release in select Chinese locations in January 2008. (November 23, 2007)

Boot Camps hit the Midwest

Senior BackDRAFT trainers mounted a high-energy Writers’ Boot Camp in Eden Prairie, Minnesota this month for corporate clients whose success depends as much on writing quality as on any other factor. The Boot Camp introduced 12 writers’ trade secrets, revealing how the classic (and closely guarded) techniques of writing masters could be applied ingeniously in a corporate writing context. (July 5, 2007)

Aristotle spotted in Argentina

It still surprises many English writers to learn that the basis of logic underpinning all English communication was first defined by Aristotle in Greece some 2500 years ago. This month in Buenos Aires, a BackDRAFT team led a group of 50 corporate writers from all over Latin America in a course featuring logic, syntax and rhetoric. Designed to help professionals give their corporate writing greater focus and impact, the seminar series was an outstanding success. (May 24, 2007)

Whirlwind tour carries BackDRAFT to Shanghai

With training having recently been completed in Mexico City, Nashville, New York, London and Shanghai, BackDRAFT is now solidly in place in 57 countries around the world. Plans for even more exciting growth are being formed right now, with bookings already in place for Paris, Buenos Aires and Hong Kong. (January 2, 2007)

Global ESL ready for rollout

BackDRAFT is preparing to release the latest version of our signature software, specifically designed for those users whose first language is not English. This new system has been carefully crafted to meet the needs of ESL graduates and give new English speakers a tremendous boost in their writing abilities. (July 20, 2006)

Enpro Inc. embraces BackDRAFT

Illinois-based Enpro Inc, a regional manufacturer's representative/stocking distributor for instrumentation and process control equipment, has embraced BackDRAFT to establish a writing standard across their organization. (May 19, 2006)

BackDRAFT talks image with AICI

BackDRAFT CEO Brian Hanington recently conducted a seminar on Effective Strategies for Email Writing for the Canadian chapter of the Association of Image Consultants International (AICI), focusing on the ten best practices for email writing. (January 19, 2006)

BackDRAFT drives 1500 TV shows

The BackDRAFT QMS has been adopted by the Ethiopian Ministry of Education to set the writing standard for more than 1500 half-hour television programs destined for classroom use across the country. (June 15, 2005)

BackDRAFT QMS set for launch

Following meetings with US media and analysts on both the East and West coasts, BackDRAFT will launch its fully mature writing quality management throughout the US on Monday, July 18, 2005. Concurrent with the release, a white paper titled Ending the Writing Crisis: A Corporate Perspective will be published. The white paper will be made available on this site. (June 3, 2005)

BackDRAFT introduces Document Editing Xpress

The third element of a three-step writing quality management system, the new Document Editing Xpress (DEX), is BackDRAFT's latest offering. Enabling corporations to cut the time and therefore the cost of content creation, the DEX is a uniform approach to editing that can be deployed across the enterprise. More than simply cutting time, DEX supports a consistent style and quality in all written content used by an organization. (April 21, 2005)

Alberta writers "delighted with progress"

Feedback from the 100 staff members of the Government Services Ministry of the Province of Alberta who are undertaking a BackDRAFT pilot is wildly enthusiastic. Comments posted on the BackDRAFT site by the first 50 graduates include the following:
"I never would even write a letter before; I was too nervous. I'd always call instead. But now I'm going to do something I've always dreamed of—write a book! I can't believe something like this exists. There is such a need for this. Kudos to you folks for doing it!"
"Great Course! My confidence in my ability to detect writing fumbles has increased ten fold."
"Very challenging. The second and fifth sessions were particularly difficult. I am confident that this exercise will improve my writing skills."
"I found it very informative and worthwhile."
"A solid course. It's amazing how many fumbles I now notice in newspapers and on TV!"
"I found BackDRAFT challenging and rewarding. My writing will be vastly improved when I put what I have learned into practice."
(February 11, 2005)

Nortel turns to BackDRAFT.

Nortel Networks has chosen the BackDRAFT Corporation to develop a training session and approach for the rapid improvement of sales presentations by Nortel product marketing teams. The presentation delivered today via webcast to more than 250 Nortel professionals worldwide earned outstanding reviews and was hailed, among other things, as being "the best webcast in Nortel history". (December 13, 2004)

Government of Alberta adopts BackDRAFT.

The Government of Alberta has become the first province in Canada to adopt BackDRAFT as a training method. The Ministry of Government Services has chosen BackDRAFT to solve the problem of writing in the workplace. Fay Orr: "I've taken the course myself, so I know how comprehensive it is, and I know what an advantage it gives you when you're working with other writers to create or improve a document." (November 15, 2004)

Office of the Auditor General appoints evaulation team.

The Office of the Auditor General is sending eight of its top editors through BackDRAFT with an eye for adopting BackDRAFT as the standard of writing quality for all audit reports in Canada. (September 8, 2004)

Vocabulary booster unveiled.

We all know our writing could be stronger if we expanded our vocabularies, but who can remember terms such as egregious, enervate and effluvium for more than a minute?   Today, the BackDRAFT Corporation offered a partial solution to that problem by integrating a pop-up corporate-vocabulary builder into the BackDRAFT online curriculum.   Here's the way it works: every time a student logs on, the application adds a corporate word of the day to the bottom of the homeroom screen. One click, and the meaning of that word is described and explored with practical (and often humorous) illustrations of its use in business writing. And here are the two best features: first, all words in the database have been chosen for their power to reveal the intelligence of the writer (use one and you'll sound smart). Second, each word is one you probably already know but don't bother using. So you'll have no trouble learning the words, your writing can be more focused, and you'll sound smarter by this evening! Sign up for BackDRAFT and watch for the Word of the Day! (July 24, 2004)

Peter McEnery becomes the voice of BackDRAFT® UK!

Veteran of stage and screen, British actor Peter McEnery is widely known for his roles in British television series such as Pictures and Inspector Morse, and among more 'mature' audiences as the mysterious love interest in Disney's The Moonspinners. For students of BackDRAFT® in the British Isles, Peter will soon also be the voice of flawless writing. In a recent recording session at Hammersmith's Paladin InVision in London, England, Peter voiced the narrative tracks of all 41 animated documentaries featured in the upcoming UK version of the writing-training curriculum. At the same time, Peter narrated a full suite of customised scripts for ACE BackDRAFT®—the insurance-specific writing-training tool of ACE Limited to be used by its UK staff.  (May 11, 2004)

BackDRAFT® certificate now bears unique proof of accreditation.

With the growing role of BackDRAFT® certification as proof of writing ability, the establishment of a new registry bearing verifiable proof of a student's accreditation was announced today by The BackDRAFT® Corporation. The secure registry stores only the names of BackDRAFT® graduates and their countries of origin (notably with no other private information). Each graduating student is assigned a unique number comprised of two digits and five integers, which identifies the location in the registry at which accreditation can be confirmed. From now on, upon graduation, each student will be sent a certificate affirming the achievement, and bearing the unique accreditation number set in an embossed seal.  (April 10, 2004)

Corporate English writing training for the rest of the planet!

While an estimated 380 million people work with English as their mother tongue, an equal number who speak English as a second language must use it in their work every day. To accommodate their need for writing training suited to international business contexts, The BackDRAFT® Corporation today announced the development of BackDRAFT® Global ESL. Powered by the same software engine that runs the existing eLearning application, BackDRAFT® Global ESL builds critical skills in the straightforward sentence construction used in day-to-day international business communication such as email, formal correspondence and proposals.  (March 16, 2004)

ACE Limited launches BackDRAFT® as a brand-management tool.

The insurance business is notoriously competitive. As such, customer perception of the distinctive brand of a company is often critical to that company's success. This week, ACE Limited, one of the world's top insurance companies, rolled out a tailored version of BackDRAFT®  to help build that distinctive brand, and secure its competitive intellectual advantage in the insurance market. Called simply ACE BackDRAFT®,  the company-wide eLearning tool expands the classic writing-training application with a corporate vocabulary builder, ACE-specific workplace references, and a complete online style guide. Rated in sixth place on the Standard and Poors list of the world's 50 top companies by Business Week, ACE  is determined to continue its push as the world's fastest growing global insurance and reinsurance company. And BackDRAFT®  is there to help!  (Feb 21, 2004)

USAF checks out BackDRAFT® from the air!

A team of 18 officers from the Unites States Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama is undertaking a reconnaissance of the BackDRAFT online curriculum. The officers, all of whom are destined to be on the teaching staff of the ACSC next year, will assess the fit between the BackDRAFT® curriculum and the needs of the College's student population. Each year, more than 650 USAF officers refine their skills in every discipline of airforce strategy and tactics at the Air Command and Staff College, where writing has been identified as a critical competence. (Jan 10, 2004)

Writing-confidence performance climbs to 178%.
Happy New Year! After 18 months of BackDRAFT operation, users around the world report an average increase in self-declared writing confidence of 78%, up 3 points from the previous 12 month average. The statistics, gathered from students taking the BackDRAFT program online, reflect a compilation of data across 33 writing parameters, including personal ratings of to what degree a student’s own intelligence appears in that student’s writing before and after BackDRAFT. When the pre-BackDRAFT baseline is taken to be 100%, the post-backDRAFT average confidence level is now $178%. (Dec 31, 2003)

BackDRAFT launches Word of the Day.
It’s new. It’s practical. And it’s free. Today, the BackDRAFT Corporation announced a new subscription service by which professionals can radically expand their workplace vocabularies. Unlike other automated WOTD services, the BackDRAFT Word of the Day works by tapping into the extensive passive vocabularies of professionals (typically in excess of 50,000 words) to augment their active vocabularies (typically 10,000 words or fewer.) (Dec 15, 2003)

Eliquo joins BackDRAFT as Channel Partner
Eliquo, best-of-breed provider of digital media training, signed an alliance agreement today with The BackDRAFT Corporation to deliver high-end writing training to its extensive client base within the federal government of Canada. Eliquo President Craig Boassaly stated that ‘repeated demands for writing training’ convinced him to seek out a senior training partner. The BackDRAFT Corporation fit the bill. (Dec 10, 2003)

BackDRAFT to launch Boot Camps en Français!
In response to what CEO Brian Hanington calls ‘steadily growing demand,’ The BackDRAFT Corporation are adapting its trademark Senior Writers’ Boot Camps to address the need for senior French-language training. The first Boot camps will be prêt à porter by January 2004.  (Dec 5, 2003)

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