Small Business Roundtable

Description

Advocate in your favor – Learn how to create persuasive opinion content

Advocacy is a key responsibility for any leader. Op-ed pages, letters, calls to action, pod/broadcast commentaries, newsletters and blogs are valuable vehicles for conveying key messages, managing public opinion or shaping a debate. And with the growth of online media, opinion and persuasive writing is a key tool in changing behaviors and mindsets, influencing public policy, educating the public and building support. In this workshop, we'll learn a writing strategy to create persuasive and opinion content quickly and effectively with sensitivity to your audience and the right details to drive results, whether you’re leading a company project or promoting a political or charitable cause. We'll sketch out a position on a topic of your choice, so start thinking about something you want to advocate for or against.

About the presenter:
Steve Peha’s advocacy writing has appeared in media at all levels from the National Journal to the News & Observer. He was a regular columnist at the Carrboro Citizen, advocating for better educational policy and practice in our district and our nation. He also is a skilled writing teacher and coach, providing workshops to K-12 teachers, students and parents; and to corporate execs at companies like John Hancock. He’s a frequent speaker on education, advocacy and communication. He has spoken throughout the US and Canada at venues as diverse as the recent Triangle AMA conference in Raleigh and Google in Silicon Valley. Steve has owned his own small business, a learning strategy and educational advocacy company called Teaching That Makes Sense, for almost 20 years. Though he and his wife, Chamber board member Margot Lester, disagree on the use of the serial comma (he believes that the comma should always be included after the penultimate item in the series to avoid the accidental creation of an appositive; she believes in "commas for clarity only"), they remain one couple living happily under two style guides in Carrboro.