More Effective IA: Stronger Argument and Clearer Writing - June 4 Start

Our previous live Organized Reasoning workshops were well received in Vancouver, Victoria, Whitehorse, Calgary, Edmonton and Yellowknife. A number of government agencies and companies have begun using these tools and IAIA-WNC has received multiple requests for more workshops. We want to provide our members, and other practitioners, access to these tools. We now provide the workshops online so they can reach people everywhere.

In the large documents involved in Impact Assessment there is much useful data and the final conclusions are often sensible. However, it can be difficult for readers to see how the data actually leads to conclusions or supports the recommendations offered.

This workshop shares two sets of tools collectively called ‘Organized Reasoning’. The first provides a structured series of steps to help organize your thinking and your argument. (‘Argument ‘in this context means a series of reasons leading to a conclusion.) The second shows how to better present arguments in the written text of your documents. Assessments are complex documents. Using the tools of argument can make them easier for audiences to understand. And easier for authors to write!

Organized Reasoning provides a way to make assessments faster, cheaper, more transparent and more effective while reducing risk.

The workshop shows how IA documents contain common errors in their arguments and weakness in their writing, and shows how to do it better. Participants will assemble evidence and reasoning for several different kinds of argument found in IAs. We practice steps that show how to bring improved arguments into technical report writing. We discuss how different organizations already implemented these steps in their EA practice. Participants learn a revised approach to planning, preparing and writing that they can use immediately to write stronger cases in their IAs.

The workshop will be four 3.5-hour online sessions over two weeks, with a fifth refresher session 3 months later. They are not webinars, but include a variety of presentations, interactive discussions, small group break out activities and breaks for refreshment. You’ll receive a handout documenting the main ideas. Participants are limited to 15 people per workshop.

Schedule: There are four 3.5-hour sessions starting on June 4, 2024 and a follow-up session at a later date (to be determined).

Tuesday / Thursday June 4, 6, 11 and 13 at 9:00-12:30 Mountain Time.

If you cannot attend this scheduled workshop, let us know by email (info@iaiawnc.ca) and we’ll inform you when future repetitions of it become available.

For a list of all our events, see our IAIA-WNC Eventbrite page. To be notified of all upcoming events, you can join our mailing list from our main website.

Workshop Leader: Dr. Glenn Brown has over 30 years’ experience as an ecologist and educator specializing in environmental management. He has worked on environmental projects for industry, government and non-governmental organizations in Canada and other countries. He taught courses on Ecosystem Science and Management and Analytical Thinking and Communications for 15 years in the Masters Program in Environment and Management at Royal Roads University and works as an independent consultant. More about him at www.glennbrown.ca.

Comments From Past Participants:

Being a professional is about thinking and communication. This workshop helped me sharpen these essential tools in a way I had not anticipated.

Highly recommend it!

Very useful and thought provoking. It makes so much sense now it has been explained.

Very helpful and would highly recommend this to others.

Invaluable to any professional who has to present information to a variety of audiences

Highly recommend this approach to all environmental practitioners. I’ve felt that I now have a new way at presenting environmental information that will assist our business & the wider public.