Text that we write for museums and science centres has a tone – a voice in which our readers hear us talking. We can probably all recall reading text that is worthy, condescending or downright incomprehensible. So how can we write in a way that’s snappy, attention-grabbing and really interesting?
On a TextWorkshop day with the team at the Cambridge Science Centre, this discussion was on the agenda – and as we shared our top tips for writing great text, the team developed a list of words to describe the tone of text. Simply by becoming aware that we write in a particular voice, and defining the voice we want, helps with writing in a consistent and powerful style.
It was great to see the Science Centre and meet the team, as well as hearing about future plans for exciting exhibitions and projects.
TextWorkshop always loves going in-house to work with teams, and our recent projects have involved training for teams in museums, science centres, archives, libraries and charities.
Feedback from delegates is really positive and among the continuing services we offer are writing text strategies for museums, developing interpretation plans for individual galleries, and of course training staff in writing text, writing trails and working with social media. Here’s some feedback from previous delegates.
“Rebecca and Dea were funny and very good. They are to text what Trinnie and Susannah are to fashion!”
“Very useful. Terrific techniques. A good structure to work to. Feel more confident now.”
“This workshop will help me create text in a completely different way.”
“I will write labels differently now. I really feel like I can apply this and it has given me confidence to try.”
“Thanks for one of the most interesting and useful training days I’ve been on in ages.”
“Lots of fresh ideas, common sense and reinforcing – get message straight.”
“I feel more confident, most useful workshop have been on – can use it straight away.”
“Really loved it! Loved the powerpoint presentation, loved the pictures to keep, love the postcard idea!”
“Very useful information and tools to use in my day-to-day job.”