Could a Lockdown Garden Pub Help with Business Writing? #whynot?

Some friends made a pub in their back garden during lockdown. There were only four patrons, but there was a large pub picnic table, an umbrella, a dart board, a bar with beer on tap (yes, the brewery delivered) a proper cocktail shelf and a last-orders bell (never rung). For the winter lockdowns they added an outdoor heater, a pizza oven and blankets. It had beer mats and t-shirts.

In a household of home workers and schoolers, it was somewhere to decamp after a long day on zoom. The house had become the office, so the garden became the pub. When we were allowed to, various friends popped in for a pint. It became somewhere we all could meet on (almost) neutral ground.

This led me to think about how the pub’s status as a third space makes it a leveller. The hierarchies of the office and home are suspended. There’s a sense of acceptance and tolerance. Everyone gets their turn and is listened to. It’s empowering. And no-one minds if the pub bore bangs on about their favourite hobbyhorse. For a bit.

The pub, it seems, is a space where we learn the art of good communication. We discover how to be interesting, how to hold our audience, how to move swiftly along.

Over a few pints I began to think that we could transfer these ideas to business writing. The engaging informality of the pub can be used in the office and still maintain your professional reputation.

We could use more familiar words in work documents, or stick to a pub structure where we start with the interesting bit and keep people engaged. We could think more about our audiences and include everyone if we can.

I decided I needed to test this idea. So Word Savvy created workshops for techies and expert writers. We take the ideas from the pub and use them to write a blogs, case studies and board papers.

We’ll show you how to change your everyday writing with our framework: Reader, Order, Story, Edit.  If you’re interested, do drop me line.

And if you’re in luck, we can hold the workshop in the garden.