American Heart Association’s internal writing course a giant success

Roger Campbell, an editor at the association, teaches a writing course for employees that’s so popular it fills up hours after it’s posted. How does he do it?

Roger Campbell didn’t like what he saw, or rather, read, when he joined the American Heart Association in the early l990s. Matter of fact, he was stunned by employees’ writing deficiencies.

“I was overwhelmed by clutter, clichés and verbal mistakes,” he said. “I was ashamed of some of the stuff coming out of here. I wanted to do something.”

And so he did.

Five years ago, Campbell, senior editor and writer at the association’s headquarters in Dallas, created a course called “Write to the Point” to teach the elementary principles of English composition to workers at every level in AHA’s 600-person national staff.

The class is practical, popular and a giant success.