Books by Heather Baker

Speed Writing Skills Training Course: Speedwriting, a guide to faster note taking, an easy to learn alternative to shorthand. Over 40 000 copies sold worldwide. Most people need a note taking system for work or study but few people have the time or inclination to spend a year or two learning shorthand. BakerWrite Speed Writing enables you to learn a new system in a matter of hours and become proficient within weeks. This is the UK spelling edition. For our world spelling edition please search for 9781849370110. This book is laid out in 6 easy to follow lessons, that take about an hour each. Practical guided exercises, with full answers, in each chapter and each session is rounded off with a dictation passage (available from http://www.UoLearn.com). Now includes, for the fourth edition, an extended 2000 word speedwriting dictionary. Save time and become more efficient taking dictation, in meetings, on the telephone, in lectures or interviews. No strange squiggles to learn - just different ways to use the letters you already know. Your notes will be easy to transcribe.Heather studied Pitman shorthand at school and then at secretarial college in England; she later learned Teeline shorthand and now regularly teaches these. BakerWriteTM is based on her experience with these systems and 22 years as a secretary and PA - taking notes daily. She has been training and coaching secretaries, PAs and administrators since 2000. Please note there is an alternative edition of this book, Easy 4 Me 2 Learn Speed Writing. Heather had over twenty years' experience as a secretary and PA before setting up Baker Thompson Associates Limited in 2000. The company specializes in the training and development of secretarial and administrative staff, www.bakerthompsonassoc.co.uk. She now travels all over the world working with companies to enable their staff to work more effectively. She developed this speed writing system to fulfil a need for a quick and easy way for people to take notes. The course became very popular and she was often asked if there was a book with the basics of the system - so here it is! To contact Heather please visit the speedwriting section of the publishers' website, http://www.UoLearn.comWhat do people think of this speed writing system? "The principles are very easy to follow, and I am already using it to take notes." "BakerWrite is the easiest shorthand system I have come across. Having studied all the major shorthand systems and even other speed writing courses, I find BakerWrite a sheer delight." "I will use this system all the time." "Your system is so easy to learn and use." "I am 51 years old and have been a secretary more or less since I left school. I took the requisite Pitmans shorthand course whilst at school and have never been able to understand it, all those squiggles and lines. I have used my own speed writing version of words through the years and have managed to get by (as long as I dealt with the notes as soon as I had written them - so it was half memory and half being able to read my own shorthand version). But now, everything is so clear and makes complete sense. I take your book on the train every morning and even after the first reading it completely made sense and I could even remember most of what I had read in the first chapter and believe me my memory for retaining new info is not as it used to be. Even when I was reading your abbreviations I was able to see what they were in a lot of cases before I checked the meaning." "I am thoroughly enjoying learning a new skill from a book that is so simple to understand and I have already started to implement my new dictionary of words when taking notes." "A great big thank you for developing a system that is so easy to understand and completely workable and I'm looking forward to showing off my new skills when taking notes (which I will actually be able to understand) at the next board meeting."

Successful minute taking - meeting the challenge. How to prepare, write and organise agendas and minutes of meetings. Learn to take notes and write minutes of meetings. Your role as the minute taker and how you interact with the chair and other attendees.I'd rather throw myself downstairs .... That was how I used to feel about minute taking; this book is aimed at those among you who feel the same. It is aimed at secretaries, PAs and administrators and covers the issues that worry them; these are based on the things that worried me and the things that have worried my hundreds of delegates on my training courses over the last 10 years. This book will give you the knowledge and confidence to be able to prepare for a meeting, work with your meeting chair, take notes during the meeting and to write your minutes afterwards. It has been written by an experienced PA who now trains other people in the skills she has developed. The book is laid out in a very easy to read format and gives lots of advice based not only on Heather's experience but also the many people she ahs trained. It has a checklist to help you make sure you remember everything you need to do before, during and after the meeting. The roles of the chair and yourself are defined. There are examples and opportunities to practise your skills. About the author - Heather Baker Heather had over twenty years' experience as a secretary and PA before setting up Baker Thompson Associates Limited in 2000. The company specialises in the training and development of secretarial and administrative staff (www.bakerthompsonassoc.co.uk). She now travels all over the UK working with large and small companies to enable their office staff and PAs to work more effectively and efficiently. She also delivers courses in the Middle and Far East. Heather is a Certified NLP Practitioner. She worked for ICI Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca) and Hewlett Packard; she spent 5 years in France working for the Commercial Director of Cognac Hine and then 10 years with Granada Media working up to Personal Assistant to the Managing Director, commuting regularly between their offices in Manchester and London. Heather conceived the speedwriting system BakerWrite and wrote the text book based on this system, see www.uolearn.com She has trained hundreds of people all over the world in how to take minutes and she has converted her extensive knowledge into this book. Heather has been married to Ian since 1979 and they have two daughters, Ailsa and Erin. This book is dedicated to them with profound thanks for all their support over the years.What do people think? "This is a superb book. I wish it had read it before I started organising meetings, writing agendas and taking minutes years ago! It is full of really good tips and is very clear and easy to read. This will really help with coaching and mentoring junior members of staff.""I read it from cover to cover on the train on the way back from London today. I thought it was excellent and, for the first time (ever!), makes minute taking seem easy! So many books make you switch off! I particularly liked the tips and hints as you went along. I have the copy at work and when I have my next PA team meeting, I'm going to ask them all to borrow it and read it!""As I always struggle taking minutes and it is an important part of my job I was looking for a book to help me to improve this skill. I have found this book to be invaluable especially the checklist at the back. I now feel happier taking minutes and as this used to be a job I dreaded, I feel this book is a must for anyone else in the same situation as me."

Speed Writing Skills Training Course: Speedwriting, a guide to faster note taking, an easy to learn alternative to shorthand. Over 40 000 copies sold worldwide. Most people need a note taking system for work or study but few people have the time or inclination to spend a year or two learning shorthand. BakerWrite Speed Writing enables you to learn a new system in a matter of hours and become proficient within weeks. This is the international spelling edition. For our UK spelling edition please search for 9781849370752. This book is laid out in 6 easy to follow lessons, that take about an hour each. Practical guided exercises, with full answers, in each chapter and each session is rounded off with a dictation passage (available from http://www.UoLearn.com). Now includes, for the fourth edition, an extended 2000 word speedwriting dictionary. Save time and become more efficient taking dictation, in meetings, on the telephone, in lectures or interviews. No strange squiggles to learn - just different ways to use the letters you already know. Your notes will be easy to transcribe.Heather studied Pitman shorthand at school and then at secretarial college in England; she later learned Teeline shorthand and now regularly teaches these. BakerWriteTM is based on her experience with these systems and 22 years as a secretary and PA - taking notes daily. She has been training and coaching secretaries, PAs and administrators since 2000. Please note there is an alternative edition of this book, Easy 4 Me 2 Learn Speed Writing. Heather had over twenty years' experience as a secretary and PA before setting up Baker Thompson Associates Limited in 2000. The company specializes in the training and development of secretarial and administrative staff, www.bakerthompsonassoc.co.uk. She now travels all over the world working with companies to enable their staff to work more effectively. She developed this speed writing system to fulfill a need for a quick and easy way for people to take notes. The course became very popular and she was often asked if there was a book with the basics of the system - so here it is! To contact Heather please visit the speedwriting section of the publishers' website, http://www.UoLearn.comWhat do people think of this speed writing system? "The principles are very easy to follow, and I am already using it to take notes." "BakerWrite is the easiest shorthand system I have come across. Having studied all the major shorthand systems and even other speed writing courses, I find BakerWrite a sheer delight." "I will use this system all the time." "Your system is so easy to learn and use." "I am 51 years old and have been a secretary more or less since I left school. I took the requisite Pitmans shorthand course whilst at school and have never been able to understand it, all those squiggles and lines. I have used my own speed writing version of words through the years and have managed to get by (as long as I dealt with the notes as soon as I had written them - so it was half memory and half being able to read my own shorthand version). But now, everything is so clear and makes complete sense. I take your book on the train every morning and even after the first reading it completely made sense and I could even remember most of what I had read in the first chapter and believe me my memory for retaining new info is not as it used to be. Even when I was reading your abbreviations I was able to see what they were in a lot of cases before I checked the meaning." "I am thoroughly enjoying learning a new skill from a book that is so simple to understand and I have already started to implement my new dictionary of words when taking notes." "A great big thank you for developing a system that is so easy to understand and completely workable and I'm looking forward to showing off my new skills when taking notes (which I will actually be able to understand) at the next board meeting."