About Jackie Barrie
Jackie Barrie, trainer
Jackie trains recruiters, journalists, marketing teams, business-owners and aspiring copywriters how to write better copy.
She specialises in training comms teams in the media and publishing sector. These people often come from a journalistic or academic background, which means they know how to write. However, they are often tasked with writing web copy and blog posts, yet no one has ever told them how to write proper copy.
Her regular training clients include FT Recruitment and Journalism.co.uk
Jackie Barrie, speaker
Jackie’s often asked to speak about copy-related subjects, such as websites that work, or crafting a compelling tagline.
Being renowned for using audience participation in her talks, Jackie also runs active networking sessions that are inspired by the principles of improvised comedy. Delegates often say the best bit of an event is the networking. Jackie’s fun sessions make a refreshing change from speed networking and one-minute pitches.
She’s a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association (co-founder and past president of the South East region), and achieved Advanced Communicator (Bronze) with Toastmasters.
Her regular speaking clients include Pro Copywriters.
Jackie Barrie, mentor
Jackie mentors aspiring copywriters, either one to one or in a group. Her Confident Freelance Copywriting programme is the most affordable way for copywriters to access her experience, and she accepts a new intake every six months.
Jackie Barrie, copywriter
After being a professional copywriter since 1983, Jackie founded her own copywriting agency, Writing Without Waffle. She still writes copy for a select handful of clients, and leads a handpicked team of journalist-turned-copywriters, each with their own niche specialism.
Over 1,200 blog posts published, nearly 600 testimonials received, and well over 100 websites written
Jackie has contributed guest posts to sites including Huffington Post and Fresh Business Thinking. She studied creative writing with Sue Townsend on a Greek island, and is an Ezine Articles Diamond author.
Jackie Barrie, author
Jackie is renowned for using audience participation in her talks and training sessions – but only when there’s a point and it adds to the learning outcome. That’s because the best way to communicate your message can sometimes be via an activity that the audience undertakes, rather than them listening to the spoken word, or reading the written word.
In 2021, Jackie launched Unboring, ideas and activities for effective online and hybrid events.
In 2019, she published Experiential Speaking, a book of icebreakers and energisers.
Many of the activities are unique because she devised them herself.
Jackie also wrote three ‘little fish’ guide books to help startups, entrepreneurs, sole traders and small-business owners (who can feel like little fish in a big pond).
You’ll find all Jackie’s books on Amazon.
Qualifications
You might want to know about Jackie’s qualifications. She has recently completed a BPS-recognised neuroscience qualification to keep her skills up to date. Her Open University BA Honours degree included the psychology of how people process words and symbols. She also qualified as an NLP Practitioner (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) through INLPTA, for a deeper understanding of the power of language in written and spoken communications. She originally trained as a journalist.
Background
Jackie has been training/speaking professionally since 2008. She started freelance copywriting under her Comms Plus brand in 2001, after 18 years as a copywriter and senior manager in the corporate world.
She has also worked as a barmaid and a tea-lady. She hates tomatoes, alarm clocks and shoes, and likes dancing, scuba diving and making people laugh.
Find out more on Jackie’s LinkedIn profile (opens in a new window).
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