Consulting/Professional Practice
Rebecca Burnett is a communication consultant — analyst, expert witness, trainer, and writer/editor — for a range of organizations in architecture, banking, computing, education, insurance, high-tech, and manufacturing. She works with individuals and small groups, encouraging attitudes and behaviors typical of experts. She has engaged in the following kinds of consulting:
Analyst: Analyze, define, evaluate, and recommend solutions for organization-specific communication problems. Clients have included General Electric (analyzed problems with international marketing presentations for GE’s Military Aircraft Engine Group) and Honeywell (analyzed problems production workers had understanding written procedures and instructions).
Designer/Developer: Work with individuals and small groups to design and develop documents for internal and external audiences. Clients have included ALCOA (designing and developing the documentation for proprietary engineering software that the company uses in facilities around the world) and the Indiana Department of Education (developing strategies for in-service for secondary English and tech prep teachers redesigning their curriculum to incorporate technical reading and writing).
Expert Witness: Analyze instructional manuals and materials, provide expert opinions, give depositions, and testify in litigation involving factors such as failure to warn and adequacy of text, visuals, and design in instructional artifacts. Clients have included corporations that manufacture products used by homeowners, small businesses, and municipalities.
Industrial/Business/Education Trainer: Develop and conduct workshops in technical, business, and professional communication. Clients have included ALCOA (helping senior scientists and R&D engineers to strengthen their skills in preparing technical documents and presentations), Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Iowa/Wellmark (helping BC/BS writers, trainers, and supervisors design and develop manuals and other instructional texts), Digital Equipment Corporation (helping sales service reps communicate more effectively), and Wells Fargo (helping desktop publishing teams develop workable strategies).
Writer/Editor: Formulate, write, and edit textbooks, federal and state grant proposals, training and user manuals, analytical and evaluative reports, brochures, newspaper columns, curriculum and instructor guides, and newsletters. Clients, ranging from individuals and small business owners to educational organizations and nonprofits, include these representative organizations: Agency for Instructional Technology, Ames Public Schools, Ames Tribune, Merrimack Education Center, Perfection Learning, and Sundance Publishers.