Fundamentals of Professional Practice

01/06/2023

https://mailchi.mp/ba2eb19b41a1/write-right

10/22/2022

IT'S NOT TOO LATE: https://foppprogram.com/enroll-in-distance-learning/

10/05/2022

https://mailchi.mp/948e321e6539/fopp-15915977

10/01/2022

FOPP STARTS OCTOBER 24, 2022

FOPP 31 starts in less than three weeks. More than 100 rising stars have already enrolled. We still have a dozen seats available. Enroll online (www.foppprogram.com), or contact John Bachner ([email protected]; 202-441-7879) or Nancy McKeithen ([email protected] ; 301-588-8668).

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Bachner Communications, Inc.
180 Reachcliff Drive, Shepherdstown, WV 25443

09/15/2022

Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) Class 31 is filling up fast, according to John Bachner, the program’s founder and principal resource. “More than 110 seats have already been spoken for,” Bachner said, “and we have another 15 people who will attend only Part 2 – the 2½-day, in-person seminar at the Denver Hilton Inverness hotel, near Denver [Colorado]. The limit is 150 participants. If we go beyond that, we’ll prepare a waiting list, in case reserved spaces are not filled.”

After 30 years, FOPP alumni comprise more than 2,000 private-sector geotechnical engineers, civil engineers, environmental professionals, and construction-quality management personnel. FOPP Class 31 will be Bachner’s “last hurrah.” He will not offer the program again.

FOPP Class 31 will get under way with Part 1 on October 24, 2022 and, for the next six months, participants will engage in role-playing-infused distance learning: reading, research, and proposal and report preparation. The Part 2 seminar will take place May 10-13, 2023.

For more information, go to the FOPP website (www.foppprogram.com) or contact John Bachner by e-mail ([email protected]) or telephone/text (202-441-7879).

Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) is a unique learning experience that immerses participants in the world of private practice, with an emphasis on professional communication, especially through the written word. The course comprises six months of mentored distance learning followed by a p...

09/04/2022

Write Right September 22, 2022 in Baltimore

If you’ve been looking to attend one of John Bachner’s well-known Write Right seminars, this may be for you! There’s room for 30 “outside” attendees at the upcoming national meeting of the American Society of Dam Safety Officials at the Baltimore Convention Center. Write Right will be offered on Thursday, September 22, from 0800 hours to 1700 hours. Interested? Get more information about this presentation, by clicking https://bachner.com/professional-development/. Do you want to put on a Write Right BackYard Seminar? Get all the details here or contact John Bachner ([email protected]).

Bachner Communications, Inc.
Shepherdstown, WV 25443

No other program comes even close to achieving what John gets done as the leader of FOPP, a six-month program designed for a firm’s rising stars; its future leaders. The program boasts more than 2,000 alumni, 100 or more of whom are today the CEOs of the firms that enrolled them 20 or more years a...

08/30/2022

The last presentation of John Bachner’s FUNDAMENTALS OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE (FOPP) program will be held from October 24, 2022 (Part 1 remote study) through May 13 (Part 2, seminar starting on May 10, 2023).

“This is shaping up to be the largest FOPP class we’ve ever had,” said John Bachner, the man who created FOPP, managed FOPP from “day one,” and reviews and comments on every piece of writing participants submit.

More than 2,000 geoprofessionals, environmental professionals, civil engineers, and construction-materials engineering and testing (CoMET) professionals have graduated from FOPP. “We already have more than 100 people signed up,” Bachner said. “We have room for 15 or 20 more; first come, first served.”

For details about FOPP 31, go to https://foppprogram.com/ or contact John Bachner directly at [email protected] or (by text or telephone) 202-441-7879.

Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) is a unique learning experience that immerses participants in the world of private practice, with an emphasis on professional communication, especially through the written word. The course comprises six months of mentored distance learning followed by a p...

08/06/2022

FOPP 31 Will Be Held, but It Will Be the Last One

Shepherdstown, WV, August 5, 2022 — There will be a Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) Class 31, but it will be the last FOPP held, beginning in October 2022 and ending in April 2023. (Exact dates will be announced in two weeks or so.) According to John Bachner, who created the program more than three decades ago, “Ending FOPP is painfully difficult for me, but I felt compelled to do it: Like the geoprofessionals I have been serving for just shy of 55 years (even I can’t believe that!), I have personal goals I’m committed to achieving; every passing day gives me fewer opportunities to convert my aspirations to realities.” More than 2,000 geoprofessional “rising stars” have gone through FOPP; many currently serve as CEOs of the firms that enrolled them.

FOPP (www.foppprogram.com) focuses on enhancing participants’ soft skills – writing, public speaking, knowledge of their profession, community engagement, and risk management, among many others – through six months of distance learning (working with a mentor from the same firm) and a high-energy, concluding, 2½-day, in-person seminar in Englewood, Colorado.

Much of the distance-learning portion involves participants conducting a research project for their firms. Bachner personally edits the research-project proposals participants must submit, as well as the first draft of their research reports and every other piece of writing (especially e-mails) students submit. “Most participants do not write as well as they need to, and that’s dangerous,” Bachner said, adding, “We live in a time when inserting a comma that didn’t belong cost one organization $13 million, while omitting a comma that should have been there cost another organization $10 million. In FOPP, we emphasize instruction that helps participants write clearly, without ambiguity.”

Comments of participants (https://foppprogram.com/participant-testimonials/) and firms’ “C-suite” personnel (https://foppprogram.com/ceo-testimonials/ ), as well as survey reports (https://foppprogram.com/fopp-survey-reports/ ), indicate how popular FOPP is. As one participant stated, “I learned more in the last six months than in 4.5 years at college and 8+ years as an environmental consultant. Thank you!”

The number of persons who may enroll in a FOPP class is limited to 150. For details, visit the FOPP website or contact John Bachner directly at [email protected].

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Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) is a unique learning experience that immerses participants in the world of private practice, with an emphasis on professional communication, especially through the written word. The course comprises six months of mentored distance learning followed by a p...

08/05/2022

FOPP 31 Will Be Held, but It Will Be the Last One

Shepherdstown, WV, August 5, 2022 — There will be a Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) Class 31, but it will be the last FOPP held, beginning in October 2022 and ending in April 2023. (Exact dates will be announced in two weeks or so.) According to John Bachner, who created the program more than three decades ago, “Ending FOPP is painfully difficult for me, but I felt compelled to do it: Like the geoprofessionals I have been serving for just shy of 55 years (even I can’t believe that!), I have personal goals I’m committed to achieving; every passing day gives me fewer opportunities to convert my aspirations to realities.” More than 2,000 geoprofessional “rising stars” have gone through FOPP; many currently serve as CEOs of the firms that enrolled them.

FOPP (www.foppprogram.com) focuses on enhancing participants’ soft skills – writing, public speaking, knowledge of their profession, community engagement, and risk management, among many others – through six months of distance learning (working with a mentor from the same firm) and a high-energy, concluding, 2½-day, in-person seminar in Englewood, Colorado.

Much of the distance-learning portion involves participants conducting a research project for their firms. Bachner personally edits the research-project proposals participants must submit, as well as the first draft of their research reports and every other piece of writing (especially e-mails) students submit. “Most participants do not write as well as they need to, and that’s dangerous,” Bachner said, adding, “We live in a time when inserting a comma that didn’t belong cost one organization $13 million, while omitting a comma that should have been there cost another organization $10 million. In FOPP, we emphasize instruction that helps participants write clearly, without ambiguity.”

Comments of participants and firms’ “C-suite” personnel, as well as survey reports, indicate how popular FOPP is. As one participant stated, “I learned more in the last six months than in 4.5 years at college and 8+ years as an environmental consultant. Thank you!”

The number of persons who may enroll in a FOPP class is limited to 150. For details, visit the FOPP website or contact John Bachner directly at [email protected].

# # # # #

Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) is a unique learning experience that immerses participants in the world of private practice, with an emphasis on professional communication, especially through the written word. The course comprises six months of mentored distance learning followed by a p...

06/13/2022

Write Right on the Road. Again.

I'll be on the road again, leading BackYard Seminars. Write Right remains popular: August 31/September 1, for Isherwood Geostructural Engineers in Mississauga, Ontario, and September 22 in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO). What can we do for you? Write Right is well-suited for individual firms (that can also invite client reps and government officials, among others), two or three firms together, and associations.
https://mailchi.mp/8061c5393207/write-right-on-the-road-again

Let me know if I can help! And while you're at it, now would be a good time to reserve spots for Fundamentals of Professional Practice Class 31. If we hold it (that will depend on turnout), FOPP 31 will be my last. Blaze of glory time! Reserving space creates no obligation.

John P. Bachner
202.441.7879

05/24/2022

100 Professional-Practice Research Assignments Available Free

The Fundamentals of Professional Practice (FOPP) Research-Assignment Compendium (https://foppprogram.com/research-project-2/) now comprises 100 research projects, any one of which could benefit your firm. There’s no charge for the compendium: You DO NOT have to enroll one of your firm’s rising stars in FOPP to review or download a copy. Nonetheless, to get best results from implementing a research assignment, FOPP participation would be essential. More than 2,000 geoprofessional and civil engineers have graduated from FOPP. Many are now leaders of the firms that enrolled them. FOPP 31 – the last FOPP ever – is slated to begin in early October of 2022 with six months of distance learning, and wind up with a 2½-day, high-impact, in-person seminar in early April of 2023. Learn more at https://foppprogram.com/. Read what alumni and firm CEOs have said about the course (https://foppprogram.com/testimonials/). There’s nothing else like FOPP. While you don’t have to enroll a rising star to tackle a FOPP research assignment (or a combination of them or a new one you create on your own), FOPP participation will create a lasting impact that cannot be matched.

John P. Bachner
180 Reachcliff Drive
Shepherdstown, West Virginia 25443
202.441.7879

03/19/2022

“Write Right” Online in May

I’VE RECEIVED ABOUT 25 OR 30 REQUESTS from folks who want to attend a “Write Right” seminar (https://bachner.com/backyard-seminars/), but do not want to sponsor one. HERE’S AN OPPORTUNITY. I’ll be leading a “Write Right” webinar in four, two-hour segments for the California Geotechnical Engineering Association (CalGeo) on May 3, 10, 17, and 24. If you’re interested (you do not have to be a CalGeo member), go to the CalGeo flyer (https://calgeo.memberclicks.net/assets/Events/2022/Virtual/05032422WriteRight/May%202022%20CalGeo%20Write%20Right%20Course%20-%20Bachner.pdf) that relates the webinar’s what, who, how, when, where, and why. If you have any questions that you believe I can answer, just call: 202-441-7879.

FUNDAMENTALS OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE (FOPP) UPDATE: I will be assessing the demand for FOPP 31 (https://foppprogram.com/) in the next few days. IF the demand is sufficient, we will begin the course – my last one ever – in October 2022 and finish up with the in-person, 2½-day seminar in April 2023, at a time when Covid should be just an awful memory. If you are thinking about enrolling your rising stars, please let me know. Contact me directly by text or telephone (202-441-7879) or via e-mail ([email protected]). You could also indicate your intent by reserving space (https://foppprogram.com/reserve-space/). Doing so creates no obligation: It is merely an expression of intent.

John

There’s no charge to reserve space in FOPP. Plans for FOPP 31 are under development now. Just tell us how many spaces you want and we’ll hold them for you, unless we get into “wait-list mode.” We’ll contact you when it's time to enroll and pay. If you need fewer spaces than you reserved, n...