The invitation is mailed, the email newsletter is sent, the program is printed – and there’s a Fig Bat Ugly Typo right there in boldtype where any idiot should have seen it. And every idiot (plus, of course, all the smart people) will.

You are mortified. You want to crawl into a tiny hole and pull the opening in after you.

The communication you have just sent says that your organization is careless, unthinking, or just stupid.  Your boss or client thinks you are all those things, plus he or she is wondering if you are attentive enough to notice the difference between a pink slip and a paycheck.

That’s the best case scenario.

The worst case?

You misspelled the name of the donor, sponsor, or bigwig speaker.

No, worse: You left off the name of the donor, sponsor, or bigwig speaker.

The next-worst case is a consequential error that costs money and time to correct. Event details usually fall into this category.

If there aren’t concrete consequences, you wipe the sweat off your brow and give a sigh of relief, but you’re back where you started: You’ve made your organization look stupid.

Follow this simple two-part (12-step) procedure to avoid that fate.

Part One: You

Catch as many of your own mistakes as you can before you show the piece to anyone else. This will help your readers avoid the “gotcha” syndrome.

You saw the Fig Bat above, right? Did you notice that there’s no such word as boldtype?

Right. That’s why catching the big errors exponentially increases the probability that your proofreaders will catch the little ones.

(The Fig Bat also illustrates why you can’t count on the spellchecker.)

Here’s how to catch your own mistakes:

1. Read it tomorrow. A bit of distance can make a world of difference in your ability to read as a reader instead of as the writer.
   Corollary A: Write it yesterday. When multiple tasks impend, do the creative ones first so you have time to let them sit there.
   Corollary B: If you already didn’t write it yesterday, write it now. Even an hour between finishing a draft and looking for errors can make a big difference.
2. Print it out. You wrote it on screen; now print it for a different view.
3. Read it backward. Start at the end of the document and read one sentence at a time. That will help you catch grammar problems. Then read it backward again, one word at a time, to catch misspellings and punctuation errors.
4. Read it aloud. Backward or forward, slowing down to form the words will help you hear your mistakes.
5. Check against reality. Look at the calendar to see if May 6 is really Thursday. Pull up the board list to see if you left anyone out. Go on the sponsor’s website to make sure how many k’s are in Kochlekkar.
6. Know thyself. Make a list of your own most common errors. Check every important document against that master list.

(Everyone has their spelling demons. One of mine is embarrassment, which I continue to think should have just one r. That’s why today’s title is not 6 + 6 Ways to Avoid Embarrassment.)

Part Two: Others

Now that you’ve done the best job you can on your own, bring in other readers.

1. Hire a proofreader. There is really no substitute for a professional.
2. Use multiple sets of eyes. I hope you already do this. The more important the communication, the more eyes you need.
3. Share the list above, about ways to catch mistakes, with your readers.
4. Put one reader in charge of names and dates only. This person isn’t reading sentences or finding grammatical errors. She’s making sure that the bigwig speaker’s name is the same every time: Jonathan T. Doe, M.D., not Dr. Jonathan Doe, John Dough, M.D., and so on.
5. Put another reader in charge of large text. Funny: We tend to skim over headings, pull-out boxes, and that sort of thing. After checking those, this same reader can take a second pass to concentrate on repeating elements, such as headers and footers or the little design doohickey that’s supposed replace bullets in lists.
6. Seriously, hire a proofreader. The pros do all these things as a matter of course. The time and money you save when the proofreader catches just one major error will pay for dozens of proofreading jobs.

I wish I could promise that following these suggestions will guarantee that you  never make another embarrassing mistake. Alas, Murphy’s Law remains in effect, and the Fig Bat is stalking you.  However, with luck and care, you can keep them both at bay almost indefinitely – and send out nothing but Clear, Effective (Fig-Bat free) Communications.