2010 WriteMark |
Friday 3 September 2010 |
New Zealand Plain English Awards |
|
Keynote addresses
Christine Mowat
Christine will talk about the role of plain English in achieving clear and effective communication in both the public and private sectors.
Plain language: Opening communication borders
‘Customer-focused’, ‘citizen language’, ‘text for everybody’, ‘clear communication’ — many describe plain language this way. Indeed, the changes a plain language specialist makes are dramatic. Reading a plain language rewrite can be like walking out into fresh, clear air. Practising a kind of communications spring cleaning, the writer balances precision, clear format, and word transformations to create messages that breathe and shine.
Plain language experts teach the principles one at a time, but as they write they use many tools at once. To demonstrate the constant quest for clarity and connection with readers, Christine will illustrate plain language in the making. Her case study involves Indian Residential Schools students applying for an alternative dispute resolution process in Canada.
Few people want more reading to do, and nobody wants their reading to be more difficult. To attract and keep people’s interest, motivation, cooperation, and even money, a little plain language goes a long way.
Neil James
Neil will talk about the place of standards, testing, and measuring when launching a plain English initiative.
Raising the standards: What makes English plain?
You might accept that plain English is a good idea, but how do you know when you are using it well?
Neil looks at the first generation of plain language measurement and accreditation systems in the United Kingdom, America, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. He will discuss the problems they have encountered, and consider the current prospects for a single international set of standards
Neil will then illustrate the practical benefits of applying plain English standards in the workplace. His case study will be an Australian organisation in the finance sector that used the Plain English Foundation’s verbumetrics™ system to upgrade its client correspondence and reports.
Melodee Mercer
Melodee will share several success stories about large government organisations that have created a successful plain English culture.
Plain language and organisational change: More than just writing training
How do you change a bureaucracy from writing in gobbledygook and legalese to writing in plain language? The answer: one paragraph and one manager at a time.
Melodee, the co-author of Changing a Bureaucracy One Paragraph at a Time, will tell you how several United States Government agencies not only changed their writing, but also changed their culture.
We’ve all taken the obligatory writing training that was interesting, but not really relevant to our jobs. Melodee explores the difference between giving employees a course in plain language, and actually clearing the way for employees to use plain language for the rest of their careers. She will also talk about how to get management buy-in.
Her address will cover the successes, the failures, and the stumbling blocks that some of the US Government’s most successful agencies have faced.
Christopher Balmford
Christopher will talk about plain English as ‘the voice of our brand’, with a particular focus on the legal profession.
Plain language: The voice of your organisation’s brand
Christopher will explore the need for an organisation’s documents to match the organisation’s brand.
The moment in which someone reads a document from your organisation is a moment of truth for your organisation’s brand. That moment:
- matters for the reader, otherwise they wouldn’t be reading the document
- matters for your organisation’s brand because the style and tone of the document help to create and to maintain that brand in the minds of its readers.
The style of your organisation’s documents needs to support your organisation’s claims about itself. Those claims often relate to excellent customer or client service, to openness, to transparency, and to innovation. Yet awkward, dense, or excessively formal documents are unlikely to create the impression that their authors deliver on those claims. Instead, clarity is crucial if we want to make sure that our documents reflect, live up to, and enhance our brand.
How do your organisation’s documents measure up against the claims your organisation makes about itself in its brand promise, in its vision, and in its values?
Sponsors
We would like to thank the following sponsors for their support in 2010.
