2010 WriteMark |
Friday 3 September 2010 |
New Zealand Plain English Awards |
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Keynote workshops (concurrent)
Title | Plain language writing and design on the web |
Speaker | Chair, Center for Plain Language, USA Annetta has been involved in efforts to bring plain language to the federal government in the United States since the mid-1990s. For the past several years, she has conducted many training classes for federal employees on plain language on the web. |
Overview | We all know that visitors to websites scan, but we persist in crowding our websites with too much text and visual clutter. Government websites are often bigger offenders than private sector ones. Annetta will share the principles of reader-friendly writing and design used by seasoned plain language advocates within the United States Government. |
Title | Dealing with lawyers (and other doubters) and maybe even changing their minds |
Speaker | Founder of Cleardocs and of the Australian-based plain language consultancy Words and Beyond Pty Ltd President of Clarity — an international association promoting plain legal language, www.clarity-international.net Former lawyer |
Overview | You want to transform your organisation’s contracts and other legal documents into plain English — but your lawyers (or someone else) won’t hear of it. As a former lawyer turned plain language persuader, Christopher knows exactly what the doubters will say, and how you can respond. He will draw on the arguments developed by the Law Reform Commission of Victoria, which helped it to win its ‘debate’ with the legal profession about the validity of plain language. But you might have tried all that already. So Christopher will suggest an approach you can take that might even change their minds. |
Title | Test reader understanding and learn from the results |
Speaker | Executive Director, Mustor Institute, Australia Nathan is the founder and Executive Director of Australia’s Mustor Institute and has been involved in the development of a suite of more than 80 products that increase the speed and accuracy of business document comprehension. |
Overview | Even experienced professionals often misunderstand business and government documents. This workshop will show how user testing yields high-value information for any organisation. Case studies will include extracts from the tax code, credit card information, and technical specifications. The workshop will use a live audience polling system to find out how likely it is that a document will be misunderstood. Participants will then examine the consequences of this misunderstanding. Nathan will explain the Mustor Metric Testing (MIS 4100) and Mustor Laundering (MIS 1500) techniques. He will also provide a set of pocket reminders you can use to improve even the most impenetrable text. |
Title | Using testing to improve your documents |
Speaker | President, Kleimann Communication Group, Inc. Dr Susan Kleimann, President of Kleimann Communication Group, has over 30 years experience providing technical communications assistance to organisations. She served as the first Executive Director of the Center for Plain Language in the United States and as the second Director of the Document Design Center at the American Institutes for Research in Washington DC. |
Overview | Susan will discuss user testing as a way of improving documents. You’ll learn the different types of user testing, their advantages and disadvantages, and the kind of data they tend to produce. Based on this knowledge, you’ll be able to decide the best type of test to use in different circumstances and how to use test data to create clearer and more usable documents. Susan will share sample ‘before and after’ documents to show the changes made as a result of testing. You’ll also watch a mock test and discuss ways to improve a sample document. |
Sponsors
We would like to thank the following sponsors for their support in 2010.
