Plain Talk in Complex Times 2017
The MAXIMUS Center for Health Literacy is holding its sixth Plain Talk in Complex Times conference on August 30 at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel. This one-day conference is designed to build and sharpen your communication skills. Plain Talk is your opportunity to learn best strategies for consumer engagement from experienced professionals.
Plain Language has a clear place in academic writing
For two years, I worked as a college writing center tutor while enrolled in a graduate professional writing program. Over those two years, I studied, practiced, and helped others with clear writing. While the papers I read every day in the writing center ranged from argumentative essays, persuasive essays, and research papers, to more creative, narrative essays, they all had one thing in common: they were written for a target audiience—a professor. And from assignment conception to finished product, plain language played a significant role.
6 Plain English principles for writing perfect Web content
Sometimes, being precise and straight to the point is the best way to be when it comes to writing. Nowadays, our screens and content, both on and offline, are dominated by written words. In a world where attention spans can sometimes surprisingly surpass a few seconds if you’re writing web content, you need to grab your reader, and fast.
Financial literacy isn’t enough
I read an important Letter to the Editor in The Charlotte Observer by Dr. Michael Sass, who is President of Catalyst Academy, a financial education non-profit. While I am very impressed with the mission of CATALYST and understand its importance, I do have an issue about one of his points in the letter. He writes: “Citizens should be investing only in financial products they fully understand…” However, in my experience, almost no average person understands much about the vehicles in which they invest.
A note of thanks — and a few good things we’ve done
Now that we have another round of ClearMark Awards behind us – phew – I’d like to take a moment to thank our sponsors and donors who make it possible for the Center to stay in business. THANK YOU! Your support has helped us do so many things – here are just a few highlights.
Scribes Establishes the Joseph Kimble Distinguished Service Award
By Legal Writing Prof Scribes – The American Society of Legal Writers – has renamed its Distinguished Service Award as the Joseph Kimble Distinguished Service
A Renewed Appreciation for the Power of Plain Language: What I learned as a ClearMark Award judge
In years past, I have participated with Healthwise colleagues in the development and selection of products we wanted to submit for a ClearMark Award—an award that celebrates excellence in plain language communication. We have received Clearmark awards many of the years that we submitted entries, but not every time. This year, we didn’t submit an entry because we didn’t have something significantly different to submit than we’ve done in previous years. But I was invited to participate as a judge on the panel evaluating Spanish-language entries.
Financial Literacy Month – The role of plain language in explaining financial concepts
For something that is so vitally important to all of us, money matters can be awfully hard to understand. Talk about stocks, inflation and other financial matters can seem like another language even if it’s all written in English. In order to empower people to take more control over their personal finances, implementing Plain Language in both private and public sector communications is essential.
April is “Financial Literacy Month.” Financial decisions – such as applying for a credit card, choosing a small business loan, or switching banks – cannot be made lightly.
Plain Language Pros: Fight the “Cobbler’s Kids” Syndrome
The plain language world is filled with passionate people who believe strongly in the power and importance of clarity. We spend our days fighting jargon and legalese like the true foes they are. We help our clients share clear, empathetic messages that reflect their audience’s true needs.
But, for many of us, looking more closely at our own communications may uncover an unfortunate secret: The cobbler’s children have no shoes.
What is readability and why should content editors care about it?
Blog image ReadabilityAll of our organizations are shifting toward digital communication. They’re reducing face-to-face contact, calls and printed material.
Why? An obvious reason is that digital reduces cost. For some government services, the average cost of a digital transaction is 5 percent of the cost of a telephone transaction, 3 percent of the cost of a postal transaction, and 2 percent of the cost of a face-to-face transaction.
Plain Language as an Equity Issue
Why do I provide Plain Language work? As an educator, I value plain language as an equity issue for adults with low reading skills. Here is a snapshot of the problem in the United States
Don’t blame your readers for not understanding
Another holiday season has passed, along with the requisite schmoozing at parties. I tend to be more of a listener than a talker. But if I’m asked, I do admit that I’m an editor and a proponent of plain language.
If most of the people you’re trying to communicate with aren’t responding in the way you intended, there’s a good chance that the problem is YOU.