Writing Matters

Join me for the Content Managers' Playbook course on February 23

On February 23, 2011, I am teaching a day-long course for Web Manager University in Washington, DC. Content Managers' Playbook: Proven Strategies for Getting Readable Content  is ideal for anyone who manages content and the people who write it.  I've provided the full course description, below.

During the course, I'll share some of the interviews I've done with forward-thinking content managers. If you'd like to be interviewed, or know a content manager who would, e-mail me.  I may not be able to use your interview in next week's course, but I'll try!

If you'll be in DC on February 23, I hope you'll consider joining me for the Content Managers' Playbook course.

Course Description

Your content management system is in place, you've got support from the higher-ups, and you've hired all the right people for your own web team. Yet you still struggle to get worthwhile content from the subject matter experts in your agency who are supposed to supply it. They don't think writing content for the Web is their job. They are not motivated to update their web pages. Sometimes they feed you unreadable content and ask you to "webify" it. Other times they just want to post a long PDF. Their resistance or lack of skill threatens the distributed publishing model you've worked hard to establish.

In this hands-on workshop, you'll learn how content managers in corporations, government, and nonprofits have cultivated their subject matter experts' content writing skills. You'll receive a Content Managers' Playbook with case studies and strategies for training and motivating content contributors, and helping them understand their role in the overall content publishing cycle.

"Thank you for your message; however, I'm not going to read it."

This out-of-office e-mail landed in my inbox a few days ago. I don't know "Bob" personally; he's a member of a Yahoo! group I follow. (To preserve privacy, I have changed all identifying info in the e-mail.)

I think Bob's e-mail is one of a kind, and I've been following the out-of-office genre for a while. (See my earlier post: Out-of-Office E-Mails: T.M.I. or too little?)

I'd like to know your opinion. Do you think this a practical and polite out-of-office e-mail?

Subject: Thank you for your message; however, I'm not going to read it. See important contact information below
 
I will be out of the office starting 02/07/2011 and will not return until 02/16/2011.
I am away on vacation and will not be answering e-mails received during this time.
For research grants please contact John Smith, [email protected], (800)123-4567 x 11223
For research agreements and intellectual property please contact Jane Doe, [email protected], (800)123-4567 x 22334
For ABA, BCB, CDD please contact Susan Brown, [email protected], (800)123-4567 x 55588
For knowledge mobilization please contact Fred White, [email protected], (800)123-4567 x 99887
For all other matters or if you need immediate assistance please contact Ann Johnson, [email protected], (800)123-4567 x58258

In order to manage e-mail, I will not be reading e-mails received during my absence. If your e-mail is still urgent upon my return on February 16, please send it to me again.

Thanks for helping manage e-mail insanity.

Bob

In my earlier post, I listed these four items as required information for an out-of-office e-mail:

• How long you'll be gone. Use calendar dates, not just day of the week.
• How often or whether you'll respond to e-mail or voice mails at all while you're gone. Knowing whether you'll respond at all during your time out of the office will help you colleagues and customers decide what to do in case of a work emergency, for example.
• Who to contact for what while you're away. Provide specific names, e-mails, and phone numbers.
• How soon you'll respond to e-mails when you've returned.

Bob has supplied all the required information, but has he gone around the bend in asking people to resend their e-mails to him upon his return? In your opinion, is it OK to announce that you won't be reading any of the e-mails sent to you while you're away. Let me know what you think. (I will read your e-mails.)

-- Leslie O'Flahavan

Editor surveys staff to see whether they understand their own jargon

If you're a web writer, an editor, or a plain language advocate, you've probably encountered this frustrating situation frequently. You're editing a web page or document, and it's loaded with jargon. You flag the terms you know readers won't understand and ask the authors to provide plain language substitutes. "Why simplify?" the subject matter experts ask.  "Everyone knows what that term means."

Sarah Shepard, Senior Engineering Research Editor for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), may have come up with the best strategy ever for showing her colleagues that jargon can compromise clarity. She's intent on gathering quantitative data that will show that, in fact, not "everyone" gets DEC's jargon. Sarah is testing DEC's jargon on DEC itself.

Here's how she's doing it. Sarah (and the wordsmiths in the Division of Public Affairs and Education plus other DEC divisions) read through lots of DEC documents and content to identify jargon they're pretty sure many readers don't understand. They came up with hundreds of terms --riparian, mitigation, effluent, appropriation authority -- then whittled the list down to the top 50. Then Sarah set up an anonymous online survey that asks DEC employees to choose the response that best represents their familiarity with each DEC jargon words or phrase:

• I'm not familiar with this word
• I've seen/heard this word, but don't know what it means
• I think I know what this means, but I'm not sure
• I know the meaning of this word

That's right. It's a brilliant strategy. Sarah is asking her colleagues "Do we even understand each other? Because if we don’t get it, our readers -- citizens -- probably don't get it either."

So far, Sarah is pleased and surprised by how many people have responded to the survey, which has been open for only 5 days and already has 521 respondents. (DEC has 2800 employees, so the survey's closing in on a 20% response rate!) And leading the survey as the three least familiar jargon terms: anadromous, down wood, and viewshed.  (Could someone pass me a dictionary?)

Many thanks to Sarah for letting me interview her about the DEC jargon survey. I'm looking forward to sharing the survey results, and Sarah's reflections on the survey's outcomes, at the end of this month or the beginning of March.

If you have questions about the jargon survey or DEC's plain language initiative, e-mail Sarah who told me, "I love connecting w/other Plain Language fans."

Famous Inboxes: Who knew Michelangelo, Napoleon, and Satan wrote e-mail?

Apparently, the very talented, the very commanding, and the very bad are just like you and me. They have inboxes crowded with e-mails waiting to be answered. Check out   Mark Brownlow's Famous Inboxes blog and peer into inboxes that never were but should have been.

In Michelangelo's inbox:

• From Sistine Maintenance: "Pls tell apprentices to clear up beer cans & cigarette butts"
• From Mrs. Michelangelo: "Mama wants her kitchen tiled - can u do it Sunday?"

In Napoleon Bonaparte's inbox:

• From Twitter: "Welcome to Twitter, BonyNap!"
• From Wellington: "Least I don't have to wear high heels"

In Satan's inbox:

• From New Media Devil: "Webinar - 5 new ways to tempt a prophet"
• From Beelzebub's Beauty Boutique: "20% off cloven hoof lacquer"

Brownlow makes the Famous Inbox conceit look easier than it is. I gave it a try with the subject lines I invented for the inbox of Lot's wife, the Biblical character who was turned into a pillar of salt when she violated the "don't look back when fleeing Sodom" rule.

• From Architectural Digest Newsletter: "Doric or Corinthian? Find the front-porch redo that's right for you?"
• From FamilyTravel.com: "Get Out of Town - Weekend Getaways Just a  Short Drive from Sodom and Gomorrah"

Your turn. Let your imagination go. Send me your invented inboxes and, with your permission, I'll post your subject lines here.

 -- Leslie O'Flahavan

Announcing Marilynne's New Blog: WebOver50

When Leslie and I started E-WRITE in 1996 “the e-mail” was a very new tool and Al Gore was inventing the Internet. We knew that e-mail and the web would change how we communicate. But who could have envisioned Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or blogs? 

I’ve noticed that many of my over 50 friends and colleagues have been slow to adopt social media and the generation of new web apps. Why? Many feel it is unsafe, overwhelming and time consuming. And how or why would someone over 50 use it?

That’s why I’ve started a new blog WebOver50: The Web Is Wasted on the Young. Its purpose is to

• Sort through the jungle of web apps and tell over 50s what’s worth their time and what’s not.
• Show how to web-surf safely.
• Explain all-things-web in plain English.

Some sample posts:

• Should You Join Facebook Now?
• YouTube for How To's: Just-In-Time Learning
• How to Find Free Shipping E-tailers
• Safe Social Networking: What Advice Should You Give Your Kids?

While I’m donning a new hat—publisher of WebOver50—I’ll still be wearing my comfortable and familiar E-WRITE hat. That means I’ll still be writing web content for E-WRITE clients, working with Leslie to develop new course content, and contributing Writing Matters posts

Please take a look at WebOver50 —even if you are under 50. And pass this on to your over 50 friends and colleagues. Please subscribe and let me know what you think. Leave a comment or send me an e-mail.  

 --Marilynne Rudick

Join me for a Plain Language Webinar on January 21

On January 21 at 1 p.m. EST, I'll be presenting a webinar for Web Manager University: " Write Plainly: An Update on Plain Writing Principles and the New Law." Though targeted to the federal community, this 90-minute webinar will be useful for anyone who wants to learn about writing in plain language.

Webinar Description
With the Plain Writing Act in place, 2011 will be the year of plain language. Kick off the new year with this introduction to plain language writing principles and practice.  In this webinar, you'll learn why writing in plain language does not mean “dumbing down” your content. You'll analyze before-and-after examples of federal web content written in plain language. You'll receive pre-course writing samples to review then we'll apply plain language principles to these samples during the webinar.

What You Will Learn

• The principles of plain language
• How to edit content according to plain language principles
• Where to find additional plain language training and resources
• How the Plain Writing Act could affect your agency’s operations

I hope you'll join me on January 21!

-- Leslie O'Flahavan

A Plain Language Choral Performance by those Wags at the European Commission

Trying to take your plain language efforts to the next level? Looking for something special that will inspire your colleagues to write clearly and emphatically? You need a touch of gospel. You need to listen to "Good news: Clarity's a-coming!," the European Commission's Clear Writing campaign song, sung by the Hot Air Vocal Ensemble, a Brussels-based choir.  

You've got to love plain language folks, don't you? These choir members are standing on a conference room table (?!) and singing their hearts out. Thumbs up for taking your topic more seriously than you take yourself.

After you're done listening to the song (and clapping? dancing?), download the Commission's plain language guide How to Write Clearly. (The song lyrics are from the guide's Table of Contents.)

And our American hats are off to the Europeans; their plain language guide is available in all 23 official languages of the European Union!

 Other posts on plain language:

• Download: Toolkit for Making Written Material Clear and Effective

• "Attrit" or Death By Buzzword

• "Plain language is a civil right..."

 -- Leslie O'Flahavan

Princeton Review: Don't send me a huffy e-mail when I unsubscribe

So, it's like that, Princeton Review. You loved me when I subscribed to receive your weekly School Research Service e-mails, but now that my daughter's been accepted to college and I've unsubscribed, you can't even be polite.

Here's the let's-destroy-our-business-relationship e-mail I received from Princeton Review when I unsubscribed:

From: Unsubscribe
To: LESLIE O'FLAHAVAN
Subject: Your unsubscribe is being processed...

We are processing your request to unsubscribe from our email services. Please make sure that you are sending your request from the email address subscribed to this service, otherwise we will be unable to process your request. Please allow up to 7-10 days for your request to be processed.  At that point you should receive no further email from us.  If you have any other issues, please let us know.

The Princeton Review

That is one cold e-mail:

• The subject line implies that unsubscribing me is a complex task that requires "processing," akin to reviewing a grant application or a Freedom of Information Act request.
• They scold me for (possibly) having used one e-mail address to unsubscribe from another. Can't they tell whether I've done that and only scold me if I have? (I haven't)
• They invite me to "let them know" if I have "other issues," but they fail to provide any contact information.

Oh, how my relationship with Princeton Review has changed. Here's the friendly, welcoming e-mail I received from them a few short months ago when I subscribed.

From: School Research Service from The Princeton Review
To: Leslie O'Flahavan
Date:  Tue, May 25, 2010
Subject: Colleges Looking For Students Like You

• Are you a junior or sophomore exploring the right college for you?
• Are you a senior still deciding where to go to college this fall?
• Are you a returning student, or looking to transfer to a new school?

We can now provide you a personalized list of colleges, looking for students like you. Just answer a few questions to complete your profile, and you'll be able to select and request more information from schools that want to hear from students with your background, and that offer your preferred major.

• See matching colleges by completing your profile [I removed the link here]
• Update your profile on PrincetonReview.com [I removed the link here]

So Princeton Review could be friendly to me when we started "dating" but barely civil when I broke it off. Don't they realize that I might re-subscribe? Purchase books from them? Sign up for their Graduate School Research Service, Law School Research Service, or Medical School Research Service for either of my two college-age children?

The response to a customer's unsubscribe request presents an opportunity to maintain a business relationship and build rapport. Princeton Review's response really missed its mark.

-- Leslie O'Flahavan

Do You Write Customer Service E-Mail That Rates a Perfect 10?

We all know that a good customer service e-mail is one and done: it answers the customer’s questions or solves the customer’s problems so there’s no need for a second round of contact. A great customer service e-mail goes beyond one and done: it anticipates related questions a customer might have and answers them, too. It has a personal and professional tone.

But what’s a perfect customer service e-mail? It’s in the details. A perfect e-mail is easy to read, has no spelling or grammar errors, and has a subject line that does the heavy lifting—previews the e-mail’s content. It offers other sources of help and makes it easy for the customer to contact you.

Download our article How to Write a Customer Service E-Mail That Rates a Perfect Ten (PDF). In it, we've dissected an e-mail exchange between a customer and a customer service agent from a company we’ve called AutoBackup. We’ve identified the characteristics we think make this e-mail ideal. The article also includes "Tips for Writing the Perfect Customer Service E-Mail," so you too can write an e-mail that rates a perfect ten.

Download How to Write a Customer Service E-Mail That Rates a Perfect Ten, which was originally published in this month's issue of SupportWorld magazine.

 

Plain Language Writing Workshop - Six Strategies for Cleaning the Clutter From Your Writing: December 8, 2010

In honor of the Plain Writing Act of 2010, we are offering a practical, hands-on, half-day workshop on strategies for writing in plain language. Register now to join us for this workshop on December 8, 2010 in Silver Spring, Maryland. In this workshop, you'll learn how to use clear, accurate wording that will help your reader do what you ask and understand what you mean. Spend an afternoon brushing up your own writing skills and learn how to improve the documents you edit for others.

You will learn:

• How to tailor your writing to your readers' needs
• A two-tier process for editing for conciseness
• How to make your writing scannable
• How, and when, to display information in vertical lists or tables
• How to cut word count by 10 percent, 25 percent, or even 50 percent
• How, and why, to write in active voice

You should attend this workshop if you:

• Value clarity in written communication
• Need to improve your writing skills
• Want to be able to explain to colleagues why their writing needs to be edited
• Are interested in how the Plain Writing Act of 2010 will affect writing in the government and beyond

You will receive:

• A notebook containing course exercises and resources
• Before-and-after examples that show the power of a plain language rewrite
• A plain language resource list

Contact me at 301-989-9583 or [email protected] for more information or to learn about a tuition discount for enrolling three or more people from your organization.

-- Leslie O'Flahavan