Writing Matters

Archived webinar: Listen to or download my "Update on Plain Writing Principles and the New Law"

Earlier this year, I delivered a 90-minute webinar for Web Manager University entitled Write Plainly: An Update on Plain Writing Principles and the New Law. During the webinar, I discussed plain writing principles, and Kathryn Catania, PLAIN co-chair, presented information on the Plain Writing Act of 2010.

During the webinar, we covered:

• 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 government agencies' operations

Now, you can download the webinar recording (66 MB, 90 minutes) and the presentation slides (PDF, 3 MB).

If you want to laugh yourself silly, download the transcript (PDF, 40 KB), which documents me saying things like "I think is an idiot for FAQs as part of the culture of the Web" and "Not really, but it do go to play my wish..."  Ah, you gotta love digital transcription technology!

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