Poor President Obama. Besieged from the right and the left on Afghanistan, Iran, the economy, not to mention the oil disaster in the Gulf. He's accused of being too cerebral (No drama Obama) and of being too belligerent ("know whose ass to kick"). Now he is under...
Plain Language Writing Courses
“Attrit” or Death By Buzzword
I've spent the last two days attending (and speaking at) the ACCE Call Center Management Conference. I have heard lots of insightful presentations about providing excellent customer service and I've met some really intelligent and interesting people. It's been a great...
People-First Language: The Missing Page In Your Stylebook?
Today, I was an invited speaker at the National Association of Government Communicators' annual Communications School conference in Bethesda, Maryland. Before my session, I attended a wonderful presentation: "A Market You Can’t Miss: People with Disabilities" by...
“Plain language is a civil right…”
And with those stirring words, Annetta Cheek, chair of the Center for Plain Language, kicked off last week's 2009 Plain Language Symposium. And the stirring words about the need for clarity in writing continued throughout the event. Here are some of my favorite...
Research Report: Old Writing Rules Apply to New Social Media
While updating our web writing courses, I've been scouring usability research to find new studies that apply to web writing. The findings from two separate research studies from the Software Usability Research Laboratory (SURL) at Wichita State University remind me...
World Usability Day Offer: Free Plain Language Consult, Training, Resources from Webcontent.gov
The folks at Webcontent.gov really know how to celebrate World Usability Day, which falls this year on November 12, 2009. It won't be just another stale-donuts-in-the-conference-room party, no sirree. For this year's World Usability Day, Webcontent.gov has a great...
Five Grammar “Rules” That Beg To Be Broken
For those of us who were actually taught grammar in school, we have stored in our long-term memory a list of unbreakable grammar rules. Usually they start with never. Often we remember the rule, but we don’t actually remember why it’s a rule. And guess what: some of...
Rumor Central: A Gossip-Quelling Blog from Missouri’s Retirement System
After my recent web writing presentation at the National Association of Government Communicators' annual Communications School in Orlando, Candy Smith, Communications Supervisor for the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System (MOSERS), asked me to take a look at...
The Best Ever Customer Service E-Mail
As I was writing a recent post on hyphens, I noticed that the font on the TypePad edit screen kept getting smaller. Soon my nose was inches from the monitor as I tried to make out almost infinitesimal type. Since the small type was only on this one edit screen—all...
Job Application Language: Choose VERY Carefully
I recently served as a "hired reader." I had a consulting gig as the subject matter expert hired to review application packets for a high-level Communications Director position. I read and scored the three required essay questions applicants answered to apply for the...
