Past Meetings

   Frank Boland, an attorney in IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel, has been writing and reviewing regulations for more than 20 years.  Join Frank at this month’s PLAIN meeting for a tour of the “sentence assembly line” as he offers tips for clearing out the clutter in our documents, writing understandable rules and regulations, and explaining rules and regulations.

Directions:

We are not meeting this month.  Enjoy August vacation!

Directions:

With the second annivesary of the Plain Writing Act of 2010 coming up this October, PLAIN still has very little data concering how well federal agencies are complying with the law.  Please join us for a brainstorming session on encouraging agencies to collect, share, and use data on their use of plain language.

Directions:

This month Dees Stallings' presentation focuses on the potential for three "enablers" of plain writing standards:  writing centers, style guides, and productivity measurements.

Learn how 21st-century writing centers and style guides - especially virtual ones - will allow unprecedented document quality control. Also consider how productivity measurements, including assessment methods and ROI calculators can foster a culture of continual improvement. These topics should be useful for all attendees, including managers, editors, consultants, and writers. Participants will be able to test the concepts with colleagues. Handouts provided.

Directions:

Peg Hausman, writer-editor at the U.S. International Trade Commission, will speak about grammatical urban legends. Some of these bugbears are fairly harmless, while (or is it "whereas"?) others can get in the way of plain writing. Bring examples of these pesky phenomena from your own workplace—and any tips you have for dealing with them.

Peg has been editing and teaching (writing, French, English grammar, and more) for over ("more than"?) 35 years. See you there!

Directions:

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Come join us for an exchange of information and ideas on editing and a discussion of editing problems and solutions. No edit question is too small or “dumb.”

For those who can't attend, we will provide call-in information the day of the meeting. 

Directions:

Come join us for a preview of our redesigned website (www.plainlanguage.gov).  We'll also discuss agency style guides and other efforts to implement the Plain Writing Act. 

For those who can't attend, we will provide call-in information the day of the meeting. 

Directions:

Tom Elliott, a Training Program Manager from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), will be the speaker at the November PLAIN meeting.  In recent years, FHWA has identified writing training as a key priority for engineering and technical staff and developed a new training course, Writing Effective Performance Reviews, which is now being delivered to all FHWA staff nationwide.  The course covers such material as writing for your audience, minimizing the use of jargon, and how to write to move readers to action. Tom will give an overview of how the course was developed and how it is improving technical writing at FHWA.

We will be meeting at the U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE so everyone (including federal employees) needs to register.  You must RSVP by COB Tuesday, November 8 and you must be at DOT no later than 1:45 pm to get into the meeting room.

There’s a coffee/soda/snack kiosk right outside the conference center, if you want to arrive early enough before the meeting to grab a snack.

For those who can't attend, we will provide call-in information the day of the meeting. 

Directions:

Join us for a discussion on best practices to promote plain language inside your agency. Katherine Spivey, the General Services Administration's Plain Language Launcher, will discuss how GSA is marketing plain language throughout the agency including good ideas, dud ideas, challenges and best practices.

We will be meeting at the Department of Energy at 1000 Independence Ave., SW so everyone (including federal employees) needs to register.  You must RSVP by COB Tuesday, October 11 and you must be at DOE no later than 1:50 pm to get into the meeting room. For those who can't attend, we will provide call-in information the day of the meeting. 

Directions:

Claudette Chagnon and Cindy Bowers from Information Mapping will be our presenters this month.  Join us to find out:

• What is Information Mapping?
• Background and history about Information Mapping U.S.
• How the Information Mapping Method works
• Six Basic Principles
• Six Information Types
• New Units of Information
• IM Vision for Plain Language

We will be meeting at the General Services Administration (GSA) at 1275 First Street, NE so everyone (including federal employees) needs to be registered.  You must RSVP by COB Tuesday, September 13 and you must be at GSA no later than 1:50 pm to get into the meeting room. For those who can't attend, we will provide call-in information the day of the meeting. 

Directions:

We will be having an August meeting this year (on Thursday, not our regular Wednesday spot)

Join PLAIN and OMB for a discussion on the implementation of the Plain Writing Act. Come prepared to discuss what your agency is doing to prepare for the Oct 13 deadline.

We will be meeting at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at 20 Massachusetts Ave, NW so everyone (including federal employees) needs to be escorted in.  You must RSVP by COB Wednesday, August 10 and you must be at USCIS no later than 1:50 pm to get into the meeting room. For those who can't attend, we will provide call-in information the day of the meeting. 

Directions:

Hank Wallace will discuss:

Write Like the News: 8 Journalism Skills to Transform Your Business Writing

Here's the discussion booklet -- get a head start on the 8 skills: Write Like the News

Hank is a graduate of Columbia Law School, and he wrote the FCC's plain-language newsletter -- including the commission's plain-language description of how cell phones work.

Directions:

Write Like the News

Mark Starford is the founding director and key consultant of The SCILS Group, a national nonprofit consulting firm dedicated to full and inclusive community participation of children with developmental disabilities and their families. He’ll be talking about his work on Feeling Safe, Being Safe.   Many are unprepared to respond to emergency situations and natural disasters. The Board Resource Center with a California consumer group answered the call by developing Feeling Safe, Being Safe, an effective, easy-to-use webcast training and tools that employ a simple learning strategy, Think–Plan–Do. FSBS serves two objectives: enhancing personal emergency preparedness and creating opportunities for persons with function as access needs to be viewed as community contributors who are prepared themselves and can assist others with their preparations.

Directions:

Training Your Staff: Best Practices on Implementing a Plain Language Program

Join the discussion 2 - 3:30 pm on May 11 when Dr. Bruce Corsino (FAA), Melodee Mercer (VA) and Kathryn Catania (USCIS) share best practices on organizing and running a successful plain language program.

Directions:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 111 Massachusetts Ave, NW. USCIS is two blocks down from Union Station. Walk west down Massachusetts Ave (towards Chinatown) until you come to the intersection with New Jersey Ave.  111 Massachusetts is the black, glass building at the corner. You will need government ID or your drivers license to enter the building.  You must RSVP in advance so that we can give the guard desk a list of attendees.  While clearing security, let the guards know you are there for the PLAIN meeting. A USCIS employee will be there to greet and escort you to the meeting room.

April's monthly meeting has been cancelled.  We will reschedule Hank Wallace later this year.

Directions:

Jodi Patterson, from the IRS will discuss the testing process of benefits from rewriting IRS form letters into plain language.

Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby.

Join us from 2 to 3:30 at the Office of the Federal Register.  Solveig Brownfeld will talk about:

Teaching Plain Language to People who Must Interpret Events for Others

How to use verbs, nouns, patterns, tense, and bottom line up front to convey to your reader  what happened, who made it happen, why it is significant, and where it occurred on the timeline.

Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby.

Join us and Nick Fraser from OMB, from 2 to 3:30, for a discussion of the Plain Writing Act of 2010, OMB's preliminary Guidance for the Act, and upcoming guidance.  The meeting will be held at the Office of the Federal Register from 2 to 3:30 on January 12, 2011. 

Be sure to bring your questions.  Please RSVP using the More Information link.  If more people than usual attend we'll have to find a larger room to hold the meeting.

Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby.

Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby.

Join us on November 17, from 2  to 3:30, to celebrate the passage of the Plain Writing Act of 2010.  

Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby.

Join us from 2 pm to 3:30 pm for a historical look at plain language.  Stephen Bess will present The History of Plain Language: Traveling interstate 85.  Stephen will look at references to plain language in early 20th Century America.  Stephen is a writer and plain language consultant for R3i Solutions in Fairfax, VA. 

Directions:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 20 Massachusetts Ave, NW. USCIS is two blocks down from Union Station. Walk west down Massachusetts Ave until you come to the instersection with North Capitol St.  Cross the street towards the Sun Trust bank.  20 Massachusetts is the building next to the bank. You will need government ID or your drivers license to enter the building.  Please RSVP in advance so that we can give the guard desk a list of attendees.  While clearing security, let the guards know you are there for the PLAIN meeting. A USCIS employee will be there to greet and escort you to the meeting room.

Join us from 2 pm to 3:30 pm for a discussion on plain language standards.  As you may know, an International Plain Language Working Group has been working on ways to strengthen the institutional structure for plain language.  Annetta
Cheek and Susan Kleimann will be discussing their work with the Group on
on a plain language definition and plain language standards  for an options paper.

Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby..

Join us from 2 pm to 3:30 pm to hear about healthfinder.gov. 

Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby..

"The anatomy of a plain language battle: A tactical review"

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Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby..

Please join us, from 2 to 3:30 on May 12, in welcoming our presenter Evelyn Fella as she joins us via the telephone from California. Ms. Fella is an independent contractor for English as a Second Language materials and has worked for major educational publishers. She was the lead content writer for USALearns.org. In 2008 the U.S. Education Department funded the development of this popular site to teach English to immigrants. She will discuss that project as well as her current work on preparing students for the citizenship test, and will offer insights into the special needs of non-native English speakers.

Directions:

U.S. Citzenship and Immigration Services is located three blocks west of the Union Station Metro at: 111 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington DC 20001.  Attendees will need to check in with security in the lobby and must have a government issued photo id or state driver's license. A PLAIN member will meet attendees in the hall and escort them to the conference room.

Please join us, from 2 to 3:30 on April 7, in welcoming Anne-Marie Hasselrot, Deputy Director, Ministry of Justice, the Kingdom of Sweden. Ms. Hasselrot will be discussing the Swedish approach to clear legislation  lawyers and plain language experts work as a team. She'll also talk about some of the most common plain language problems.  In addition, she'll discuss problems with legal writing in the European Union. Here is a link to Sweden's plain language page.  http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/4409

Directions:

The Federal Register Office is located three blocks north of the Union Station Metro at: 800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 700, Washington DC 20001.  Go through security in the lobby, you must have a government issued photo id. The Federal Register is located on the 7th floor.  Follow the sign saying public inspection to enter the lobby.

Join us in March for a workshop on training best practices.  Bring your favorite training tips to share with the group.  We'll be able to show your Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and video (as time permits).  The March meeting will also feature a special screening of Invasion of the Space Lobsters! Make sure you don't miss it. 

Directions:

Directions:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 111 Massachusetts Ave, NW., Room 3004, 3rd Floor.
USCIS is three blocks down from Union Station. Walk down Massachusetts Ave until you come to the intersection with New Jersey Ave.  111 Massachusetts in the large black glass building on the corner.  You will need government ID or your drivers license to enter the building.  Please RSVP in advance so that we can give the guard desk a list of attendees.  While clearing security, let the guards know you are there for the PLAIN meeting. A USCIS employee will be there to greet and escort you to the 3rd floor meeting room.

Our February  meeting is canceled because of the weather.  Please check back for information on our March meeting.

Directions:

Directions:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 111 Massachusetts Ave, NW., Room 3004, 3rd Floor.

USCIS is three blocks down from Union Station. Walk down Massachusetts Ave until you come to the instersection with New Jersey Ave.  111 Massachusetts in the large black glass building on the corner.  You will need government ID or your drivers license to enter the building.  Please RSVP in advance so that we can give the guard desk a list of attendees.  While clearing security, let the guards know you are there for the PLAIN meeting. A USCIS employee will be there to greet and escort you to the 3rd floor meeting room.