We are thrilled to welcome two new members to our Board of Directors who bring a diverse background and past experience at PLAIN.
Joanna Richardson was elected as the new President of PLAIN at the AGM on November 22, 2022. She takes over from Margrethe Kvarenes, who has steered the association since 2018.
Joanna is based in Argentina and is an ideal choice to represent PLAIN in 2023, as our bi-annual conference is taking place in Buenos Aires this year. For nearly 2 decades, Joanna taught plain English at Argentina’s leading law firm. She now works freelance training professionals worldwide in clear communications skills. A long standing member of both Clarity and PLAIN, Joanna served on the board of PLAIN from 2012-2018, first in Communications and for her last year of service as President of PLAIN. She also serves on the Observatorio de Lenguaje Claro de la Facultad de Derecho.

Torunn Reksten will serve as Vice President. She is a plain language expert at the Language Council of Norway. As a plain language advocate, lecturer, editor and author since 2008, she has played a central part in building plain language awareness and competence. This initiative has set a new standard for public communication in Norway. Torunn represents the Norwegian standardization body to ISO 24995—Plain Language and serves on the Drafting Committee of ISO Working Group 11 for the standard. Torunn is passionate about innovation, service design and good user experience.

We say farewell and sincere thanks to Margrethe Kvarenes and Hannah Sapunor-Davis. As President, Margrethe has made considerable progress in expanding PLAIN’s reach beyond the English speaking world.
Hannah has served as Communications Director since 2019 and played a crucial role in modernizing PLAIN’s communications and shaping the role and the communication division.

PLAIN is growing and we are looking for a managing editor to help us shape, edit and publish PLAIN’s e-journal, which is one of our major assets for members. The journal is published twice a year.

This is a freelance position that will work independently but in coordination with PLAIN’s different committees. Are you interested in working for PLAIN? Read on to learn about the support we need.

As a Managing Editor, you will:

• Work with the PLAIN to set direction for the publication and future issues.
• Contribute content ideas and contact potential contributors as appropriate. May occasionally contribute original work to the publication.
• Manage production of each issue from beginning to end, ensuring that timelines are met.
• Ensure articles are relevant to the theme of each issue and collaborate with contributors to ensure their work meets editorial standards and practices.
• Directly edit each issue, liaising with contributors, incorporating feedback and edits, and then liaising with the graphic designer.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

Your concrete tasks will include:

1. Producing the e-journal

a. proposing topics for issues to the PLAIN board members and
collecting feedback
b. writing and posting calls for submissions
c. managing publications inbox
d. commissioning articles from authors as needed
e. receiving proposals and responding to them
f. substantive/developmental editing and working with authors (first
round of editing)
g. copy-editing with house style (second round of editing)
coordinating final proofreading (third round of editing)
h. coordinating foreword with PLAIN president
i. writing introduction to journal
j. coordinating layout/timeline with designer
k. coordinating publishing with PLAIN comms committee (website,
email to members)

2. Internal communication

a. managing all timelines
b. updating style guide and contributor guide as needed
c. managing files in Dropbox

3. Sponsor work

a. reaching out to potential sponsors
b. coordinating sponsor/ad files
c. cooperation with PLAIN’s treasurer to collect sponsor contributions

As our managing editor, you will work in a remote environment with people from around the world.

Qualifications

Qualified candidates must have

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and three years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated experience working in plain language.
• Strong written communication skills in English.
• Ability to work a minimum of 25 hours per issue, including sponsor outreach.
• Ability to invoice PLAIN.

We are looking for people who have:

• Ability to work creatively and independently as well as part of a team, including taking creative feedback from other members of the PLAIN board.
• Connection to the plain language community.
• Knowledge of other languages.
• Proficiency with cloud storage software, authoring and co-editing software, and team collaboration apps such as Slack.

• Professional email etiquette (clear, friendly, helpful)
• Ability to meet timelines.
• Ability to work remotely.
• Ability to work with people from various cultures and backgrounds.

Working Conditions

May be required to work occasional evenings and weekends.
This is a one-year term appointment with the potential for renewal.

The pay rate is USD 25-30 per hour, depending on experience.

Additional Information

We encourage individuals who are members of or identify with underrepresented and/or marginalized populations, including people of color, LGBTQ+, ability/disability and non-binary gender identities, among others, to apply.

Think you’re a good fit? Please send us:

• your CV/resume
• a letter of motivation describing why you would be the perfect fit for this position.
• 2 references

Send application material to info@plainlanguagenetwork.org. The deadline for applications is November 25, 2022 The chosen candidate will start as early as December 2022.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Calling all plain language advocates!

Thursday, October 13 is international plain language day.

Let’s celebrate plain language together as a community and get the world talking about plain language.

Reach out to your networks, find your hashtag on your keyboard, and help PLAIN get plain language to the top of everyone’s minds and newsfeeds.

What we’re planning

Hosting a LinkedIn live event

Romina Marazzato Sparano will be talking to some esteemed guests at Plain Matters Live on Linkedin. See below for details.

Getting #plainlanguage trending on social media channels

During the week we will urge as many people as possible to talk about plain language.

How can you get involved?

On social media:

1. Promote the event by using the hashtag #IPlainDay and #plainlanguage on your posts during the week
2. Post the Did you know? image on your timeline
3. Tell us about projects and achievements you are most proud of
4. Take a few minutes to congratulate and ask about other people’s projects
5. Wish everyone a Happy Plain Language Day on Thursday

In the real world:

1. Share news about international plain language day with your audience (clients, citizens, network)
2. Bring up international plain language day in conversations with family and friends when you talk about your work
3. Tell us what you are planning so we can promote it through our channels

How can we convince our colleagues that implementing plain language is worth the effort? Many of us intuitively understand the benefits. But we also need concrete data and examples to help build the case for plain language as a powerful tool.

The next issue of PLAIN’s e-journal will focus on showing results.

We are looking for contributions from colleagues around the world who have documented the effects and benefits of plain language. Articles could cover any aspect of this, such as:

• evidence-based research
• case studies
• best practices for measuring the impact of plain language.

We also welcome ideas for interviews with experts and book reviews that are relevant to this topic.

Articles should be short pieces of 800 to 1,000 words. They are all published in English, although we prefer to include a second version in the author’s own language where that is not English.

We aim to include a broad range of perspectives on this topic across different regions, industries, and practices. You do not have to be a member to contribute to the e-journal, but members’ submissions (as well as first-time contributors) will be prioritized.

Contributions are due in November. The issue will be published in early 2023.

If you are interested in submitting an article, please send a message with a summary of your article to publications@plainlanguagenetwork.org.