The deadline for submitting your proposal to the PLAIN 2019 conference is the 15th of February.
The conference theme is “Clear communication – clear results”. We seek interesting and dynamic speakers who can show different aspects of how clear communication is beneficial for society, companies, users, democracy or justice.
Margrethe Kvarenes of Norway (pictured) was elected the new President of PLAIN by the members of the organization’s board. Margrethe thanked her predecessor, Joanna Richardson of Argentina, for her wonderful service to PLAIN during her tenure.
Returning officers are Jana Goldman, United States, Vice-President; Greg Moriarty, Australia, Secretary; and Diane Macgregor, Canada, Treasurer.
The Board also welcomed two new members – Miguel Martinho of Portugal and Irene Stotko of South Africa.
The new President has great faith in PLAIN’s strategic plan, and Margrethe’s main goals for her term are to add value for PLAIN’s members and to professionalize the organization and the field of plain language further.
Margrethe is a manager at the Language Council of Norway, the Norwegian Government’s consultative body on language issues. Her career includes positions in international organizations and extensive Board experience from both non-governmental organizations and the public sector. As plain language advocate, lecturer, and author she has played a major part in establishing plain language in Norway’s civil service – a ten-year initiative which has set a new standard for public communication in Norway.
Start planning now for International Plain Language Day on October 13.
Theme for 2018: Let’s be clear!
Plan a local, regional, national, organization-wide, in-person or virtual event to celebrate accomplishments in 2018 or promote your plain language initiatives for the coming year.
Event ideas:
Share your plans for IPlainDay October 13:
Past International Plain Day celebrations have included art and music displays celebrating plain language, public demonstrations and marches, coffee meetings, luncheons, dinners, and exhibitions of plain language work from around the world.
PLAIN was pleased to sponsor the first international seminar on plain language on Thursday, July 26 in Santiago, Chile. Held in the Bicentennial auditorium of the Chilean Interior Ministry, the seminar was attended by 270 people. Organized by the Chilean Transparency Council, the PUCV and the Chilean Plain Language Network, the seminar featured speakers from the Chilean branch of Transparency International and the Chilean Plain Language Network, as well as international experts.
PLAIN’s sign-up and renewal system is now working normally. If you couldn’t sign up or renew your membership these past months, please try again now. We apologize to our members for any inconvenience caused.
Exciting and innovative plain language programs and projects were presented during PLAIN’s 2017 conference in Graz. Were you impressed with the “Needs Plain Language” stamp used by the Minister of Communications in Norway? Or the Plain Polish Project? How about work being done in Hungary or Ireland?
You can find most of the 70 presentations now online. Check out the conference program below, and click on the presentations’ title to view them.
PLAIN 2017 Conference Programme Austria (pdf)
Copyright of the presentations belongs to their respective authors. Please use the direct link to the presentations on PLAIN’s website if you want to share them with other people. The PLAIN Board thanks you in advance for complying with this requirement.
PLAIN’s Executive Committee for 2017-18 is President Joanna Richardson, Vice-President Jana Goldman, Treasurer Diane Macgregor, and Secretary Greg Moriarty.
We’re happy to welcome 3 new Board members: Bede Sunter from Australia, Kate Harrison Whiteside and Marie Antaya, both from Canada.
This Board has 4 members from non-English speaking countries, continuing PLAIN’s international commitment. At the recent annual general meeting in Graz, Austria, PLAIN pledged to continue expanding to other countries.
PLAIN looks forward to an active and productive 2017. If you have any suggestions please get in touch at info@plainlanguagenetwork.org.
Breaking news: Oslo, Norway is the venue for PLAIN’s 12th international conference in 2019!
Watch this video for details about #PLAIN2019.
As presented at the 11th PLAIN conference in Graz
Learn what citizens from New Zealand, the US, and Portugal think about plain language.
Check out the survey results (pdf, 3 MB)
Leave us your email to stay up to date with the latest findings from our ongoing worldwide surveys about plain language. We’ll only share relevant information with you.
PLAIN is pleased to announce that there are two more pages on our website in French, and in Portuguese.
In line with PLAIN’s international and multilingual perspective, our website now has four non-English plain language pages: French, Portuguese, Spanish, and German.
With this initiative we aim to promote plain language in languages other than English so that more people can access our resources and learn about plain language. If you have any suggestions for the language you would like to see featured on our website, please let us know!
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