Renee Cullinan 30 sec interview
Last modified on 2011-03-11 11:37:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
In your opinion, what’s new and exciting in the field of plain language/info design?
Demand for plain language and information design is on the rise in corporations. Information overload is the new norm, and yet employees hunger for clarity, direction, and meaning. Executives are finding it harder and harder to communicate complex ideas to their direct reports, superiors and peers in ways that “rise above the noise.” The era of buzzwords and corporate-speak is ending. Clear communication is the new imperative and the people who practice it provide differentiated value and achieve business results.
Why should people attend Clarity 2010?
This diverse global forum affords us the opportunity to exchange knowledge, tools and practices across disciplines and industries. By sharing our success stories, we can create a strong community of practitioners with a shared vision for a new standard of communication and a greater ability to realize that vision in our respective arenas. Together, we can create global awareness of the importance of plain language and inspire others to join our cause.
Why should people come and see your presentation?
Learn how a Fortune Global 500 company used plain language and information design to overcome obstacles in a major initiative impacting $4B of annual revenue and 50,000 partners worldwide. We will share “before and after” examples and explain how we applied the principles and practices of clear communication to facilitated dialogue, presentation content, and narrative documents. In addition, we’ll describe how we applied technology to engage 20 executives in over 5 time zones in an intensive process that resulted in a unanimously ratified document.
Renee Cullinan is Managing Partner at Atalanta Partners, a consulting firm focused on bringing clarity and meaning to corporate strategies. Her presentation, “Cisco systems drives strategy execution through clarity and alignment“, will be given with Steve Blunt, Senior Director of Cisco Systems. It demonstrates the power and necessity of clear, explicit, plain language to support strategy execution within large, complex corporations.
About Renee
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Eamonn Moran – 30 second interview
Last modified on 2011-03-11 11:37:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
In your opinion, what’s new and exciting in the field of plain language?
I’m looking forward to finding out what is really new and exciting in the field of plain language/info design in Lisbon in October.
Why should people attend Clarity2010?
There are many reasons why people should attend Clarity2010. (1) To learn about new developments in the field of plain language; (2) to network; (3) for enjoyment, as doubtless the conference will provide plenty of that.
Why should people come and see your presentation?
People should come along to my presentation to learn about the stylistic challenges involved in amending elderly legal texts.
Eamonn will be presenting “Intergenerational drafting: a very modern dilemma“, which discusses the process of taking very old legal text and making it understandable and relevant in today’s society.
About Eamonn
Mr Eamonn Moran is Law Draftsman in the Department of Justice of Hong Kong, and a Member of the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong. He has 36 years experience in legislative drafting, including 8 years as Chief Parliamentary Counsel in Victoria, Australia. He has been President of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel since 2007.
Susan Kleimann – 30 second interview
Last modified on 2010-09-26 21:29:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
In your opinion, what’s new and exciting in the field of plain language?
We are seeing so much more attention being placed on how design affects usability. For so long, plain language was accused of only thinking about the words. How good to see what was always inherent in the definition of plain language getting more attention.
Why should people attend Clarity2010?
There are few other opportunities when a group of people so passionate about plain language in all of its richness come together to share ideas and projects. I find it exciting to be able to think and talk about how plain language is similar and different as we cross national boundaries.
Why should people come and see your presentation?
Everyday, companies and governments chip away at our privacy by collecting, tracking, and using our personal information. And most of the time, we are unaware of their policies because of the gobbledygook they use to “inform” us. My paper will talk about the U.S. government’s effort and success in producing a national privacy policy that consumers can read, understand, and use.
Susan will be presenting “Can You Understand What This Privacy Notice Says?“, a focus on the challenges of dealing with consumers’ understanding of privacy policies and lessons learned from a major project for the U.S. federal government.
She will also be hosting a panel in the seminars called “Building a Corporate Plain Language Culture” at the conference. Using Healthwise as an example, the panel will discuss the organization’s history, strategies, and programs to build and sustain a corporate culture of plain language.
About Susan
Dr. Susan Kleimann, President of Kleimann Communication Group, has created a culture of plain language within government agencies.
Bill Lutz – 30 second interview
Last modified on 2010-09-26 21:29:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
In your opinion, what’s new and exciting in the field of plain language/info design?
The dominance of the web in providing information and the challenges in making legally mandated information on the web accessible, understandable, and useable.
Why should people attend Clarity2010?
To learn about the latest developments in the use of plain language in law in countries and cultures around the world, and to meet and discuss issues in plain legal language with people from many countries and backgrounds.
Why should people come and see your presentation?
I will discuss and describe a fundamentally different approach to making legal language accessible and understandable. My presentation is based on my experience at the US Securities and Exchange commission.
Bill will be presenting Legal Language and Interactive Technology at the conference. It explores how the growing use of interactive technology will radically alter the nature and role of language in financial disclosure and legal documents.
William Lutz is Emeritus Professor of English at Rutgers University in New Jersey and an attorney. He is the author or co-author of 17 books. He has worked for over 20 years in plain language. In 1989 he helped prepare the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Plain English Handbook, and in 2009 he prepared a report for the SEC on how it could modernize its disclosure system.
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Dr. Neil James – 30 second interview
Last modified on 2010-09-26 21:29:59 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
In your opinion, what’s new and exciting in the field of plain language?
The work of the International Plain Language Working Group which will report at a plenary session at Clarity2010 on its progress towards a definition, standards, certification, training, an institutional structure, research and advocacy for plain language.
Why should people attend Clarity2010?
Ideas, ideas, ideas. These events are vital for all practitioners to learn what is happening throughout the world and improve their own practice at home. These events make a real difference.
Why should people come and see your presentation?
Industry seminar: Based on a survey of 30 public sector agencies, this session will help you understand how to motivate government organisations to adopt plain language.
Panel session: We all suspected that language was a major factor in the global financial meltdown. Come and find out just how significant it was.
Plenary: The international working group will discuss some of the most difficult but important steps in developing our profession, from settling on a standard definition for plain language to setting up certification systems and international standards.
Neil is presenting “Persuading the public sector to invest in plain language” at Clarity2010. This seminar will examine what motivates public sector agencies to adopt plain language and what factors lead to success or failure. It is based on a Plain English Foundation survey of 30 government agencies in Australia.
Annetta Cheek – 30 second interview
Last modified on 2010-09-26 21:29:59 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
In your opinion, what’s new and exciting in the field of plain language?
What interests me most is seeing the wide variety of projects from many different countries. It seems to me that more countries are involved in the effort each year. I’m also pleased to see the increasing integration of design considerations, something the plain language movement used to ignore.
Why should people attend Clarity2010?
Each time I attend Clarity I get many new ideas for plain language projects. If you don’t take the time to find out what others are doing, you run the risk of wasting your time redoing something that’s already been done, or missing findings that could support your efforts.
Why should people come and see your presentation?
Anyone interested in trying to get legislative action on plain language will find this presentation interesting and instructive. Hopefully it will give them a jump-start on their legislative efforts.
Annetta is presenting The battle of the Bill at Clarity2010. This paper will explore the efforts of plain language supporters to get the United States Congress to pass a bill requiring federal agencies to write certain documents in plain language.
Dr. Cheek is an anthropologist with a PhD from the University of Arizona. Her 25-year US Federal government career focused on writing and implementing regulations. She spent four years as the chief plain language expert on Vice President Gore’s task force for reinventing government. She was the chair of the federal interagency plain language advocacy group, PLAIN, since it was founded in 1995 until she retired in 2007, and administered the group’s website, www.plainlanguage.gov. She is now the Chair of the board of the private sector Center for Plain Language.
Helena Englund Hjalmarsson – 30 second interview
Last modified on 2010-09-26 21:29:59 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
In your opinion, what’s new and exciting in the field of plain language?
The new and exciting thing in Sweden right now is the new Language Law. We are strengthening the infrastructure and making it easier to argue for clarity and plain language.
Why should people attend Clarity2010?
People should come to Clarity2010 to get new ideas and learn how other people and countries are achieving clarity in legal documents.
Why should people come and see your presentation?
My presentation is about simple banking. Most banks are reluctant to rewrite their terms and conditions because it takes time and courage. ‘Simple Banking’ is a success story about a bank that had the opportunity and the courage – but, of course, there were also some obstacles on the way.
Helena is presenting Simple banking – a success story about a bank contract at Clarity2010.
About Helena
Helena Englund Hjalmarsson is a Plain Language consultant specialized in legible language and writing for the Web. She is also the co-author of Klarspråk på nätet (Plain Language on the Web) and Tillgängliga webbplatser i praktiken (Accessible Websites in Practice), both of which are widely used in editorial offices across Sweden. She is also the chairperson of The Association of Swedish Language Consultants.
Clarity2010 program available
Last modified on 2010-08-20 17:00:28 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
The Clarity2010 program is available here.
We have over 90 international speakers sharing their experiences in plain legal writing, law and information graphics.
The conference covers subjects for newcomers to plain language and also for more experienced professionals.
Call for speakers closed – Program available soon
Last modified on 2010-06-11 16:03:33 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
With the call for speakers closed, we are delighted to announce that we received more than 80 proposals. We’re currently going through all of them and the program will be available soon. If you missed the deadline but strongly believe you have something the world needs to hear about, contact us as soon as possible.
The conference is four months away and the event is gaining momentum, with delegates already registering to take advantage of the earlybird discount. In the last few weeks, we managed to secure two new sponsors, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Portuguese Social Security Institute. We also some lined up some high-profile speakers, including the Portuguese Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, João Tiago Silveira, who will tell us about Simplegis, the government’s new legislation simplification initiative.
Call for speakers extended
Last modified on 2010-06-11 14:17:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Clarity is an association of lawyers, judges and lay people dedicated to researching and promoting the use of plain legal language. Clarity2010, its fourth international conference, will focus on multidisciplinary ways of achieving clarity in legal, administrative and corporate communications.
If you’d like to contribute as a speaker, please submit your proposal by 31 May using the proposal form.