Just over thirty years ago in Canada, Cheryl Stephens and Kate Harrison Whiteside started organising meetups for editors and writers who were also struggling to convince organisations of the potential of using plain language. Back then they called it The Plain Language Consultants Network. The idea rapidly grew in popularity and numbers and they started organising conferences. In the year 2000 at the conference in Houston, they convinced others to start taking on some responsibilities. This was the beginning of the Association that exists today and can boast members from all over the world.
Watch Cheryl describe the early days in her own words here.
To celebrate International Plain Language Week, we have put together a digital booklet to reflect on PLAIN has attracted and helped new and long-standing members.
Download the PDF
