It’s October 13 which has become known as International Plain Language Day. Since October 13 falls on a Sunday this year, we’ve decided to extend the celebration and make it Plain Language Week (October 13–18). This way, we can reach those (smart) people who don’t check their social media on the weekend.
It’s worth bending the rules a bit this year because we reached a significant milestone that deserves promoting. 50% of our members are non-English plain language professionals! This is an achievement that all Plain Board Members over the last 30 years can be proud of.
Over next week, we will be sharing messages in as many of our members’ languages as possible to highlight our global reach.
The message we will be posting on LinkedIn is:
Happy International Plain Language Week.
You have the right to understand, so demand to understand.
#IPLWeek
We have invited our very international members to translate this or send us something that sounds better in their language.
We’re giving away a few things!
30 Years with 30 Members
The 50% non-english language membership ties in with another nice round number. PLAIN has been growing for 30 years now. To mark this significant year, we’ve put together a digital booklet where we highlight 30 Members who represent the association’s evolution since the 1990s. Download your copy here and watch out for highlights on our LinkedIn page and group.
And be sure to visit the LinkedIn groups for español, India and Português.
Webinars
One of the most valuable things PLAIN has to offer is meeting and learning from other plain language experts. To give an idea of what we all do to the next generation of plain language champions and experts, we’re making some of our webinar recordings freely available and also making our next webinar open to the public.
Our very popular Ask the Experts webinar answered questions about securing buy-in across an organization for implementing plain language. This discussion featured practical advice from people who have successfully advocated for plain language in a variety of organizations: Louise Strait (Pushing the Pen, UK), Mary Jane Nirdlinger (Town of Chapel Hill, USA), and Chantale Audet (Autrement dit, Canada).
Watch out for upcoming registrations for our November webinar Cultural Considerations in Plain Language with Gary Smith. We’re excited to host this one and welcome everyone to this event.
Happy International Plain Language Week!
