Annual Summit
2018 Federal Plain Language Summit
Friday, July 20, 2018 11:00 AM – EDT
Hosted by Digital.gov and the Plain Language Community of Practice
On Friday, July 20th, the federal Plain Language community will bring together some of the brightest individuals involved in government communications for a one-day series of talks and conversations on how to advance plain language on government communications.
Do you work in government communications? Gather your team and join us in-person or online to learn about the importance of plain language and methods for implementing it, and learn from fellow communicators from across the federal government.
We believe the public deserves plain language communication from its government, and it's the law. The benefits of plain language are both tangible and intangible:
- Plain language gets your message across in the shortest time possible.
- More people are able to understand your message.
- There is less chance that your document will be misunderstood, so you spend less time explaining it to people. And if your document gives instructions, your readers are more likely to understand them and follow them correctly.
Our Plain Agenda
Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
9:00am | Welcome from Federal Plain Language Community of Practice, Co-Chairs - Katherine Spivey, GSA and Kathryn Catania, USCIS |
9:05am | Welcome from GSA’s Senior Plain Language Official - Donna Garland, GSA |
9:15am - 10:00am | Keynote - Ginny Redish, Redish & Associates |
10:00am - 10:15am | Break |
10:15am - 11:00am | TL;DR - Anne Meeker and Eric Kanter, from the Office of Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-06) |
11:00am - 11:40am | Plain Language, Customer Experience and User Experience — Jon Rubin, CFPB |
11:40am - 12:20pm | How to Design Custom Plain Language Training — Katina Stapleton, Dept. of Education |
12:20pm - 1:15pm | Break for Lunch |
1:15pm - 1:55pm | Plain Language and Translation — Laura Godfrey, GSA |
1:55pm - 2:25pm | Center for Plain Language Report Card — David Lipscomb, Center from Plain Language |
2:25pm - 2:40pm | Break |
2:40pm - 3:10pm | Meeting People Where They Are - Meredith Larson, Dept. of Education |
3:10pm - 3:50pm | No, the Law Does Not Normally Require Legalese - Joe Kimble, Professor Emeritus, Western Michigan University |
3:50pm - 4:00pm | Wrap Up & Closing - Kathryn Catania, USCIS and Katherine Spivey, GSA |
Conference Documents and Ephemera
- The Slides for the 2018 Plain Language Summit (PDF, 13.7 MB, 226 pages)
- A Plain Language Wordsearch
- #PlainSummit2018 — What people are saying on Twitter
- Follow @govplainlang on twitter
- Visit PlainLanguage.gov/
About plainlanguage.gov
The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) is a group of federal employees from different agencies and specialties who support the use of clear communication in government writing.
- Visit PlainLanguage.gov
- Join the community
- Follow @govplainlang on Twitter
