plain language . . . success!

The Center for Plain Language, in Washington, D.C., is sponsoring an afternoon symposium on November 7, 2008, at the National Press Club. The symposium is dedicated to plain-language success stories, particularly in their effect on cost savings and other benefits. The symposium will be followed by a reception.

Scheduled speakers and topics include the following:

• Dr. Susan Kleimann, President, Kleimann Communication, Lending documents: Bottom-line Benefits of Plain Language
• Josiah Fiske, President, Firehouse Financial, Plain Funny: Using Simple Language and Sophisticated Humor to Change How Employees Think
• Dr. Arthur Culbert, Senior Advisor, Missouri Foundation for Health, A Vision for a Health-Literate Missouri: Building a Statewide Health Literacy Center
• Dr. William Smith, Executive Vice President, Academy for Educational Development, Health Literacy and Social Marketing: A Unique Partnership
• Barb McLaughlin, Vice President, Smart Source Healthcare, Cure Patients and Profits with Clear Communications
• Irene Itzkorn, Group Director of Simplification, Siegel+Gale, Amazingly Simple Stuff
• Deborah Bosley, Director, Center for Humanities, Technology, and Science, UNC Charlotte, Unexpected Results: Usability and Redesign in TIAA-CREF's Minimum Distribution Letter to Participants

The Center for Plain Language will also hold a briefing on the current federal legislation requiring certain government documents to be in plain language.

Click here for more information and a registration form. Cost of the symposium alone is $100 to members and $150 to non-members of the Center for Plain Language; for both the symposium and the reception (must be a doozie!), the cost goes up to $200 for members and $250 for non-members. Get the boss to pay.

Hat tip: Joe Kimble

(cmb)