Plain Talk Basics

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Plain Talk Basics

• How to get your message across to your readers

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What is Plain Talk?

• Clear communication that answers the readers
  questions
• Concise communication that considers the readers
  time
• Well designed documents that guide the readers to
  key points and required action

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JOB 1

• As a writer, your one and only job is to be
  understood by your audience

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Rule 1

• So, Plain Talk rule 1 is know your audience

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Your message should answer the following
questions

• What information do you have that they need to
  know?
• Why do they need to know it?
• Do they need to do something with it?
• When do they need to do it?

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Some Plain Talk Basics

• Make sure you and your reader are speaking the
  same language

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• Avoid acronyms and jargon
• Use active voice
• Use pronouns
• Use common, everyday words
• Keep sentences and paragraphs short
• Use logical organization
• Use headlines and bulleted lists as guideposts

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What is jargon?

• Jargon is shorthand that we use to communicate
  with each other.

This is the RFP for the new TPA at UMP. I have to
drop it off at OFM before PEBBs FSA meeting
today.
I have to go to a meeting on BHP recert
procedures, but I can meet you for lunch if we
can get back in time for FABs GMAP presentation
at 1 oclock.
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• We know jargon when we hear it, but we may not
  recognize it when we use it.

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• Here are some terms we use that our customers may
  not understand
• COC (Certificate of Coverage)
• PEBB (Public Employee Benefits Board)
• Recertification
• Cost-share
• Out-of-pocket limit
• Deductible
• Beneficiary
• Coinsurance
• WAC (Washington Administrative Code)
• RCW (Revised Code of Washington)

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• If you must use a term that is not commonly known
  to most readers, or one that has more than one
  meaning

What is a certificate of coverage?
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Oh, OKit says right herea COC is the booklet
that gives me the details of my plans coverage.

• explain what you mean

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What is active voice?

• In sentences written in active voice, the subject
  performs the action expressed in the verb. The
  subject acts.
• Its simply saying who does what to whom, in that
  order. Here is an example The dog bit the boy.
• In passive voice, the boy would have been bitten
  by the dog The boy was bitten by the dog.

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So what?

• Either way, the boy has a bite
• and the dog is in trouble. Right?

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• Right, but it takes the reader less time and
  effort to get the message when you use active
  voice.
• Sentences in active voice are
• Generally clearer and more direct
• More concise because fewer words are required to
  express action

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Here are some more examples

• Passive Your application was rejected for lack
  of complete information.
• Active We rejected your application because you
  did not give us all of the information we
  requested.
• Passive Your enrollment will be canceled if your
  payment is not received by the due date.
• Active We will cancel your enrollment if we do
  not receive your payment by the due date.
• Passive Your students dependent coverage will
  no longer be in effect because eligibility rules
  were not met.
• Active We have canceled your students dependent
  coverage because he no longer qualifies as a
  dependent under PEBB rules.

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Use pronouns to make clear who is responsible for
what actions

• If you dont pay your bill on time we will cancel
  your enrollment.
• We will send you a new card as soon as you send
  in your completed application.
• If you do not choose a new health plan during
  open enrollment, we will enroll you in the
  Uniform Medical Plan.

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• Please dont ever say Mistakes were made.
• If we made a mistake, we will fix it. If you
  make a mistake, we will ask you to fix it.

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Use common, everyday words

• I love words but I don't like strange ones. You
  don't understand them and they don't understand
  you. Old words is like old friends, you know 'em
  the minute you see 'em. Will Rogers

Most readers feel the same way as Americas
cowboy poet felt. Your customers shouldnt have
to use a dictionary to be able to understand you.
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Important Announcement

• National Talk-Like-A-Bureaucrat Month has been
  canceled.
• The new rule speak your customers language.

• With this
• you
• aid, help
• begin, start
• carry out, start
• by, following, per, under
• for, so
• for

• Replace this
• addressees
• assist, assistance
• commence
• implement
• in accordance with
• in order that
• in the amount of

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And the list goes on

• With this
• if
• issue, publish
• about
• give, send
• next
• end, stop
• use

• Replace this
• in the event of
• promulgate (lawyers love this)
• regarding
• submit
• subsequent
• terminate
• utilize, utilization

For many more simple word suggestions and other
Plain Language tips, go to http//www.plainlangua
ge.gov/
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Some good advice for writers from some really
smart people

• The most valuable of talents is never using two
  words when one will do."  Thomas Jefferson (Hes
  the second one from the left.)

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• If you can't explain it simply, you don't
  understand it well enough. Albert Einstein (Hes
  the one with the big hair.)

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• Short, sweet, and to the point. Clear writing,
  and therefore clear commands, comes from clear
  thinking. Think simple. Timothy Ferriss (Hes the
  one who wrote The 4-Hour Workweek.)

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Why use short sentences?

• Clear writing is as much about organization as it
  is about using the right words.
• Short sentences and single-idea paragraphs give
  readers information in bite-size pieces that are
  easy to digest.

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What do you mean by logical organization?

• Its anticipating the readers questions and
  answering them in the order they occur.

What will they think of
next?
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Give your readers a road map
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• Use headlines to break up material and make it
  easy for readers to skim until they find the
  information they need.

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Use bulleted or numbered lists to draw attention
to Choices Multiple requirements
Steps in a process.
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The bitter truth?

• Its not about you.
• Its all about themthe reader.
• So, leave your ego and your college vocabulary at
  the door.
• You work for the people, and you need to speak
  their language. Use words that work, not words
  meant to impress.

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• Use familiar wordswords that your readers will
  understand, and not words they will have to look
  up. No advice is more elementary, and no advice
  is more difficult to accept. When we feel an
  impulse to use a marvelously exotic word, let us
  lie down until the impulse goes away. James J.
  KilpatrickJournalist, author, and syndicated
  columnist

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In summary

• Plain talk is not rocket science.

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And its not literature.
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Its communicating.
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Giving people information
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Speaking their language
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Anticipating their questions
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The best way to test your messages?

• Try them out on a coworker or family member.
• Ask them to read your document and tell you what
  they think it says.
• You will probably be surprisedand not in a good
  way.

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A final word

• One should aim
• not at being possible to understand,
• but at being impossible to misunderstand.
• Quintilian, Roman teacher of rhetoric
  and oratory

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Some excellent onlinePlain Talk resources

• Governor Gregoires Web site
• Plain Language.gov