[ATTW-L] Announcement: 8th Biannual Forum on Plain English at UHD, February 24, 2022

[Natalia Matveeva]

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you and your students to participate in the 8th
Biannual Forum on Plain English organized by the Institute for Plain
English Research and Study (IPERS) at UHD. The forum will take place on
Thursday, February 24, 2022 (10am-3:15pm, Central). It aims to promote
informed uses of Plain English guidelines, which are writing standards
recommended by several government agencies for improved communications with
the general public. The event is free of charge.

*Presenters:*
*Colleen Blessing *was the senior writer/editor and plain language lead for
the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical branch of
the U.S. Department of Energy, where she worked closely with agency authors
(statisticians, engineers, mathematicians, industry specialists) at all
levels to improve their writing skills. She served as primary author of the
agency's Writing Style Guide—which subsequently was adopted by three other
U.S. federal agencies and won the Center for Plain Language’s 2013
ClearMark award for Best Original Public Sector document. After retiring in
2018, Colleen volunteers as an editor for local organizations and as a
teacher of English as a second language.

*Gina Pearson* is an entrepreneurial, innovative, and versatile executive
with three decades of digital communications experience spanning the U.S.
Security and Exchange Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Department of
Education. An early proponent of usability and user-centered design within
the federal government, Gina is a recipient of the prestigious Presidential
Rank Award—the annual White House honor to highly select members of the
Senior Executive Service for sustained, exceptional performance. She has
been recognized twice with Federal Computer Week's Fed 100 award and serves
as a judge for the annual Webby Awards.

*Caroline Jarrett *is the forms specialist, advising organizations on how
to make forms easier to fill in and more effective. Recent clients include
the Future Farming and Countryside Programme for England, NHS Digital, and
the UK Government Digital Service. Caroline’s interest in surveys began
when she discovered the extensive literature on survey methodology, much of
it around making questions easier to answer. Caroline’s latest book,
Surveys That Work: A Practical Guide for Designing and Running Better
Surveys, was published in 2021. She is co-author of Forms That Work:
Designing Web Forms for Usability and the textbook User Interface Design
and Evaluation.

Our one-day forum will address the following topics:

   - We help people understand energy: How the U.S. Energy Information
   Administration embraced plain language and expanded its reach
   - Use your plain language skills to improve your survey

For the program, visit our website at
https://www.uhd.edu/academics/humanities/news-community/institute-plain-english-research-study/Pages/8th-biannual-forum.aspx
.

*Date and Time*: 10am-3:15pm (Central), Thursday, February 24, 2022

*Location*: ZOOM (The link will be sent via email.)

*Registration Deadline*: Monday, February 21, 2022

Register for the forum using our online registration:
https://uhd.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6FHli0ynasK2P42

Please provide your working email address so that we could contact you with
the link to the ZOOM session.

*Sponsors and Supporters*: This program is made possible by the College of
Humanities and Social Sciences and the Institute for Plain English Research
and Study (IPERS) at UHD.

*Contact Information*: If you have any questions, please email us at
matveevan at uhd.edu. We are looking forward to seeing you at the forum.

Michelle Moosally and Natalia Matveeva, UHD

Forum Co-organizers

-- 

Natalia Matveeva, Ph.D.

Professor, Corporate Communication

Communication Studies

Co-director, Institute for Plain English Research and Study (IPERS)

Department of Arts and Communication

University of Houston-Downtown

(713) 222-5371

www.uhd.edu/ipers
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