Plain English Writing Training
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Plain English is writing something in a way that allows the reader to understand it at first reading, and in the way you want them to.
It’s clear, direct, uses as few words as needed, and avoids ambiguity, verbiage and complex sentences. To communicate successfully and clearly, you don’t need to be Shakespeare. But you must have a sincere desire to inform.
Our plain English workshops are a must for organisations that want their staff to write in plain English.
And they’re done in person or online using digital training materials, making it easy to join from home or the office.
Our plain English training is tailored to meet your writers’ needs, which we identify through discussions with you and by studying examples of their writing in advance. The workshops are engaging and participative, with practical work, quizzes and group work.
We are experienced in providing in-house, professional plain English courses for federal, state, and local government bodies, law firms, insurance companies and banks. These organisations trust us to pitch our plain English training at an appropriate level, to respect and develop the existing knowledge and skills of their staff, and to provide useable writing and editing tips and techniques.
Here’s a few examples of our plain English writing and editing
Before: If you need advice on another potential claim or legal matter, you should discuss this with your lawyer. Your lawyer will then inform you whether our firm will offer to legally represent you in that particular additional claim or legal matter. If the firm does offer to represent you in that additional claim or legal matter, we will create a new agreement applying to that particular claim or legal matter to cover your representation by the firm.
After: If we agree to handle any further issues or claims, we’ll need a new agreement to cover them.
- Before: No payment will be made to any one who makes an application for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of an application in response to this Request for Proposals. Costs associated with preparing and submitting an application in response to this Request for Proposal, as well as any other costs incurred by the applicant associated with the evaluation of this Request for Proposals, are the sole responsibility of the applicant making the application.
- After: You pay preparation, submission and all other related costs.
- Before: I have read and I understand the information as it appears above which covers off the terms and conditions of this survey and I consent and agree to participating in this survey as per those terms and conditions.
- After: I accept the T&Cs of this survey.
- Before: Without fail, you must always follow the rules as listed below at all times and without exception.
- After: Please follow these rules.
- Before: If the Tenant continues to occupy the Premises after the Expiry Date with the Landlord’s approval, it does so under a monthly tenancy which may be ended by either party on one month’s notice expiring on any day on the same terms as this lease except for those changes which are necessary to make this lease appropriate for a monthly tenancy but any security required under this lease may not be reduced).
- After: If a Landlord lets a Tenant stay after a lease’s Expiry Date:
- the lease goes month-to-month
- the bond stays the same
- either party must give a month’s notice to vacate.
To ensure the lessons are not forgotten, attendees take away our plain English tips flyer for their desk.
Our plain English training is:
Proven to work
Our training workshops have been improving government writing since 2000 with consistently good results.
Now your staff can benefit from our experience.
Hands on
When your people attend one of our workshops, their writing confidence will grow immediately, and they will write better from day one.
Interactive
APM’s principal and lead trainer, Andrew Pegler, is a highly experienced communicator.
He skilfully encourages attendees to contribute, get involved and learn about new and better ways to write. His emphasis will be on learning and then doing, by completing exercises specially designed around your required outcomes.
Tailored
We will customize the workshops to your needs, to best reflect the everyday writing challenges your staff face.
General aims and benefits of our plain English training
- Increased staff efficiency because the planning of written work improves
- Staff producing clear, well-punctuated, well-structured writing that fulfils its purpose
- Reduced costs as staff no longer work with unclear, poorly structured content
- Staff able to identify good writing and rectify sub-standard work
- Staff able to decide when writing is ‘fit to go’ and, therefore, when to avoid unnecessary alterations
Our face-to-face and one-on-one training and workshops have been a must for organisations that want their staff to write in plain English. Andrew Pegler’s extensive knowledge, experience and qualifications in communications and writing training, and qualifications in design, delivery, assessment and evaluation of adult learning programs, have seen us train countless staff since 2000.
APM’s eight plain English principles form the spine of our workshops.
Around them, we wrap numerous practical exercises including group plain English editing exercises (learning by doing is crucial!).
With virtual training, breakout rooms and other channels, we provide the perfect environment for individual interaction or collective discussions and exercises. Regular breaks ensure everyone stays engaged.
To ensure the lessons are not forgotten, attendees take away a 600gsm copy of our plain English tips flyer for their desk.
Content of a typical workshop:
We take the journey of plain English from the French/English legal doublet to Einstein’s theory of simplicity. From Churchill’s demand for plain English during the Battle of Britain to the famous musings of George Orwell’s and today’s global shift towards plain English.
More specifically we examine
- What plain English is and how to recognize it
- APM’s eight plain English principles
- Practical skills staff can apply
- How to get to the point, quickly
- A refresher on the basics of structure, sentence length, everyday English, punctuation and grammar
- Why plain English is important
- Writing myths explained and exposed
- Numerous individual plain English editing exercises
- How to write for specific audiences
- A close examination of ‘before and after’ samples using a mix of client-supplied examples and APM’s work
APM believes strongly in empirical learning and incorporates multiple practical exercises like plain English editing ‘before’ copy, grammar revision tests, passive/active voice transitions, removing unnecessary words, workshopping audiences, and more. Consequently, around half of the time, staff will be applying themselves to plain English editing exercises based on real life examples.
Resources or after-workshop support provided to attendees:
Having a single point of contact for the entire annual report is more efficient. No need to juggle different service providers — a sole contact ensures all parties involved in the process understand each other’s roles and responsibilities and are equipped to deal with unforeseen problems.
You’ll waste no time
- For full day workshops, Andrew Pegler will be freely available to all attendees for two weeks following each workshop. He can further discuss and clarify matters relating to plain English and also provide reasonable assistance and guidance on writing tasks.
- All attendees will receive a graphic designed, printed 600gsm version of APM’s eight tips for plain English to keep at their desk. Made from high-quality paper stock, these thick fliers will endure regular use as they are taken from workplace to workplace.
Typical syllabus for plain English workshops
Typical syllabus for 1/2-day plain English workshops
Session 1:
- Plain English business writing punctuation refresher
- What is plain English business writing and how do you recognize it?
Coffee/tea break
Session 2:
The eight golden rules for plain English business writing
- Consider your audience
- Keep it simple
- If you have to look up a word’s meaning, don’t use it
- Use the active voice
- Don’t use jargon if there’s a plain English equivalent
- Get your punctuation right
- Have one idea per sentence
- If it’s not crucial, delete it
Session 3:
- Examples of gobbledegook officialese, legalese and bureaucratese
- Group plain English editing exercise
Typical syllabus for 1-day plain English workshops
Session 1: 9:15 – 10:30am
- The journey of plain English
- Plain English business writing punctuation refresher
- What is plain English business writing and how do you recognize it?
Coffee/tea break 10:30 – 10:40
Session 2: 10:40 – 1:30pm
The eight golden rules for plain English business writing:
- Consider your audience
- Keep it simple
- If you have to look up a word’s meaning, don’t use it
- Use the active voice
- Don’t use jargon if there’s a plain English equivalent
- Get your punctuation right
- Have one idea per sentence
- If it’s not crucial, delete it
Lunch 1:30– 2pm
Session 3: 2 – 4:30pm
- Examples of gobbledegook officialese, legalese and bureaucratese
- Group plain English editing exercises (learning by doing!)
Typical syllabus for 2-day plain English workshops
Day 1
Session 1: 9:15 – 10:30am
- The fabulous journey of plain English
- Punctuation refresher
- Your writing style guide refresher
- Practical skills staff can apply to written communication
- What is plain English, how do you recognise it and why is it important for you and your clients?
- When to use i.e., or e.g., or that is, for example
- How to structure paragraphs to shape your message/ideas
- How to avoid corporate speak, weasel words and jargon
- How to use the inverted pyramid style – put the most important information first or it could be missed
Coffee/tea break
Session 2: 11:00 – 1:30pm
The eight golden rules for plain English business writing
- Consider your audience
- Keep it simple
- If you have to look up a word’s meaning, don’t use it
- Use the active voice
- Don’t use jargon if there’s a plain English equivalent
- Get your punctuation right
- Have one idea per sentence
- If it’s not crucial, delete it
Lunch 1:30 – 2pm
Session 3: 2 – 4:30pm
- Continuation of the eight golden rules for plain English writing
- More practical skills staff can apply to written communication
- How to write like we speak i.e., plain, straightforward
- How to make written communications as long as they need to be but no longer
- Management are time-poor. Be kind. Only include important information in reports, emails etc
- How to work out what attachments to include in an email
- How punctuation can make your writing stronger
- Examples of gobbledegook, officialese, legalese, bureaucratese
- Group plain English editing exercises (learning by doing!) and individual discussions
- Summary and group discussion
Day 2
Session 1: 9:15 – 10:30am
- Review of previous day
- Group discussion
- Further practical skills staff can apply to written communication
- More examples of gobbledegook, officialese, legalese, bureaucratese
- More group plain English editing exercises and individual discussions – (learning by doing!)
Coffee/tea break 10:30 – 11:00am
Session 2: 11:00am – 1:30pm
- More practical skills staff can apply to written communication
- How to proofread
- How to take a sec to think what you want to say, then be able to say it as simply as you can
- How the style guide can help you be consistent
- Group discussion
- When to define terms and acronyms
Lunch 1:30 – 2:00pm
Session 3: 2:00 – 4:30pm
- Punctuation, grammar, passive and active voice exercises
- More examples of gobbledegook officialese, legalese, bureaucratese
- More group plain English editing exercises and individual discussions
- Summary and group discussion
Trusting Clients
Happy Clients
Thanks for all your efforts in helping Togethr Trustees get four annual reports completed on time in a year that we all agree has been extremely challenging. I look forward to working with you and the team next year.
Awenna Williams, Head of Experience, Togethr Trustees
Andrew and his team delivered the clear, streamlined annual report we wanted on time. And their flexibility and efficiency made the process run smoothly for us. A pleasure to work with!
Geoscape Australia
Andrew and his team have been fantastic to work with. Responsive, professional, and able to edit and condense complex information into an accessible form - and within the deadlines every time.
Indigenous Business Australia
The APM team were wholly professional and responsive. They met all deadlines and expectations for the project. APM skilfully negotiated the many challenges associated with project managing to get the best outcome for the Museum. The final result took our annual reporting to the next level. Thanks to everyone on the team!
Museum of Australian Democracy
I have known of Andrew and his team's expertise as specialist legal copywriters for many years, and have been finally able them to the test. I am so very glad that I could. They quickly responded to the brief and captured my company's tone of voice so well, that there were virtually no changes needed to the copy before it was finalised. Highly recommended!
Andrew Spalding, Founder & Managing Director at Get There