"This Meeting Could Have Been an Email" - Connecticut Innovations Connecticut Innovations

“This Meeting Could Have Been an Email”

For more tips and resources on how plain language can strengthen communication, both inside and outside your organization, check out the information below from Kate Goggin, a communications consultant to the federal government.

Kate Goggin’s List of Quick and Easy Plain Language Resources

While training your workforce is the best long-term strategy for plain language adoption, using AI or online applications can often be your best short-term strategy. I recommend the following options that edit for plain language in real time*:
- https://hemingwayapp.com/
- Microsoft Word advanced editing options: To set up Word for plain language editing, you must change the proofing settings:
  - Choose File > More > Options
  - Within Options, choose Proofing > Grammar and Refinement > Settings
  - Within Grammar and Refinements, you will find over 150 checks that include plain language points such as:
    - passive voice
    - jargon
    - wordiness
    - long sentences
    - unnecessary adverbs
    - subject/verb agreement
    - redundancies
  - Select desired options and press “ok.”
- I do not recommend ChatGPT or Pi AI for plain language editing. They cannot and do not edit for purpose, message, audience or tone. Pi AI is known to add grammar and punctuation errors and drop citations from its rewrites.
- Bookmark an easy checklist to apply plain language.
- Use the Federal Plain Language Guidelines for simple instructions on how to apply plain language principles.

*Kate receives no compensation from any company for her editing software recommendations.

Justification Resources for Plain Language Training

Review the Center for Plain Language Clear Mark winners for the past few years. The list includes a variety of business cases that include the life sciences, computer and financial industries, and insurance and pension sectors.
Read the book Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law by Joseph Kimble.
Read the article Plain Language Supports Science Communication, which is an interview and case study that explains how plain language helped the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration settle out of court with British Petroleum for $8.8B for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.