What’s clear writing all about anyway? When you first start building support for your clear language initiative, you likely won’t get much time on the agenda to make your case. But it’s important at this stage to give people a ‘taste’ of training – if only to show that these techniques just make good sense.
‘Top 10 Clear Writing Tips’ is a great ‘takeaway’ from your presentation that people can pin to their bulletin boards. In your presentation, stress that clear writing is a skill that requires training and above all practice. Make sure that your organization sees this as something to incorporate into ongoing staff development programs.
Here we list print and online links to CAMA and CUPE resources, as well as some useful new audio-visual material you can use in presentations.
Congratulations! You’ve got the opportunity to be on someone’s agenda. To help you make the most of your time, we have developed a short presentation that goes with the Clarity Kit. Called, Use Clear Language to Improve Municipal Communications, this presentation will help you:
Use the talking points, the answers to common questions, and other materials in this kit to speak to the summary points on the slides.
Customize the slide show with examples from your own municipal environment. Mix and match the slides to make a presentation that fits the time you have and the goals you want to achieve at this stage in your initiative.
Use Clear Language to Improve Municipal Communications is available in PowerPoint or slide format from the following Web sites:
Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators
www.camacam.ca/downloads/en/2005-01-Clear-Language-Literacy-Resources.pdf
Canadian Union of Public Employees