Do You Have a Plain Language Program?

Is your organization still bogged down in ‘government-speak’? Isn’t it time you get with the ‘plain language’ program – and get back to clear, simple, direct communication?

Plain language is communication that your target audience can understand the first time they hear or read it. Use clear, direct language to say what you mean, so your audience can understand your message, and find what they need. On October 13, 2010, President Obama signed the Plain Writing Act of 2010 into law, requiring federal agencies to use “clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.” Three Executive Orders have also been issued on this topic.

The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), a community of federal employees dedicated to the idea that the public deserves clear communication from government, recommends making your plain language program SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Realistic, with a Timeframe. How can you begin to turn this idea into action? PLAIN recommends the following:

• Start with a clearly defined goal, and communicate your expectations to everyone involved in the effort.


• Implement a training program so that the entire organization is on the same page.


• Look for small successes and aim for continuous improvement — not rapid change.


• Revise first those documents that have the biggest circulation and are the hardest to understand.


• Post examples of clearly written documents on a website or home directory as a reference tool.


• Evaluate your progress frequently and seek feedback. Adjust your course if necessary.


• Designate “go to” people on your staff who are accessible and knowledgeable.


• Make sure your top managers are plain language practitioners.


• Encourage these managers to champion the process.

Plain language is something that every organization needs to be aware of. No good comes from getting your message out there, if your message is not clear enough to be understood. Contact me at slevine@adviceunlimited.net or 301-924-0330 to discuss how we can help you set up your plain language program, and get you going on the path to clearer communication!

Elaine Rogers, USO-Metro President, Awarded Top Honor by Admiral Mullen

I was honored to be in attendance a few weeks ago, when Elaine Rogers, President & CEO of USO of Metropolitan Washington – and a dear friend - was presented the Distinguished Public Service Award by Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon. This is the highest award that can be given to a civilian by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – and definitely well deserved by Elaine, an amazing leader and true game changer.

Elaine was recognized for her incredible dedication to the servicemembers and their families, through tireless efforts to expand and innovate programming at USO-Metro, including significant expansion of USO-Metro’s charter to provide services and support for military families, particularly local families of deployed servicemembers, and family members visiting wounded heroes at the local hospitals. Elaine has worked with USO-Metro for over 35 years, serving as president for the last 34 years. Under Elaine’s leadership, USO-Metro has increased the scope and depth of the programs it provides to active duty military and their families. USO-Metro services have grown to include emergency housing, food assistance, therapeutic and morale boosting programs at area military hospitals, the TicketLine program, nine family service centers and airport lounges – including the flagship USO International Gateway Lounge at BWI Airport, and Operation USO Care Package – a worldwide program managed by USO-Metro that has successfully delivered nearly 2 million care packages to deployed and deploying troops.

Throughout her tenure, Elaine has worked to grow private and corporate annual donations from $100,000 to over $14 million in cash, goods and services. She has successfully developed the volunteer roster from 50 to nearly 5,000. This dedicated volunteer corps, along with meticulous, program-focused management continues to ensure that 93 cents out of every dollar donated to USO-Metro goes directly to programs and services.

For her tireless dedication to members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families, Elaine has been recognized by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force with service awards and medals. She has also been honored by the Secretary of Defense with the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal and by the Military District of Washington with the Doctor Mary E. Walker Award.

Advice Unlimited has been actively engaged with USO-Metro for over 14 years, serving as USO-Metro’s pro bono public relations firm. I am privileged to be involved with this wonderful organization, and Elaine’s prominent award could not be better deserved! Congratulations, Elaine, on this amazing recognition – and thank you so much for all you do for our troops – and all you inspire so many of us to do to try to keep up with you!

How NOT to plan a pr campaign

By now you’re probably aware of the unbelievably tacky and irresponsible pr campaign Burson-Marsteller – a pr firm that should definitely know better – attempted on behalf of its client, Facebook: TechCrunch’s coverage is entertaining as well as a great source for the details: http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/12/karma-is-a-bitch/

There are so many lessons to be learned from this incredibly poorly conceived stunt:

1. Taking the high road is always better – people will listen when you’re honorable in presenting facts and information;

2. Journalists do have standards and morals – and most of them will staunchly defend those standards and morals, that’s a big reason why they’re good journalists;

3. Throwing mud usually gets the thrower dirty, too – it may work occasionally in politics, but it’s a terrible approach to take, and reduces everyone involved to be less than they can be;

4. If you’re going to call out a negative about a competitor, take a stand and clearly identify yourself and your motives. Then if you’re right, you’ll be taken seriously.

I could go on...but you get the point. For the record, if you’re interested in launching a negative, underhanded campaign, don’t call me – we work for wonderful, honorable companies who understand the value of positive pr...

And if you’re foolish enough to get yourself into such a predicament, we provide great crisis communications expertise...

HSTV IDEAS for a Secure Tomorrow Video Awards

If you're an amateur videographer and care about the greater good, there's a wonderful contest you'll want to check out - the HSTV IDEAS for a Secure Tomorrow Video competition(www.hstvchannel.com/contest).

The contest is open to amateur videographers, including high school and college students, and will commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The goal is to look toward the future to find solutions to the security challenges that are still out there. This is a great way to commemorate 9/11 in a positive, forward-looking way...and a wonderful summer project: entries are due by August 1, 2011, so participants will have much of the summer to work on it! Winners will be announced September 12, 2011- the perfect way to share IDEAS that will help us grow stronger and look toward the future!

For more details, including a list of prizes that will be awarded, check out the competition page at www.hstvchannel.com/contest.

Social Media is One Piece of a Strategic Communications Campaign

There’s a lot of buzz around social media, and that’s great –it’s fun, it’s new, and it’s growing, so it’s interesting to talk about. That said, perspective must be maintained: in survey after survey, social media is one avenue that people use to get information, and not consistently the favored avenue, particularly in business and government. Social media is an important element to include in any communications campaign – but it is just that: one important element among many tools.


Think of it this way: as public relations and communications practitioners, with social media our toolkit has expanded. We still need to think strategically, define our target audience for any campaign, and look carefully – and objectively – at what communications channels that specific audience prefers. What are the communications channels they use on a regular basis, and trust as a source of information? That is what should drive the means used to reach this targeted audience.


The growth of new social media avenues enables us to bring more options to the table, and expand the discussion of approaches for outreach. That’s a great thing. Video and podcasts are playing a more active role, interactive approaches and ideas are discussed and implemented more frequently – and all of this expands our toolkit and our ability to touch our audience. Still, it comes down to fundamentals: if you haven’t thought through your approach strategically, and you’re not keeping your focus on your target, you’ll miss. You might use a lot of social media, but if you’re not talking to your target audience it’s just more noise out there.

Quora – Will it live up to all the hype?

The past couple of months have been full of buzz about Quora, the newest social networking site. According to the site, it’s “a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it.” This start-up is a combination of many household-name social media sites, including Yahoo! Answers, Twitter, Digg and Facebook. How long it will last and what its impact will be remains to be seen, but Quora has certainly achieved an impressive launch.

The site was founded by two former Facebook employees and had its public launch in June 2010. Quora intends to build itself into the place to go whenever you have a question. Questions range from those with clear-cut, non-negotiable answers to those that are more open to interpretation. The site aims to grow its database of knowledge until nearly everything that anyone wants to know can be found in the system.

How exactly does the site work? It’s free to sign up, but to get started with an account, you are encouraged to link to either your Facebook or Twitter. This automatically sets you up to follow all your Facebook or Twitter friends who are already connected to Quora at the time you join. Once logged in, you are presented with topics that might interest you, based on the information found in your Facebook or Twitter account. Alternatively, you can select topics of interest if you choose not to link with Facebook or Twitter. There is an easy-to-use search box at the top of the page, where you can either add a new question or search topics. Selecting a topic will take you to that specific page, containing a plethora of questions and answers exclusively on the topic of your choice.

Quora is reminiscent of Twitter in that you can “follow” people and topics. Its comparisons to Digg stem from the fact that you can vote your impression of questions and answers, either up or down, to convey if you find them helpful or not. The Facebook-feel can be attributed to the fact that it is attempting to harness the powers of community – this is the greatest asset of the site by far. Everyone likes to feel that they are a part of something, and Quora has the potential to build upon that. Of course, not every question will be answered, but the quality of answers has proven to be impressive. One example cited numerous times involves a Quora member posing a question about an AOL marketing campaign from the 1990’s. Two of the respondents were AOL founder Steve Case and Jan Brandt, the marketing executive who actually came up with the campaign in question.

Less than a year after opening to the public, coverage of Quora is rapidly expanding. In the past month, it has been written about in GovLoop, Ragan.com, TechCrunch, Time and Federal Computer Week, to name a few. Some of the articles are full of praise, while others bring up concerns and challenges.

The kind of impact Quora could have on the government marketplace has yet to be seen, but there was a great article in Federal Computer Week recently, explaining how a staff member for GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) used Quora to get a feel for public sentiment on using social media for legislation. (http://fcw.com/articles/2011/02/23/rep-eric-cantor-usinig-quora-for-ideas-on-social-media.aspx).

It is far too early to tell if Quora will indeed be the next big thing. It appears to have potential for use in the government marketplace and could change the way you interact with your target audience. This site is one to keep an eye on. Email me at slevine@adviceunlimited.net or call me at 301-924-0330 and let me know if you use Quora, or if there’s another new site you’d like to know more about – we’d love to hear from you, and we’re glad to help you determine what communications tools best help you meet your pr/marketing goals and objectives!

Writing for the Web

We’re revamping our website (I know, it’s time!), and in working on the copy for the new site, I’m reminded of the significant differences in writing for the web vs. print. So in the spirit of providing unlimited advice, I wanted to share some key points to keep in mind when writing for the web:

1.What’s the point? Make your key point upfront – and clearly. Elaborate, explain,
substantiate later.

2. Short and simple: Keep your writing succinct. We all want it fast online.

3. Be bold: Bold is good – it helps to draw the eye, and people can scan and get the meat of
your comments quickly.

4. Casual works: We use the web for business, so our writing is still professional, but a bit of
a conversational tone is fine – and often even appreciated. Know your audience and your
format, and go for a more casual tone when appropriate.

5. Don’t skimp when it matters: This post is consciously short and sweet, but when you
have something important to say, say it. Just keep sentences within the post/article/essay
short, focused and relevant.

6. Respect your reader’s time: This is true always, in all formats. Web readers seem to get
impatient faster, and take action more swiftly – after all, different information is just a click
away.