Program

The Plain English Foundation is delighted to release the official conference program for PLAIN 2009, which included 80 speakers and 40 sessions.

Our final line-up included nearly 40 international speakers from 12 countries, including the USA, Canada, the UK, Portugal, Sweden, South Africa, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Malaysia. A 40-strong Australian contingent represented the best of communications practice down under.

Speaker biographies
You can now view the collection of biographies for all PLAIN 2009 speakers.

Conference paper abstracts
The abstracts for conference papers are also available for viewing.

Keynote speakers
We were pleased to welcome three distinguished guests as keynote speakers:

NSW Premier Nathan Rees
Professor Pam Peters, author of the Cambridge Guide to English Usage
Michael Kirby, former judge of the High Court of Australia

Major international speakers
The biggest names in plain language internationally were at the conference, including:

Bill Lutz (USA), author of Doublespeak
Martin Cutts (UK), co-founder of the Plain English Campaign and founder of Plain Language Commission
Annetta Cheek (USA), successful lobbyist for the new plain language laws
Wessel Visser (Netherlands), developer of Texamen document assessment
Lynda Harris (NZ), founder of New Zealand’s plain English awards
Professor Joe Kimble (USA), redrafter of the US Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
Christine Mowat (Canada), founder of Wordsmith
Anne-Marie Hasslerot (Sweden), Deputy Director of the Ministry for Justice

Australian speakers
The Australian speakers also brought a great wealth of experience:

Professor Robert Eagleson, pioneer of plain language in Australia
Christopher Balmford, CEO of Cleardocs
Michele Asprey, author of Plain Language for Lawyers
Neil James, Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation
Moya Sayer-Jones, novelist and popular columnist
Professor Peter Butt, co-founder of the Centre for Plain Legal Language
Professor John Gibbons, author of Forensic Linguistics