Main events

2008

Mexico, 20-23 November
Clarity International conference Setting the standard: first steps towards a plain language profession Panel session with Neil James (Australia), Lynda Harris (NZ), Helena Englund (Sweden), Annetta Cheek (USA) and Karen Schriver (USA). Moderated by Mark Adler (UK).
Sydney, 23-24 May
		Sydney Writers' Festival Reviving Rhetoric: Neil James and James O’Loghlin in Conversation We tossed grammar and rhetoric out of the school curriculum 30 years ago, and the standards of our public language seem to have declined markedly. Neil James, author of Writing at Work, talks with James O’Loghlin, author of Umm... A Complete Guide to Public Speaking, about the need to revive the classical crafts of communication. The Lost Art of Oratory The recent apology in federal parliament highlighted the power of public oratory to inspire and unite a community. Yet public language in Australia tends towards bloodless officialese more than prose of passion. Former politicians Bob Carr and Margaret Reynolds join former speech writers Graham Freudenberg and Lucinda Holdforth to discuss the potential for an Australian oratory. Chaired by Neil James, executive director of the Plain English Foundation.

2007

Amsterdam, Netherlands, 11-14 October
		6th International PLAIN Language Conference Neil James: Plenary paper – The Amsterdam challenge: building a plain language profession. Peta Spear: workshop – Is plain English relevant to literature? Far more than you think! Neil James: workshop – Seeing the wood and the trees: structure mapping for longer documents.
Sydney: 1-2 June
		Sydney Writers' Festival Plain English Foundation panel - The future of English Vikram Chandra, Steven Hall, Pam Peters and Neil James explore the forces that are shaping the language of the future.
		Plain English Foundation panel — The ethics of language David Marr, Margaret Somerville, Mary Zournazi and Neil James discuss the importance and the possibility of an ethics of language.

2006

Sydney: 1 December
		Stop! Revive! Survive! English Teachers' Association Annual Conference Neil James and Wayne Sawyer forum discussion: Language — DoublePlus (Un)Good: teaching language consciously.
Wellington, New Zealand: 6 October

WriteMark Plain English Conference

Neil James: Keynote address — Raising the standards: what makes English plain?

Workshop — Will it work? Measuring effective writing.

Sydney: 28 May
		Sydney Writers' Festival Plain English Foundation panel — The language of power Kate Grenville, Hsu-Ming Teo and Neil James discuss how the powerful manipulate language. Chaired by Professor Peter Butt.

2005
Washington D.C., USA: November
		Plain Language Conference: Adding up the benefits Neil James: Selling cultural change: using performance indicators on the road to plain language.
Sydney: September
		Plain English Foundation and the University of Sydney Conference What is the New Rhetoric?
Boulogne sur Mer, France: July
		Clarity International Conference Plain Language Around the World: panel session. Neil James: Plain English in Australia. Convened by Professor Peter Butt.
Sydney: May
		Sydney Writers' Festival Plain English Foundation panel — Political speak: double talk vs plain English. NSW Attorney-General Bob Debus, ABC broadcaster Richard Glover, author Linda Jaivin, and Associate Professor Catharine Lumby. Chaired by Neil James.
2004
Sydney: October
		Technical Communicators' Conference Plain English: the next generation, paper by Neil James.
Sydney: July
		The Australian Style Council Back to life: resuscitating public language, annual conference keynote address by Neil James.
Sydney: May
		Sydney Writers' Festival Plain English Foundation panel — Diseased English: can it be cured? Alex Buzo, Neil James, Amanda Lohrey, Ruth Wajnryb. Chaired by Professor Elizabeth Webby.