National Plain Language Peer to Peer Conference

June 17 – 19, 2008

Hosted and Funded by Federal Highway Administration and California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

Final Report

PDF Version (17 mb)

Table of Contents

• Summary
• Objective of the Conference
• Background – Why Convert to Plain Language?
• Preparing for the Conference
• Participants
• Key Observations and Best Practices Discussed
  1. Defining Plain Language
  2. Status of Plain Language Conversion
  3. Converting Specifications to Plain Language
  4. Advertising and Bidding
  5. Implementation Steps
  6. Training
  7. Program Delivery Impacts
  8. Maintaining Plain Language Specifications
  9. Additional Discussions
• Appendix A: Conference Agenda
• Appendix B: Pre-Conference Survey Responses
• Appendix C: Conference Participant Contact Information
• Appendix D: Defining Plain Language: Caltrans Style and Format
• Appendix E: Style Guide for the 2010 Specifications (Caltrans)
• Appendix F: Tips for Writing in Plain Language