by Sue Horner | Oct 24, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I’m on Plain Language duty. While my client overhauls structure and cuts duplication on the website, I’m trying to make the content more readable. The existing words are often off the readable charts – post-graduate, say, or grade 13 – whereas my client hopes for...
by Sue Horner | Sep 12, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Writers are always eager to learn from the masters. We’re told to read widely, and model our writing on the work of those we admire. Years ago, I was lucky enough to meet the famous (in communications circles) Don Ranly, Ph.D., IABC Fellow and professor emeritus of...
by Sue Horner | Sep 5, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
September marks the launch of the latest season of my guilty pleasure, Dancing with the Stars. You might think the show is mostly about the women’s scanty costumes, or possibly B-list celebrities getting some visibility. But the real point is to take non-dancers,...
by Sue Horner | Aug 1, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Smart communicators use multiple channels to reach employees, and email remains a constant for most workplaces. But dealing with the “excessive volume” of communications is a challenge for companies around the world, according to State of the Sector 2019 –...
by Sue Horner | May 9, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
With the data from 350 million internal emails in PoliteMail’s 2018 Benchmark Report, Michael DesRochers has a good idea of what encourages employees to read them. Michael is Managing Director of PoliteMail, which helps companies measure and improve email broadcasts...
by Sue Horner | Apr 18, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Google made me do it. My website refresh has been in the back of my mind for months. I had a few changes I wanted to make, but nothing seemed urgent and the project fell off my radar. I finally set things in motion after a few reminders about Google’s view of sites...
by Sue Horner | Mar 20, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Love them or hate them, numbers are all around us. Whether numbers mean anything to your reader or not often comes down to how well they are explained. I recently ran across Making Data Meaningful (pdf), a guide designed to be “a practical tool to help managers,...
by Sue Horner | Feb 14, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
You can’t always (ever?) be wildly creative in corporate writing. But you can choose words and phrases that are interesting and colourful to help your readers “see” what you mean. If you want to explain something, make a point or reflect or spark emotion, reach for...
by Sue Horner | Oct 11, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Let’s be clear. Those “Terms and Conditions” we have to “accept” or “agree to” before using new software, phones and other technology are anything but clear. I blame lawyers, who stuff sentences with words to cover every possible situation. The sentences are wordy and...
by Sue Horner | Sep 20, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
A blog post suggests that organization’s forget about people. A menu lists stir fry’s. An email warns about using knock off’s rather than original iPhone parts. A gift shop sells a charming sign about Cat’s leaving paw prints on your heart. As Grammar Monster says,...