The Australian Style Guide

 
For our February meeting, the speaker will be Neil James, the Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation, who will talk about their recent publication, The Australian Style Guide™.

Date: Wednesday 24 February 2020
Time: 6:30 to 7:30 online; 5:45 for nibbles and a drink, if attending in person.
Venue: via Zoom online meetings AND live at St Mark’s, Blackall Street, Barton.

Note that registration is essential for in-person attendance. For registration details and more about attending by Zoom, see below.

For more than a decade, Australian editors have been clamouring for the 2002 edition of the Style manual to be updated. Then, in 2020, three major style references emerged:

  • Australian Government Style Manual
  • The Australian Style Guide™
  • Australian Manual of Style

Suddenly faced with the luxury of choice, which ones should editors use?

Neil James of the Plain English Foundation will outline the features of the Australian Style Guide™ and why the foundation decided to publish it after decades of work for government and corporate organisations.

The ASG reflects Australian writing practice for both print and digital environments. It provides clear and practical advice with just enough explanation to understand a style rule, how it has evolved and why it might have changed. It has an attractive and easy-to-use interface. And it’s free.

Neil James is Executive Director and co-founder of Plain English Foundation based in Sydney. After careers in government and the media, Neil worked as a freelance writing and editor before specialising in plain English. He has a doctorate in English and published 2 books (Modern Manglish and Writing at Work) and more than 100 articles and essays on literature and language.

Neil is also active in plain language internationally. He was founding chair of the International Plain Language Federation that has developed a common definition and ISO standard for plain language, and is working on certification and training. In 2020, he was appointed chair of the Federations’s Certification Committee. Neil has also served as President of the Plain Language Association International and is editor of the PLAIN journal. He was awarded PLAIN’s Christine Mowat Award in 2019.

Attending in person

Simply CLICK HERE to register for attending in person. Note that registration will close at 3pm on the day of the talk.

We have arranged the registration so that you can return your booking to the pool, directly through the booking system, if you register but then cannot attend for any reason. (Your confirmation email will have a link for returning your booking.)

Please do not attend if you are feeling unwell or showing any symptoms of cold or flu.

We will supply hand sanitiser and space the chairs comfortably apart. BYO mask if you want.

You will be asked to sign in to the event for contact-tracing records.

Where and when

The Durie Room, St Mark’s National Theological Centre, 15 Blackall St, Barton (not Blackall Place). See MAP.

Room opens at 5:45 pm, Wednesday 24 February. The talk will begin at 6:30.

Attending by Zoom

If you plan to attend by Zoom, you do not need to register. A link for the Zoom meeting will be supplied to all members by email. If you are not a member and wish to attend by Zoom, please contact the Secretary from the Contact us page (select Secretary in the drop-down) and ask for a link.

Please do not pass on your link to other people.

The webinar will not be recorded.

 
 
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