Deborah S. Bosley, Ph.D., Receives the 2007 Excellence in Writing for Clients Award from The Association of Professional Communication Consultants

Dr. Bosley was Recognized for Creating Best Practices for Simplified Communication, a Style Guide Developed Exclusively for TIAA-CREF.

Dr. Deborah S. Bosley, Principal of The Plain Language Group, was recently awarded the 2007 Excellence in Writing for Clients Award at the Association of Professional Communication Consultants Institute (APCC) in Washington, D.C. “The Best Practices Guide” is unique in that it is more than a style manual,” explains Ken Davis, President of APCC. “In fact, of the many writing guides I look at every year, this is one I’ll be keeping and using,” he adds.

Dr. Bosley developed Best Practices for The Plain Language Group exclusively for TIAA-CREF’s Marketing Communications Individual Clients department. The Guide was written as a response to the company’s need to create a tool to promote consistency among writers, to simplify written correspondence to its clients, and to present research to support plain language strategies.

The Guide was developed through interviews with upper-level management, analysis of selected TIAA-CREF’s marketing documents and usability testing of those documents. It offers research results supporting its principles and gives users four levels to support decision-making. Sections in the Guide are: Strategies (what to do), Principles (why it works), Examples (how it should be done) and Research (proof it works).

“APCC recognizes Best Practices for The Plain Language Group as a model for best practices style guides because of its focus on strategies supported with research based principles,” said Reva Daniels, CEO of Dynamic Business Writing and lead judge in the competition.

The Association of Professional Communication Consultants is an international organization devoted to enhancing the knowledge, business and professionalism of communication consultants.

The Plain Language Group, a Charlotte, N.C. based company, uses plain language strategies to create written information that can be easily read and understood. This simplified communication approach is applied to transactional and marketing messages directed to their clients’ customer bases. This proven approach results in increases in customer retention, increased productivity, and enhanced revenue. Among the industries served by The Plain Language Group are financial and healthcare.

The Charlotte Jewish News – January 2008 – Page 22