About
Colleen
Trolove
Kia ora. I’ve been a trainer in plain language for 16 years. I’ve worked all over Aotearoa, in every industry.
I’m one of those lucky people who did an English degree and actually uses it!
I love words. I love people. I love training.
This is my dream job.
Who I work with
Who hires me
Managers - to train their teams or coach individuals
Learning and Development professionals - to solve a knowledge or skill gap
HR teams - to upskill the whole organisation
Organisations I work with
Businesses - medium, large, multinational
Central government - ministries, departments, agencies
Local government - regional, district, and city councils
Non-government organisations - check out special pricing for charities
Industries I work in
- Law
- Health
- Insurance
- Education
- Intelligence
- Infrastructure
- Primary industries
- Banking and finance
- Policy and regulation
- Science, research and development
- Communications and public relations
Involvement in the plain language community
Sponsor of the New Zealand Plain Language Awards 2025 - Best Plain Language Document, Private Sector
Board member for the Technical Communicators Association of New Zealand
Judge for the Best App category in 2025 and the Best Website category in 2024 for the ClearMark Awards, the USA-wide plain language awards
Judge for the 2024 Federal Report Card. It’s how the Center for Plain Language keeps USA federal agencies accountable for using plain language to the public
Presenter at the 2024 Technical Communicators’ Association of New Zealand conference
My values as a trainer
Simplicity
We’re smart humans. We’re also ridiculously busy.
My job is to take intricate, complex communication theory and boil it down into power-packed, deceptively simple techniques.
You can instantly integrate those techniques into your working life.
Activity-based learning
We learn by doing.
A bit of theory, practised and experimented with, creates far more learning than watching someone else talk or demonstrate.
Joy and fun
If training is enjoyable, we relax.
If we’re relaxed, we feel comfortable experimenting with new ideas and techniques.
We give ourselves permission to learn.
Inclusion
Everyone is welcome. You’ll be made comfortable in my sessions.
A supportive, strengths-based approach is the only one I take.
