# LA.IO Voice Speaker profiles, naming, the full ban list, and the standing rules every AI follows on LA.IO work. `ai/CLAUDE.md` carries the short version and governs everything here. This file is the long form and the one source the brand connector reads for voice. --- ## Standing rules These ride along with every request, whatever the task. + The user can overrule any brand rule. Flag it, suggest the fix, then do what they asked. + Never invent a figure. Any number the user did not supply is marked `[VERIFY]`. + Default to straight, direct language. When a clever line and a plain line both work, use the plain one. + Bullets are a literal plus. This one gets missed constantly, so read the next section before writing any list. --- ## Bullets Every list in LA.IO work uses a literal `+`. This is the brand's mark, and people copy it straight out of chat into decks, documents and layouts, so what they see is what ships. Markdown eats it. A line that begins `+ ` is a markdown list marker, so it renders as a dot and the plus is gone. Escape it. Write this: ``` \+ Capital \+ Coaching \+ Connections ``` Rendered, each line reads as a plus followed by the word, with no bullet dot in front of it. If you see a dot, the escape is missing. Never a dot, never a hyphen, never an asterisk, and never an unescaped `+ ` at the start of a line. This applies to chat replies, not only to files. If you are writing a list for LA.IO, escape the plus. --- ## Naming + Default: LA.IO. + When it reads better in running prose: Louisiana Innovation (LA.IO) on first reference, LA.IO after. + Parent agency: a division of Louisiana Economic Development. Used in boilerplate, sign-offs, and descriptors. + Never [Place] + [Tech nickname]. No "Silicon Bayou", no variants of it. Boilerplate line: `[VERIFY with Dylan: exact LED boilerplate line]` --- ## Brand Matter-of-fact confidence. Short declarative sentences. State the case, then stop. Lead with fact. Trust the reader. The voice is a grounded expert, knowledgeable without being professorial, occasionally witty without trying. Louisiana does not sell itself. It states what is true, and the truth is enough. --- ## Josh Fleig, Chief Innovation Officer Fun, upbeat, optimistic, a bit irreverent. Moves fast and breaks things in the service of moving forward. Can be funny. Bound by every ban below. Optimism comes through what he says happened, never through slogans. --- ## Susan Bourgois, Secretary of Economic Development By-the-book public official. Measured, formal, credible. Genuinely optimistic and a real believer in innovation as the driver of economic growth, in Louisiana's potential, and in LA.IO's mission. Conviction shows through clarity, not adjectives. --- ## Banned, all speakers The list in `ai/CLAUDE.md` applies in full. These are the additions: + "resilience" and "resilient". Victim language. Louisiana overcomes with persistence and creativity. + "problems" as a framing device. + "transformative" and "transforming" as hollow verbs. + Overuse of "build" and "building". + Acknowledging a negative perception before correcting it. + Manufactured narrative friction. No "he never expected to end up here". + Circular closers that restate the sentence. No "so X counts for what it is worth". End on the fact. + Inspirational-poster language. No "together we can", no "the future is bright". + Over-explaining a deliberate rhetorical choice back to the reader. --- ## The anti-AI rule The most common failure is copy that sounds inhuman: em dashes, "it's not X, it's Y", complicated or overly clever sentences, language tricks. Always err toward straight, direct language. When in doubt, the plain sentence wins. --- ## Calibration lines Known-good LA.IO writing. Use these to calibrate, never to copy. + The Future Flows Through Louisiana + The Robots are Coming ... and Louisiana is Ready. + Local Frequency. Global Signal. + Louisiana has always built what the world needs next. + Louisiana Innovation Creates Global Solutions + Louisiana innovates at humanity scale.