News, events, tips and updates for members of the Editors’ Association of Canada.
In this issue:
1. REMINDER: Receive $25 for each new member you recruit by November 30
2. CERTIFICATION: EAC to pilot certification e-tests
3. REGISTRATION: Certification registration is open until October 24!
4. CONFERENCE: Kudos to you for your great workshop ideas!
5. MEMBER SERVICES: Enter Waterloo Insurance draw to win free Conference 2012 registration
6. MEMBERSHIP: Increase EAC’s membership and discover new member benefits
7. WEBSITE: Recruiting website committee volunteers
8. ACTIVE VOICE: Michelle Boulton appointed editor-in-chief
9. STRATEGIC PLAN: Charting the future of EAC
10. TECH: Changes to Bell Sympatico services may affect @editors.ca/@reviseurs.ca email users
1. REMINDER: Receive $25 for each new member you recruit by November 30
Do you know an editor who doesn’t belong to EAC—yet? There’s still time to take part in EAC’s membership drive and earn a cash recruitment incentive.
Refer a new EAC member by November 30, 2011, and you’ll earn a recruiting reward of up to $25.
Aren’t sure where to start? Share EAC’s new membership brochure, 15 reasons to join the Editors’ Association of Canada. Then download and distribute EAC’s popular I’m not obsessed. I’m an editor! (PDF, 209 KB) and Message Therapist (PDF, 322 KB) postcards. And don’t forget to tell your colleagues about EAC’s free career resources, such as the revised edition of So You Want to Be an Editor (EAC’s information booklet on careers in editing), Professional Editorial Standards, the Standard Freelance Editorial Agreement and Guidelines for Editing Theses.
For more information about the membership drive, visit the Members’ Area or contact info@editors.ca.
Happy recruiting!
2. CERTIFICATION: EAC to pilot certification e-tests
This August, the computer testing task force produced a report summarizing the issues involved in offering electronic versions of the EAC certification tests. The report made recommendations about finding locations for administering the tests, ensuring test security, providing software and hardware choices, setting standards for using track changes, saving candidates’ work, providing technical support, minimizing liability, marking the tests, determining which tests to offer via computer, and updating study guides.
Based on the task force’s recommendations, the national executive council has given the certification steering committee the mandate to pilot a computerized test during the November 2011 testing session. During this pilot test, a select number of certified editor volunteers will complete a certification test using the national office’s computers. After the pilot test, the task force will explore the issues that arise and make further recommendations.
3. REGISTRATION: Certification registration is open until October 24!
Are you considering writing EAC’s Copy Editing or Stylistic Editing certification test? Don’t wait another day! Registration will close on October 24 and these tests will not be offered again until 2013. (The Proofreading and Structural Editing tests will be offered in 2012.)
The Copy Editing and Stylistic Editing tests will be administered on November 19. The following test locations are planned, demand and resources permitting: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.
Make this the year you join the ranks of editors certified by EAC’s landmark certification program. For more information on certification or to register, visit www.editors.ca/certification.
4. CONFERENCE: Kudos to you for your great workshop ideas!
We asked, you answered – and were wildly enthusiastic to boot! Thanks to everyone who suggested sessions for the EAC National Conference to be held in Ottawa June 1–3, 2012. Your passion for language mirrors the 2012 conference theme, The Landscape of Canadian Language: Word Nerds Gone Wild (Le paysage langagier du Canada : les mordus des mots se défoulent).
Great ideas poured in through Twitter, the EAC discussion group on LinkedIn, Facebook’s EAC presence, the EAC email list and email (conference@editors.ca).
And some unique suggestions nicely complemented session ideas that the conference planning team had earlier considered. Now our task is to finalize the conference line-up from this rich mix of ideas!
For more conference news, look to the email list, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, www.editors.ca (www.reviseurs.ca), branch newsletters, EAC’s national Active Voice newsletter and these e-news updates. On Twitter, ongoing conference news will be tweeted on EAC’s national account, @eac_acr. Use the hashtag #eac2012 to see what everyone is saying, and please remember to include this hashtag in your tweets as well.
Christine LeBlanc and Gael Spivak, Conference Co-Chairs
conference@editors.ca
Wild Things: Conference mascots Squirrel and Fox scope out Parliament Hill in advance of Conference 2012 in Ottawa.
Wanted: International conference task force members
EAC is considering organizing and hosting an international conference, in partnership with other national editing (and editing-related) organizations to bring like-minded professionals from around the world together to share in networking and professional development. If you’re interested in joining a task force to research and report on the viability of conducting an international conference for editors, please contact Jacquie Dinsmore at director_training@editors.ca.
5. MEMBER SERVICES: Enter the Waterloo Insurance draw to win free Conference 2012 registration
We’re pleased to offer group automobile and property insurance to EAC members through the Waterloo Insurance Company (a division of Economical Insurance) and Affinity Insurance Inc. As a member, you could potentially save up to 60% on your insurance premiums. Call Waterloo Insurance at 1-866-247-7700 for a quote before December 31, 2011, and you’ll be entered to win a free registration to Conference 2012 in Ottawa!
6. MEMBERSHIP: Increase EAC’s membership and discover new member benefits
Wanted: Members for the EAC institutional membership task force
If you’re an in-house editor, have you wondered about the benefits of an institutional membership for you and other editors in your workplace? Do you have ideas about what you’ve seen in other organizations, or what might work for EAC?
If so, we’re looking for volunteers to help determine what an institutional membership would entail, and who would qualify. Tasks include:
• researching what an institutional member or partner might want from EAC;
• recommending if this would be a new membership category or a partnership arrangement; and
• discussing how it would affect in-house editor member acquisition and retention.
If you’re interested in being part of this project, contact Gael Spivak at volunteerrelations@editors.ca.
Wanted: Members for the member services committee
We’re excited to have a chair for this new committee that is focused on services and benefits for EAC members. The committee is now recruiting members to look at current services and explore new ones.
Here is the mandate of the member services committee:
The member services committee monitors, reviews and makes recommendations about EAC’s services and benefits in light of the association’s aim to attract, serve and retain a diverse range of members (including editors who work in-house and freelance, in various media, in various sectors, in either official language and at all levels of experience). Where the former membership committee was concerned with ways to attract new members, the new member services committee is focused primarily on ensuring existing members are satisfied with the services and benefits offered by the association. Working closely with branch membership chairs, the member services committee develops and maintains a national approach to member recruitment and retention.
If you are interested in joining this committee, contact Dee Hopkins at membership_services@editors.ca.
Wanted: Members for the volunteer management committee
If you have ideas to improve the EAC volunteer experience, recruit volunteers or reward volunteers, this new committee could use your help.
Here is the mandate of the volunteer management committee:
Volunteers are essential for the healthy functioning of the association. The volunteer management committee attempts to ensure EAC volunteers are provided with meaningful volunteer opportunities and are acknowledged for their service. Working closely with national committee chairs and branch membership chairs, the volunteer management committee strives to
• identify committee volunteer opportunities / requirements,
• communicate volunteer opportunities to members,
• proactively recruit enthusiastic volunteers on an ongoing basis,
• match volunteer interests and skills to committee needs,
• ensure volunteer management and the volunteer experience are consistent with EAC’s Volunteer Policy, and
• recognize and reward the volunteer contributions of EAC members.
Volunteering has always been a benefit of membership. Acknowledging the contributions of members and enhancing the experience of volunteers is a main goal of the volunteer management committee. It works with the member services committee to propose and develop ways to do that.
If you are interested in joining this committee, contact Dina Theleritis at volunteer_management@editors.ca.
7. WEBSITE: Recruiting website committee volunteers
Join EAC’s new website committee
Are you web savvy and interested in contributing your talents to planning a refreshed website for EAC? A new committee is being formed to envision and plan EAC’s online presence in coordination with the marketing committee and social media task force. Committee members will review the site’s information architecture, branding, social media integration and e-commerce functionality and imagine the possibilities to make this a website that is functional, attractive and enticing to EAC members and the broader community. If you’re interested in joining the website committee, please contact committee chair Lisa Manfield at website@editors.ca.
8. ACTIVE VOICE: Michelle Boulton appointed editor-in-chief
At their September meeting, the national executive council created a new editor-in-chief position for EAC’s national newsletter, Active Voice. A large part of the editor-in-chief’s job is to coordinate the efforts of the other members of the newsletter team—English editor, French editor, designer, copy editors, proofreaders and webmaster—to ensure the newsletter meets the needs and identified goals of the organization. While the English and French editors will continue to come up with great story ideas, plan content, seek volunteers to write articles and coordinate the editorial aspects of the newsletter, the editor-in-chief will be scheduling and coordinating the production of the newsletter and act as arbitrator when needed.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Michelle Boulton to the position of editor-in-chief of Active Voice. Michelle served as co-editor of the newsletter from 2006–2008. We know her skills and experience will be an asset to the team.
9. STRATEGIC PLAN: Charting the future of EAC
As a member of EAC, you already know what a great organization it is. We think it can get better yet, with your help. You have an important role to play in shaping the future direction of our organization. In a few weeks, you will be invited to participate in a brief survey. You must have lots of great ideas to share—let’s hear what you would like from EAC!
10. TECH: Changes to Bell Sympatico services may affect @editors.ca/@reviseurs.ca email users
It has come to our attention that members who lease an @editors.ca or @reviseurs.ca may experience problems sending email if their Internet service provider (ISP) is Bell Sympatico. Due to a recent change at Bell Sympatico, users sending email through its authenticated SMTP server may notice that emails sent from their computer arrive from [username]@sympatico.ca “on behalf of [username]@editors.ca or [username]@reviseurs.ca.”
If you are a Bell Sympatico customer experiencing problems sending email with your @editors.ca or @reviseurs.ca email address, please contact your ISP directly to resolve the issue. In the meantime, EAC is pleased to offer a webmail service that is not affected by ISP.
The EAC national e-news update is produced on behalf of the national executive council by the national office.