News, events, tips and updates from Editors Canada
In this issue:
1. COVID-19: Conference and national office update
2. WEBINARS: Train online with Editors Canada
3. THE EDITORS’ VINE: A new online meeting for members
4. AGM: Motions at the 2020 annual general meeting
5. PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION: A year into the “refresh”
6. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Mentorship
7. VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH: Glenna Jenkins
8. THE EDITORS’ WEEKLY: Share your in-house experience
9. MEMBER SERVICES: Welcome Kit
0. PRESIDENT’S AWARD: Recognizing Editors Canada’s stellar volunteers
11. CLAUDETTE UPTON SCHOLARSHIP: $1,000 award for a promising student editor
12. NEC: Notes from your national executive council
1. COVID-19: Conference and national office update
In response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, the conference committee has updated the conference website with information about the COVID-19 virus and its potential effect on the International Editors Conference 2020. We’ll keep this section of the website up to date.
The national executive council (NEC) has also decided to close the national office until further notice. The office staff is working from home and can be reached by email, but will be unable to answer the phone or check voicemail at this time. If you require assistance, please email info@editors.ca.
The NEC and conference committee continue to monitor the media and the Public Health Agency of Canada website.
2. WEBINARS: Train online with Editors Canada
Are you looking for training opportunities online? Check out our Spring 2020 webinars.
Don’t forget: Editors Canada members and student affiliates register at discounted rates.
Upcoming webinars
- March 31: Macros for Editors: Beginners’ Basics with Paul Beverley
- April 8: Copy Editing Standards: Tables, Visual Elements, and Multimedia with Robin Marwick
- April 21: Introducing Maps: Developing Requirements and Proofreading Maps with Laura Edlund
Catch up on demand: Webinar recordings are available
Did you miss an Editors Canada webinar? Many of our webinars have been recorded and are now available for purchase (and some are even free). When you buy a webinar recording, you’ll receive a video file to watch at your leisure on your computer or mobile device. The file is yours to keep, so you can watch it again and again.
Visit our webinar recordings page to see what’s available now. We’re adding new recordings regularly so be sure to check often.
3. THE EDITORS’ VINE: A new online meeting for members
Members of Editors Canada who face barriers to attending twig or branch meetings now have another option: a virtual meeting. We’ve named this group the Editors’ Vine because a vine grows in and among branches and twigs. To further improve access, we will be running two meetings with the same theme each month: first Thursday evening at 7 p.m., Eastern (4 p.m., Pacific) and on the Saturday that follows at 1 p.m., Eastern (10 a.m., Pacific).
You are invited to attend one of the inaugural meetings on April 2 or 4! Meet the facilitators, interact with other editors, and maybe pick up a few tips. This first meeting will be loosely structured, but we’re already planning a guest speaker for the May meeting.
Your facilitators are Janine Jeffers (Thursday) and Nicola Aquino (Saturday). If you would like to join us, please email vine@editors.ca. Links to the Zoom meeting rooms will be sent out during the week of the meetings.
Looking forward to seeing you on the vine,
Janine and Nicola
#editorsvine
4. AGM: Motions at the 2020 annual general meeting
Editors Canada’s 2020 annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on Saturday, June 20.
The Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act requires that substantive motions must be on the agenda that goes out to members in the call to meeting notice. The call to meeting will go out to members 21 to 35 days before the AGM, as required by our bylaw [3.01].
If you would like to make a substantive motion at the AGM, please submit the motion to the national secretary by Wednesday, April 29.
Learn more about making a substantive motion.
5. PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION: A year into the “refresh”
Update
In March 2019, the certification steering committee (CSC) announced our plan to spend time refreshing the 14-year-old professional certification program—to take a step back and look for more agile ways to operate and save costs and resources.
A year in, here’s an update on how it’s going! We’re pulling together our research into three different areas:
- new and streamlined exam-setting procedures;
- establishing a new Foundational Skills test, to test entry-level editors; and
- new technology for administering exams, to boost security and convenience for candidates,
In 2020, in addition to administering the Stylistic Editing professional certification exam, we hope to pilot new technology for the exam, while starting to write questions for the Foundational Skills test. Which leads us to…
A call for volunteers
If you believe in the professional certification program as much as we do, and you want to help us make it even better, join us. It’s an exciting time to be part of the CSC!
Ways you could help include (but are not limited to!):
- writing questions for the Foundational Skills test;
- testing exam technology;
- piloting the Stylistic Editing exam;
- marking; and
- developing a communications plan.
You don’t need to be certified to join the CSC. We just ask that you not take any exams while you’re serving on the committee, and you wait through another full administration of any exam after your tenure is up before taking it yourself.
Want to join us? Have questions or concerns? Get in touch at certification@editors.ca.
6. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Mentorship
The Editors Canada mentorship program now offers two levels of mentorship.
Level 1
- designed primarily for student affiliates; also available for editors who have a small, clearly defined topic they want to discuss
- 4–5 hours over one month
Level 2
- designed for a more in-depth mentoring experience
- 10–20 hours over two months
- Can be extended up to 6 months
Visit the John Eerkes-Medrano Mentorship Program page for more details and how to apply to be a mentor or a mentee.
Testimonials
“My first mentorship term was a wonderful experience! My mentor was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and inspiring. She tailored our conversations to my needs and was very generous when answering questions and recommending resources. Working with her over these last two months has given me many different perspectives on my editing career. Thank you so much to Editors Canada for making this possible.”
– Sarah Jefferies, PhD
“What a great opportunity to learn collegially and to benefit from the experience of a senior editor: we’re lucky to have a program like this. Thanks so much for this opportunity!”
– Claire Wilkshire
7. VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH: Glenna Jenkins
2013 was the perfect time for Glenna Jenkins to join Editors Canada. As a proud Nova Scotian, she volunteered that year at the Halifax conference, filling swag bags and organizing the indexers’ evening dinner. When the annual conference returned to Halifax in 2019, Glenna upped her volunteer game by providing website content, organizing a dinner and a walking tour, and presenting a session on academic editing. The biggest reward in volunteering, she says, is seeing positive collaborative outcomes. Currently she’s on the new finding work for members task force intended to help freelancers find meaningful, well-paid work. “Stay tuned!” she says.
Glenna’s passion for editing emerged long before her first conference. She “became an editor by happenstance” when a friend turned her blog into a book and asked Glenna to edit it 10 years ago.
“That’s how I got hooked,” she says.
To develop her editing skills, she took courses from Ryerson University’s Chang School of Continuing Education and from UC Berkeley. Now she specializes in academic editing, mainly for non-native English speakers. The work can be challenging. “It oftentimes means working with text that is so convoluted I have to try to figure out what the author is trying to say, take a stab at it and query in the comments pane,” she says. But Glenna brings her attention to detail to the job—a skill honed during her years as an economist.
When not wearing her editor’s hat, Glenna enjoys writing young adult fiction, running and cycling long distance (“because I can do this sitting down”). But volunteering for Editors Canada remains an ongoing part of her life because her fellow volunteers are “a joy to work with.”
“Editors are smart, courteous, civilized and a lot of fun,” she says.
– S. Robin Larin
The volunteer of the month highlights the dedicated people who keep Editors Canada going. Volunteers are the backbone of the association. We are grateful for the many members and affiliates who answer the call when help is needed.
8. THE EDITORS’ WEEKLY: Share your in-house experience
Do you work in-house as an editor? Do you have a story to share about how you got there? Our series by and for in-house editors appears in the Editors’ Weekly every other month.
If you are interested in writing a post about your experiences as an in-house editor, best practices, or new skills and tools, please email the member services committee.
9. MEMBER SERVICES: Welcome Kit
The Welcome Kit for new members was recently updated and is available for download.
The Welcome Kit provides a brief overview of our services and resources, with links to the relevant pages on our website. It is a useful guide for existing members as well, and can be used as a quick reference for information on the website.
Special thanks to the member services committee for producing this wonderful resource and to Ellen Keeble for her design.
Join us
Do you have any suggestions for improving our services to meet your needs? Join the member services committee and contribute to making our services better. Contact the committee chair.
10. PRESIDENT’S AWARD: Recognizing Editors Canada’s stellar volunteers
Editors Canada does a lot of amazing work. We work on branch and twig activities, a national conference, publications, services, certification and so many other important things. And these are conceptualized, organized, coordinated and implemented by volunteers.
The Editors Canada President’s Award for Volunteer Service is one way we thank our volunteers for outstanding service to the association. Such service may include
- volunteering over a long period of time,
- identifying and solving a critical problem,
- meeting a specific need, or
- organizing an activity that advances our goals or inspires others to get involved.
Any member or student affiliate in good standing may be nominated for their contribution. From the nominations received, one outstanding volunteer will receive the Lee d’Anjou Volunteer of the Year Award.
The deadline for nominations is Friday, April 3.
For complete nomination instructions and other information about the award, visit the President’s Award page.
11. CLAUDETTE UPTON SCHOLARSHIP: $1,000 award for a promising student editor
Calling all Editors Canada student affiliates! The application deadline for the Claudette Upton Scholarship is fast approaching.
This is a $1,000 scholarship to help support continuing professional development in editing. The recipient is encouraged to use the scholarship to attend our national conference, purchase Editors Canada publications, or attend association seminars and webinars.
How to apply
Visit the Claudette Upton Scholarship page for this year’s essay topic and other application requirements. The deadline for applications is Friday, April 3.
Spread the word
If you know a student who is not an affiliate of Editors Canada and who would be interested in this opportunity, please pass along this message and encourage them to join us. Students join Editors Canada for just $54.95 a year.
12. NEC: Notes from your national executive council
Many freelance editors look to Editors Canada to provide affordable group insurance for their personal and business needs; after all, freelancers often work on their own and don’t have the option to participate in employer group insurance plans. In response to this, the Editors Canada national executive council struck an insurance task force to look into this matter further. In early 2019, the NEC voted to accept the task force’s phase 1 recommendations: (1) to continue to research an insurance plan to offer to members and (2) to research and select reliable insurance companies and explore offering customized insurance packages as phase 2 of the task force mandate.
During phase 2, the task force has approached a range of insurance providers that would be able to offer a flexible group insurance program with customizable components to suit the needs of individual members. However, the task force is now at a standstill because no one has volunteered to lead the group. The director overseeing the task force has sent out multiple calls for volunteers with no response and is currently trying to organize a group meeting to figure out how to move forward in the absence of a task force lead. The current status of the task force is that the information has been gathered but needs to be summarized and a recommendation made to the NEC regarding which company to go with.
If group insurance is an important benefit of membership in Editors Canada to you, please consider volunteering to help lead this task force through the final stage of its work. You can contact the director of member recruitment and retention for more information.
Heather Buzila
President
The national e-news update is produced on behalf of the national executive council by the national office.