News, events, tips and updates from Editors Canada
In this issue:
1. TWIG NEWS: Edmonton and Manitoba twigs are official!
2. ONLINE SPECIAL MEETING: Registration closes Friday, September 23
3. CERTIFICATION: Happy 10th anniversary!
4. TRAIN ONLINE: 2016–17 Editors Canada webinar schedule announced
5. WEBSITE: A new editors.ca is coming this fall
6. VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH: Roma Ilnyckyj
7. GET INVOLVED: Volunteer opportunities to boost your resumé
8. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
9. EXTERNAL LIAISON: Members and affiliates invited to register for DesignThinkers Conference at discounted rate
10. NEC: Notes from your national executive council
1. TWIG NEWS: Edmonton and Manitoba twigs are official!
We are delighted to announce the new Edmonton and Manitoba twigs are officially up and running! Along with the relatively new Calgary twig, this wonderful development signals a new beginning for Editors Canada on the Prairies. It will be exciting to see our three Prairie twigs grow and thrive.
Many congratulations and a huge welcome go to Editors Canada’s newest twig coordinators:
- Edmonton: Aerin Caley and Anna Williams
- Manitoba: Melva McLean and Kate Spencler
We also recognize the following members who lent their support while these new twigs were forming: in Edmonton, Kristine Buchholtz, Anita Jenkins, Cathy McPhalen and Margaret Sadler; and in Manitoba, Susan Bond, Andrea Hatley and Lianne Kobes. Thank you all!
There’s a Facebook group just for the Prairie provinces, so please drop in and see what is coming up for Calgary, Edmonton and Manitoba. Please also go there to contribute your ideas for twig meetings and activities.
So, where will the next twig be? Lethbridge, perhaps? Regina? Yukon? Victoria? Keep in mind that if you have five or more committed members, you can start a twig! And your regional coordinator (east or west) will be pleased to help.
Wondering what’s happening in your neck of the woods? Visit your branch or twig page to find out about news and events in your area.
2. ONLINE SPECIAL MEETING: Registration closes Friday, September 23
Earlier this month we issued a call to members to attend an online special meeting of the association.
Agenda
- Call to order
- Motion #1: That Editors Canada adopt
<em>Professional Editorial Standards 2016</em> (151.65 KB), proposed by the standards taskforce, to take effect January 1, 2017. - Motion #2: That the national executive council (NEC) prepare a bylaw amendment limiting terms on the NEC to three terms of two years each for a total of six years, with a two-year gap before a person is eligible to sit on the executive again, for members to vote on at the 2017 annual general meeting.
- Presentation of the Karen Virag Award
- Adjournment
Meeting date: Saturday, October 1, 2016
Meeting begins: 11 a.m. (PDT) / 2 p.m. (EDT)
Location: This meeting will take place online through our webinar provider, Zoom.us.
Registration closes: Friday, September 23, 2016
This will be our first online meeting of members, so it will be a new experience for all of us. The national executive has prepared FAQs that we hope will answer your questions about the meeting: what is on the agenda, how to register, how to vote and more.
If you did not receive the registration link, please contact the national office at info@editors.ca. Sorry, student affiliates, this meeting is for members only!
3. CERTIFICATION: Happy 10th anniversary!
Did you know the Editors Canada certification program is celebrating 10 years this fall? Since the program’s launch we have awarded 245 certifications to 111 editors, 29 of whom have earned the full CPE credential.
Make this the year you join the growing list of certified proofreaders, structural editors or CPEs. Registration is open until Friday, October 28.
Exam date: Saturday, November 19
Exams offered: Proofreading and structural editing (copy editing and stylistic editing will be offered again in 2017)
Locations: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax
How can you tell if you are ready?
Editors Canada recommends that candidates have five solid years of experience before taking the test—but this is a recommendation, not a requirement. Some people pass with less, and some need more.
Tips for gauging your readiness
- Use Professional Editorial Standards and the study guide to review the standards that will be tested and assess your ability to apply them.
- Take the practice test in the study guide, and time yourself to measure your speed.
- Be sure your background includes more than one medium; experience in just one may leave you at a disadvantage.
- Consult the preparation checklist (151.65 KB).
Visit the Editors Canada website for more information on preparing for certification.
Try a sample proofreading question
Which of the following is the responsibility of the proofreader?
(a) Remove jargon, trite expressions and clichés.
(b) Check consistency and accuracy of running heads and captions.
(c) Improve sentence construction while eliminating wordiness.
(d) Ensure paragraphs are of an appropriate length and that appropriate transitions are used.
4. TRAIN ONLINE: 2016–17 Editors Canada webinar schedule announced
For more than 35 years we’ve been delivering high-quality, local training for editors at every stage of their careers. We’ve just announced our 2016–17 webinar season. Now, you can get your training online too!
Visit our webinars page to choose from 20 new sessions (in English and French) presented by our topnotch instructors. Editors Canada members and student affiliates register at discounted rates.
5. WEBSITE: A new editors.ca is coming this fall
As you probably know, we’ve been working on an updated editors.ca website for some time now. Updating the website turned out to be a more complicated project than we realized. It’s a bit like doing a renovation—the scope of the project expands as you see what’s behind the walls or in the wiring. We (somewhat ambitiously) are both incorporating the new Editors Canada look and moving from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7—and we had to change developers mid-stream.
We’re pleased to announce the launch of the updated website is just around the corner. Beta testers are now reviewing our updated site, and our development team is putting the finishing touches in place. We are anticipating the updated editors.ca will launch at the end of October 2016.
Preview for members and student affiliates coming soon
Before our public launch next month, we’ll open the website to Editors Canada members and student affiliates for an exclusive sneak peek. Keep an eye on your inbox in the coming weeks for your invitation to preview our new home on the web.
6: VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH: Roma Ilnyckyj
Roma Ilnyckyj joined Editors Canada in 2013 just as she was making a career switch to editing. Being new to the profession, she saw volunteering as a way to learn more about editing, meet other editors and stay current on developments and debates in the industry. She began her volunteer work in 2014 as Editors BC programs chair, where she organized and ran the monthly members meetings. Part of her responsibilities included finding speakers to give presentations to the branch members. In her time in this role she found speakers on such diverse and interesting topics as speech writing, forensic linguistics and closed captioning.
In 2015 Roma took on the role of branch chair, running the executive meetings and becoming the branch’s main point of contact. She also helped plan the pre-conference activities for the 2016 Editors Canada conference. Roma admits that this task was the most challenging for her, as she had little experience with event planning and planning professional development workshops. With the assistance of a great volunteer team, she helped make the day a success. She in turn is amazed by the amount of time and work the conference volunteers put into the main event. “It was my first Editors Canada conference,” she says. “And being involved in the planning made it that much more memorable.”
When not volunteering, Roma is the associate editor at Talk Science to Me, a Vancouver-based science communications company that offers writing, editing and design services to a wide variety of clients. She is also enjoying first-time motherhood. Congratulations, Roma!
7. GET INVOLVED: Volunteer opportunities to boost your resumé
Are you looking for valuable experience and accomplishments to highlight on your CV? Here are some Editors Canada opportunities that are available today.
Help us make the 2017 Editors Canada conference amazing!
The Editors Canada conference is coming to Ottawa–Gatineau in June 2017, and the conference committee is seeking volunteers for several key positions that will be integral in planning the agenda and making the event run smoothly. We’re looking for enthusiastic and dedicated individuals to fill the following roles:
- Volunteer coordinator
- Speaker coordinators (several positions available)
- Social media coordinator
Visit the Editors Ottawa–Gatineau blog for details about these positions and other Conference 2017 volunteer opportunities.
Volunteering with the conference is a fantastic professional development opportunity for any editor, with plenty of networking potential as well. However, the best reason to volunteer is that it’s fun! You’ll meet new people, hone your current skills and develop new ones, learn about event planning and take pride in seeing it all come together.
More volunteers will be required as the conference planning process moves forward, as well as on-site at the conference itself. We will send out further calls for volunteers in the months ahead, so stay tuned.
Although the conference is in Ottawa–Gatineau, you can volunteer for these positions no matter where you’re located. If you’re interested in any of the positions above, email us at conference2017_chair@editors.ca.
Don’t forget to mark June 9–11, 2017, in your calendar and join us in Ottawa–Gatineau!
Call for articles for the Language Portal of Canada
Do you have a topic on editing or writing to share with a national audience on the Language Portal of Canada website? We are looking for short articles of around 500 words.
Since 2011 Editors Canada has contributed four articles a year to the Language Portal of Canada, a federal government website that showcases Canadian expertise in the area of language. Articles submitted have included a wide variety of topics such as the role of the editor, editing, translating, and bilingualism. Visit the Language Portal to see the Editors Canada submissions to date.
We work around four submission deadlines during the year: January, April, July and October. If you have an idea for a Language Portal article, please contact Lisa Ng.
Social media volunteers wanted
Are you a social media junkie? Do you “like” tweeting, sharing, snapping and pinning? We need your help!
Our communications and marketing committee has been hard at work developing a calendar for Editors Canada’s national presence on social media. Now we need the social media experts who can put that excellent planning into action.
Want to tweet and Facebook as Editors Canada to help expand the association’s reach online? We’re looking for volunteers from across Canada to join our social media team. You can post from the comfort of your own home—or from your mobile device if you’re an on-the-go tweeter. Interested? Contact the communications and marketing committee co-chairs.
The training and development committee is growing!
With the launch of Editors Canada webinars this year, the training and development committee is reorganizing. A core group will remain focused on the strategic objectives for professional development, while a subcommittee is being struck to provide logistical support to the webinar program.
Subcommittee members are needed to hold “dry runs” with instructors using Zoom (our webinar application) and to host and record the actual event. Subcommittee members will work closely with the main committee to review evaluations from webinar participants and to schedule events. If you are interested in assisting with the 2016–17 webinar program (the host can attend the training session for free!), please contact the committee chair as soon as possible. You would be contributing to one of the key strategic priorities of the association!
8. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
Penelope Mavoungou (Editors Quebec/Atlantic Canada) has written Polygamiques, a collection of short stories published in 2015 by Éditions Doxa in France.
Do you have an achievement you’d like to share? Are you excited about a new project or opportunity that has come your way? We’d love to hear from you! Please send your stories to the member news coordinator. Each item will be posted on our website and will be included in the Editors Canada e-news updates.
9. EXTERNAL LIAISON: Members and affiliates invited to register for DesignThinkers Conference at discounted rate
DesignThinkers—Canada’s Largest Visual Communications Conference—Returns for 2016!
DesignThinkers delivers inspiring, cutting-edge content from leading creative visionaries from around the world for its 17th year
The Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) is hosting its annual DesignThinkers Conference—offering insights from industry pioneers and emerging vanguards into the evolution of visual communication, content and creative strategy.
Hear from 30+ speakers with presentations in 4 streams (Inspiration, Strategy, Trends and Interactions).
Members of Editors Canada receive the discounted Group/Org Member rate!
WHAT
DesignThinkers 2016 Conference
WHEN
Thursday, November 3 & Friday, November 4, 2016
See the schedule.
WHERE
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto
WHO
- Cory Doctorow, science fiction author, activist and journalist
- Steven Heller, author/editor of over 170 books
- Paola Antonelli, Sr. Curator of Architecture & Design at MoMA
- Ashleigh Axios, Digital Strategist at The White House
- Connie Birdsall, Global Creative Director at Lippincott behind visual identities for Coca-Cola, eBay & Starbucks
- David Carson, legendary art director of influential magazine Ray Gun
- Kenya Hara, creator of the opening & closing ceremonies for the Nagano Olympics
- Erin Sarofsky, film titles designer for Captain America & Ant-Man
Early-bird rates end October 2. Learn more at www.designthinkers.com.
10. NEC: Notes from your national executive council
Your national executive council is having a busy September. Besides getting ready for the association’s first online general meeting (October 1), we’re preparing for our first meeting as the 2016–17 executive. On September 24-25, we’ll gather in Ottawa to discuss a wide range of issues that affect members in countless ways. I’ll send a summary of our discussion within a week or two of that meeting. We’re looking forward to catching up with local members on the Friday and Saturday evenings while we’re in town.
Meanwhile, the HR committee is holding interviews with the top candidates for the position of executive director of Editors Canada. We have received close to 40 applications, and have been very impressed at the experience and expertise of many applicants. We hope to have the new executive director in place by mid-October. We’ll keep you posted! Michelle Ou is doing an outstanding job as interim executive director (in addition to her role as communications manager) as we go through the recruitment process. Sébastien Koch (professional standards manager) and Caitlin Stewart (membership and conference coordinator) are also doing extra duty during this time of transition. We are lucky to have this amazing team at the national office. Thanks, Michelle, Sébastien and Caitlin!
Wishing all of you a wonderful autumn…
Anne Louise Mahoney
President
Answer
(b) Check consistency and accuracy of running heads and captions.
The national e-news update is produced on behalf of the national executive council by the national office.