SfEP2019 Conference

Several highlights from my time in Birmingham at Conference Aston in 2019 with the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) include great company with colleagues, lots to learn, and laughs galore.

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The theme of the conference was ‘In the beginning was the word’. My chosen sessions were:

  • Speed networking
  • The art of querying
  • Mindfulness
  • Lightning talks
  • Microsoft Word styles into Adobe InDesign
  • A training toolbox for editors
  • The six habits of highly effective editors
  • Grammar amnesty (bring your grammar questions)

Speed networking

This is the first conference (out of three so far) when I have had the courage to attend the speed networking session. Fellow editors and proofreaders have five minutes to talk to the person opposite about business, ask questions, pick up tips, and share business cards. Then delegates on one side rotate, while those on the other stay where they are. I was able to promote my website blog #TallTartanTalks and my weekly LinkedIn tips #TallTartanTips for freelancers. This was one of my favourite sessions.

Quiz: #TeamKevin

Saturday ended with dinner and THE Quiz. I sat next to Matt Pinnock, a friend from Essex, and Sophie Playle (fellow Herts & Essex local group member). Team Kevin was decided as a *memorable* name. Matt and others were superb with their general knowledge and song first-liner facts. We won Heroes chocolates. (See photo. Nikki Brice is in the background.)

Sunday: Whitcombe lecture

The first prestigious speaker of #sfep2019 was Chris Brookmyre, a Scottish crime thriller writer who was hilariously interesting and entertainingly sweary. Especially about his sub-editor days and the Amazon reviews of over 20 books he has written with the ‘tartan noir’ theme.

I’m ashamed to say this is the first time I have come across this term. So, I have ‘bookmarked’ a couple of his less bloody books to acquire.

The art of querying

Gerard Hill led a superb workshop on how to phrase queries to clients. He presented a series of real-life texts he has copy-edited and proofread.

We questioned, discussed, analysed, and decided whether to ‘stet’ (leave alone), correct, query, check/suggest/query, or ‘flag’ as a concern.

He encouraged, supported and justified in a sensitive way. I can understand why he is the chartership director and why we were successful in our bid.

Mindfulness: becoming mindful with words, work and the whole of your life

I have never felt so much like I needed a session on being still and quiet.

We were encouraged to sit comfortably. With our eyes closed, we concentrated on the leader’s voice giving calm instructions on how … to … be …

She emphasised focusing on our breath, on clearing our heads and gently pushing against our problems or worries.

One helpful tip to relieve stress: take a mindful walk outside admiring the beauty of nature. This is something I’m already aware of through the #StetWalk. But it always slips to the bottom of my to-do pile. Unwise.

Lightning talks

The feeling among SfEP members is that the Lightning talks are the most popular session, as they are so light-hearted. They also cover a wide range of topics.

For those who aren’t aware, six sfep-ers talk for five minutes each about a topic close to their heart, accompanied by their Powerpoint presentation. The topics that spoke most to me were Pam Smith’s editing music, and Liz Jones on finding a good work/life balance.

Microsoft Word styles into Adobe InDesign

Here is some background into my interest in InDesign: I edit a magazine for a charity. I was taught to use Microsoft Publisher for editing purposes. I’m aware that InDesign is the modern equivalent, so I wanted to find out more.

Two designers from Oxford University Press (OUP) explained how the text and images are put together on designed pages for English language teaching resources – teacher guides, children’s workbooks, indeed anything education based.

The implications of how the styles in Word documents transfer and appear in InDesign were discussed by experienced colleagues. Next step for me: training in InDesign.

Gala dinner

It was my third conference, so the nerves about what to wear to the Gala dinner were a little less. Listening to the Linnets (see photo) always calms the nerves as they are impressive singers and entertain us with clever lyrics about editing! This year they sang to the tune of ‘He who would valiant be’.

Rob Drummond, Reader in Linguistics at Manchester University, and our after-dinner speaker, had us laughing about our use of language versus our pedantry in the application of the rules.

A training toolbox for editors

Hilary Cadman, an Australian science editor, is a visitor to our local SfEP group in Bishops Stortford, Herts, when she is visiting her family. Her session was how to use our knowledge to train others. I was intrigued.

As a teacher, I knew I could be a trainer. As a freelancer of three years, I knew I had free resources available on my website. So how to link the two …?

Hilary demonstrated how to make a screencast by recording her voice-over the modelling of a skill on screen. There was an audible gasp of wonder when she played back the sample training video.

She presents her PerfectIt courses in this way. If you haven’t discovered them yet, there is Introduction to PerfectIt and Advanced PerfectIt. Discounts are available for SfEP members on the Benefits page of the website.

Next step: learning how to make training videos for newbie proofreaders.

The six habits of highly effective editors

To be effective, the habits of good editing are to be a detective, spy and linguist; and to have empathy and intuition.

Our presenter, Matthew Batchelor, advocated using NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) methods. In other words, learn the language of your mind.

Developing a healthy work/life balance to carry out our work effectively includes appropriate sleep, timing/timetabling, repetition of skills, and exercise.

Next step for me: To practice a more effective work/life balance. Even more important when I seem to have a whole year of CPD ahead of me!

Grammar amnesty

Lucy Metzger (SfEP Vice-Chair) chaired a grammar panel with Luke Finley, Annie Walker and Cathy Tingle. Bring your grammar questions was the mission: questions about grammar you have always wondered about … For example, when to use ‘that v which’ which catches me out when I am proofreading.

There was an excellent discussion and exploration of language, with recommended books  on display.

Closing speaker: David Crystal

Conference came to its glorious conclusion with the fascinating plenary session by David Crystal. He shared his experiences editing the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language.

Before undertaking the three hour drive back to Essex, I decided to stretch my legs and had a pleasant walk into the centre of Birmingham in the company of colleagues heading to New Street Station.

It looks so different to what my mother would have seen when she left Birmingham in the early 1960s, when she married my Scottish father and moved to Glasgow.

Here’s to next year

As the post-conference blues set in, here’s to next September and #sfep2020 (or #ciep2020) in Milton Keynes. Here’s my link to my blog post about last year’s conference – Why SfEP Conference is Cool (#sfep2018).

Thank you to Beth Hamer and the conference team!

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Proofread by Lisa de Caux, CIEP (was Intermediate Member then) now Professional Member, https://www.ldceditorial.co.uk

Why One-day Conferences Appeal

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When I heard the North East Editors (@NEEditors) were organising a one-day SfEP mini conference in Newcastle, I was very tempted.

I mentioned to Mr Deakins that, as he had spent 4 years there studying Art and had a great affection for the place, he might want to accompany me and ‘do culture’ (art galleries, museums) while I was learning.

Thankfully, he was REALLY keen so we hatched a plan that was win-win: we would have a mini-break by train from Essex in May, and I would get some Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and upgrade points.

#SfEPNEConf here I come!

On the morning of the conference, we left the Holiday Inn really early and sauntered to the cathedral to admire the architecture. At the appointed hour, I headed to the venue – the rather stunning Royal Station Hotel – adjacent to the railway station. A perfect location.

Victoria Suite was sumptuous with huge windows through which the bright sun shone all day and impressive, glistening candelabras. Very glamorous and extremely spacious for the 68 delegates.

An interesting variety of sessions had been planned. At this point I must credit Eleanor Abraham (@EABediting) who wrote excellent summaries in her live tweeting throughout all the sessions. I have relied on some of her tweets for accuracy.

Sessions

  • Denise Cowle: Marketing Your Editing Business
  • Matt Deacon (from Wearset): The Changing World of Academic Publishing (and the ripple effects on editors)
  • Melissa Middleton: Ministry of (Business) Training MO(B)T
  • Hester Higton: Efficient Editing – How to Make the Most of Your Fee
  • Panel Discussion chaired by Luke Finley: Navigating a Course in Publishing. With Sarah Wray, Debbie Taylor, Alex Niven

Session 1 – Denise Cowle

Denise is the SfEP marketing director and she belongs to the Content Marketing Academy. Some of her points included:

  • It’s important to make the shift from ‘freelance’ to ‘business owner’.
  • Have a website. Everybody can have a social media profile, but any of the platforms could disappear tomorrow. Your website is yours to do with what you want.
  • Be brave and network with editor colleagues, including those from your specialism.
  • Like, comment and share content from colleagues.
  • Be helpful and demonstrate your knowledge.
  • Add value. Give away brilliant free stuff on your website (be like Louise Harnby!).
  • Record outcomes – “What gets measured gets improved”.

Time for coffee and CAKE! Marieke Krijnen even brought Stroopwaffels from Amsterdam.

Session 2 – Wearset

Next, Matt Deacon, Project Manager at Wearset, conference sponsors, talked about the pressures that publishers, in this case academic experts, are against. Pressures from profit-driven markets, the internet, expectations on speed of delivery, globalisation and increased competition. All affecting editors.

He asked if artificial intelligence and natural language processing apps are going to take our jobs? No. Context, style and subtlety of language need the human element. Tools (such as PerfectIt) help with mundane tasks and reduce the time taken to edit, leaving us to focus on language and sense.

Matt gave guidance on how to future-proof editing: spot change, embrace and innovate, and spearhead development. How can we as editors encourage standardisation of templates amongst publishers? He suggested that the SfEP has a role to play in encouraging cleaner formats for editing  by sharing discussions with publishing clients. Food for thought.

Session 3 – Melissa Middleton

After a quick change-over, Melissa Middleton’s session was hilarious. She runs Project North East Enterprise promoting Enterprise and CPD. Apparently, there is one local to you – part of the National Enterprise Network. She had us eating out of her hands with her Geordie humour!

In groups, we listed all the ways we do CPD daily – many more than we first thought. Her final workshop activity had us writing our top skill on a post-it to be placed on a poster of collective skills; then writing a skill we want to improve on a separate post-it for a second poster.

By the end of the session we had created a Skill Swap Shop. Very simple, clever and effective.

As a post-script, a couple of the SfEP (now CIEP) directors reminded us that website offer a similar support: members ask a question, and those with relevant knowledge answer. Many of us learn from the way different professionals answer the question with techniques they have used. Melissa finished her session by sharing an Interactive CPD Toolkit – a very useful resource.

Session 4 – Hester Higton

After lunch, Hester’s session was fascinating, if intensive. Her aim was to help us judge what can and can’t be done when clients are cutting costs and driving down schedules.

Given examples of non-fiction texts to discuss and prepare for copy-edit, the task was to analyse the brief and project; calculate how much time could be allocated to each task, bearing in mind the rate of pay for the job and the time scale.

Hester’s tips

  • Can the essential work be done within budget? And by the deadline? Often, when copy-editing, there was little time to put aside for dealing with the actual text.
  • Know what your key priorities are and stick to them.
  • How often, when an editor says the text is ‘clean’, do you believe them …?
  • Use clean-up automaton routines, keep track of the project, and analyse when finished for timings and cost.

Session 5 – Panel discussion

Luke Finley chaired the last session which was a Panel Discussion: Navigating a Course in Publishing. On the panel were Sarah Wray, Debbie Taylor and Alex Niven. The panel discussed such questions as:

  • How do editors deal with …?
  • How have you tackled a ‘muscular’ (favourite word of the conference) or heavy editing job?
  • When do you get time to work on your own novel when you are an editor/publisher and enjoy writing?

One-day conferences

This is my second one-day conference. The first one I attended was the Educational Publishers Development Day in November 2018 at De Vere West One (DVWO) in London. Both conferences were hugely popular with impressive speakers and plenty of opportunities to network.

In summary, one-day conferences appeal to me for a variety of reasons:

  • Lasting only a day means they are not expensive in terms of time or money.
  • Their location may be nearer to you than the main SfEP annual conference.
  • They present more regular networking opportunities than waiting for the annual conference.
  • They are eligible for upgrade points.

The FINAL (unofficial) session moved venues and headed to a bar for well-earned drinks. Unfortunately, I had to miss it as my husband and I reconvened at the station for our train home.

Bravo and cheers to the NE Editors: Kia Thomas, Nik Prowse, Caroline Orr, Jenny Warren, et al, for a valuable day!

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P.S. BitmoAnnie thought she really should wear tartan to represent #TallTartanTalks. She feels a new branding concept brewing.

Why SfEP Conference is Cool

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By this time of year (May), many SfEP folks will have enthusiastically booked an early bird ticket to the SfEP (Society for Editors and Proofreaders) conference. Or be in a dilemma wondering whether or not to book for September’s annual networking event.

I am in the former camp.

If you are not feeling brave enough. Or wondering if you can afford to spend such a lot of money (or invest – it’s all relative), then read on. Here are reasons to go.

Booking

If you have booked already, then it seems a very long time until September. When you psyched yourself up in March to book your place, it felt very unreal and way off in the future.

Rest assured, the wait will be worth it. There is popular opinion that it is one of the most valuable CPD (Continuing Professional Development) events you will attend. As well as being a superb networking opportunity.

Previous conferences

Here are my highlights from the first two conferences I attended.

#SfEP2017

I was told about my first conference by a local member when I joined the SfEP in January 2017. I booked my place at Wyboston Lakes, Bedford. They pointed out the advantage that it was only an hour away from where I live (near Stansted Airport). I must admit that I was up for trying anything – it felt like a big adventure. It helped that I knew fellow local members were going as well.

Some highlights were:

  1. Eating meals in the canteen was an experience. I’ll never forget the buzz of 120 delegates all eating and chatting together. If you are a freelancer who lives alone quietly, the change in environment may be something which either excites or frightens you. On the upside, there is always someone to talk to. Or you can get away to quieter parts of the campus to collect your thoughts.
  2. Saturday evening quiz – hilarious!
  3. John Espirian and Louise Harnby’s double act on Content Marketing.
  4. Accountability Groups with Denise Cowle
  5. The Lightning Talks (each speaker has 5 minutes to entertain the audience).
  6. Guerrilla Marketing workshop.*
  7. Sunday evening Gala Dinner – very special.

*I was flattered to be asked by the Editing Matters editor, Hazel Reid, to do a write-up about the Guerrilla Marketing workshop for the Conference report. When I contacted the presenters (Tracey Cowell and Jackie Mace) afterwards to do a fact check, I discovered they were both in my local Herts & Essex SfEP group. In addition, they were both in educational publishing – which where I was heading to find proofreading work. Result!

#SfEP2018

My second conference, held in Lancaster, was an adventure. My local group members, Anna Nolan, Howard Walwyn and I really enjoyed the camaraderie of travelling together to the opposite end of the country.

Highlights were:

  • Keynote Speakers, e.g. Lynne Murphy (#Lynneguist).
  • The Lightning Talks (see a pattern here?).
  • John Espirian’s Guide to LinkedIn (don’t be a LinkedIn Loser).
  • Paul Beverley’s Beginner Macros.
  • Learning how to copy-edit non-fiction with Erin Brenner and Laura Poole.
  • Stephen Pigney, academic, reminisced about his first year as a freelancer (we joined SfEP at the same time).

#SfEP2019

This year, the conference takes place at Aston University in Birmingham from 14th to 16th September, with the theme ‘In the beginning was the word’.

When early bird bookings opened in March this year, there was a huge rush of excitement on social media, and general optimism about something good happening.

Hesitating?

If you are in two minds about attending, please read the variety of conference blog posts. You might find some if you search in the SfEP Forums. They will help you reflect as to whether it is your kind of thing. You will certainly laugh and learn lots. I still refer to my notes from both conferences.

One event I hadn’t had the encourage to attend was the Speed Networking, held on the Saturday afternoon at the same time as the pre-conference tour. This year, I am determined to put that right!

Value for money

The cost of conference needs to be weighed up with the value gained.  Fair enough, if you are training and haven’t earned much income from proofreading or editing jobs in the last year, you will need to pay the bills first. Conference won’t be your highest priority.

The price being asked to pay for accommodation, meals, and speakers is … reasonable. Then, on top, there are the transport costs of getting to the venue.

However, think of it as investing in your career. The benefits far outweigh any disadvantages. You will gain valuable learning experiences and upgrade points. The value of networking is certainly not to be under estimated. In fact, conference might be the only time in the year that some members meet each other in real life (IRL) as they live in other parts of the UK/world.

History

Another reason I am looking forward to this event is that I feel an affinity for Birmingham. My mother lived there for the first 30 years of her life. (So I am not entirely Scottish, only half). She worked as a secretary for the BBC at Pebblemill (in the early 60s) and typed scripts for The Archers!

Time away from my desk

I appreciate that I can take time away from my desk:

  • My children have grown up so I don’t need childcare.
  • I am no longer tied to teaching in the primary classroom, and can arrange the times of my pupils’ tuition lessons to suit me.
  • My husband is addicted to long distance cycling so is away a LOT. In fact, when he checked about a trip and found I was going to be away this particular weekend, his glee was apparent!

It will be lovely to meet up again with trusted colleagues and make new edibuddies.

See you there!

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Proofread by Lisa de Caux, CIEP (was Intermediate Member) now Professional Member, https://www.ldceditorial.co.uk