The ACES board is jazzed about the 2012 national conference, which will be April 12-14 in New Orleans. One of the big items on the agenda for the board’s midterm meeting this weekend is planning for ACES 2012.
We’ll be meeting at the Sheraton Hotel across from the French Quarter, and there will be lots of opportunities to sharpen skills, share experiences and socialize with others who are passionate about editing.
ACES VP for conferences Lisa McLendon says some of the sessions already on the program are
Style Q&A
Representatives from AP Style and Chicago talk about how and why they make style decisions, and take questions from the audience. What changes might AP announce this year?
Even Porn Needs Style
Eric Althoff, freelance editor
A former editor at Hustler, using examples from the magazine’s in-house style guide, discusses the importance of having a style guide and how to create your own for your publication.
Avoiding Burnout
Becca Dyer, Arizona Republic; Rick Dyer, Independent Newspapers (Arizona)
Practical tips for all editors — freelancers, management and people in the trenches — on how to avoid burnout and maintain your passion for what you do.
Which Sentence Sounds Better And Why?
Michael Schneir, University of Southern California
A nitty-gritty look into what makes some sentences preferable to others: Working in pairs, session attendees will decide which of two sentences sounds better and why and compare notes with others before moving on to the next set of sentences.
Editing Military Coverage
Renee Petrina and colleagues, Defense Information School
Tips and best practices for copy editors when working with military stories, including explanation of how the military releases information and exploration of the nuances involved in translating military jargon and issues into general-purpose language – all without alienating the military community.
Maintaining newsroom standards in non-standard newsrooms
Suzanne Tarrant and colleagues, Demand Media
All copy editors at Demand Media must have credentials of print quality. Several editors who have found success there discuss how to survive and thrive in that environment, and how to maintain newsroom standards.
Fault lines
Dori Maynard, Maynard Institute; Doris Truong, Washington Post
A time-tested strategy for getting more diversity in news coverage.
Writing for SEO, writing for social media
Frank Russell, University of Missouri
Headlines and summaries need to be optimized differently for search and social media. This session will cover how to write for each one.
Transition follow-up
Maggie Walter and Frank Russell, University of Missouri
Last year they talked about the restructuring of their newsroom to focus on online. A year later, they‘ll discuss what’s changed and where the focus is.
Ethics of the Last Editor Standing
Rick Kenney, Florida Gulf Coast University
You look left, you look right, and there’s no one on the desk but you. The best ethical decisions, it is often said, are collaborative. What to do when collaboration isn’t an option? Don’t panic. Here’s help.
Inside Readers’ Heads
Alex Cruden, editing consultant
What real readers think about what they read — and it’s not always what you might think.
The Power of Proofreading
Sherrie Voss Matthews, UT-San Antonio and panel
Learn how to take one final look at spelling, design, color and content before sending copy into the world. This panel of experts offers tips on how to prevent design and typography bloopers from reaching your audience.
Surviving a Redesign
Sherrie Voss Matthews, UT-San Antonio and panel
Editors discuss the process of and complications surrounding redesigns, both in print and on the Web.
Copy Editors as Curators
Gerri Berendzen, Quincy Herald-Whig; Sue Bullard, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
News copy editors are playing a growing role in compiling, editing and linking to add value to print and online packages.
We All Make Mistakes
Panel
We all want to succeed, but what people often don’t talk about was how failures — and what we learn from them — contribute to success. A panel of editors will talk about the times they’ve failed — in day-to-day editing, in management and in career moves. They’ll talk about what went wrong and how they benefited from it, and why we all should welcome, rather than fear, failure.
Math
Neil Holdway, Daily Herald
What editors need to know about math.
What the study really said
Fred Vultee, Wayne State University
How to read and make sense of “study says” stories.
Legal language
Charles DelaFuente, The New York Times
What do all those legal terms mean?
Jimmy’s World
Bill Connolly, retired from The New York Times
A hands-on session examining how a copy editor could have averted disaster. Registration required. Attendance limited.
Freelance editors’ forum
Mark Allen, moderator
A session for freelance editors to share tips, concerns and solutions.
Small-staffs forum
Tim Yagle, moderator
A session for editors who are part of small staffs to share how to work efficiently, get training and not get stretched too thin.
How Do I Get There? Copy Editing Beyond the Newsroom
Doug Ward, University of Kansas, et al.
Resources one can use to find other types of copy editing jobs.
A Keen Eye for Graphics
Bill Cloud, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Graphics need just as close an edit as stories do. This session discusses what to watch for when you’re editing graphics.
We’ll post a preliminary schedule (broken out by days and times; subject to change) later this month, before the early-bird deadline.
In which I ponder the night copy desk’s death
By Neil Holdway | 10:45 am September 7, 2011 | 1 comment
It was another tough day or week in early June in which we, the night copy desk, were getting some flak for errors getting in the newspaper or missing a story or some frustrating thing that slips through just a little more easily in these days of diminished staffing yet increased pressure to turn out a good product that readers will pay for. Then Steve Yelvington’s blog entry “Let’s just bury the nightside copy desk” comes out, and I’m like, SON OF A (Blagojevich word). “Forgive me, nightside copy editors, for I have come to dash your hopes and crush your spirit,” Steve began. Well, I was in a mood neither for my hopes to be dashed nor my spirit to be crushed; others were working on that pretty well already.
More than two months with plenty of precious sunlight have passed, and some discussion on the matter has been attempted, such as by our president Teresa Schmedding who posted her thoughts and asked for feedback on whether the night copy desk is dead. I was surprised to see the response both to Yelvington’s and Teresa’s blog posts were about as quiet as a newspaper newsroom after 7 p.m. So, as I am in a better state of mind (and Blagojevich’s profanity-laden tapes have helped land him prison time), let’s really ponder this.
Is the night copy desk dead? Well, no. But it’s evolving, and has been, rather quickly, for a few years now.
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