Past conferences LINKS TO COVERAGE OF PAST CONFERENCES 2006: Cleveland Audience member Walter T. Middlebrook (Newsday), right, explains do's and don'ts for job-seekers in the "Please Hire Me: Career Skills for Copy Editors" session led by Mary Ellen Slayter (Washington Post), standing. The session was part of the student track of workshops. 2005: Hollywood American Society of Newspaper Editors President Rick Rodriguez speaks during the "Editing the Future" panel presentation. Other panelists included Frank Fee, left, and Bill Keller. 2004: Houston Aubespin Scholar Dan Purschwitz and keynote speaker Fernando Dovalina. 2003: Chicago Nelly Min, Ron Smith and Lamar Wilson chat between sessions. 2002: Louisville Wanda Lloyd leads the "Big Story" panel with Vince Rinehart, Walter Middlebrook, Jesse Lewis and Dave Wilson. 2001: Long Beach John Carroll, Jim Naughton and Bob Nishizaki discuss newsroom challenges. 2000: Baltimore Participants in a creativity session moved outside in Baltimore. 1999: Dallas Editors attending the 1999 conference take a break. 1998: Portland Jeanette Chavez, Gene Foreman, Karen Wada and Mike Waller discuss management issues. 1997: Chapel Hill Janet Cleaveland gets a gag gift from Pam Robinson and Hank Glamann for being the first registrant for ACES first conference. Conference history and general information The idea that led to the creation of ACES was nurtured during a series of three conferences about copy editing sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1995 and 1996. When ACES was chartered in the spring of 1997, the top priority of the society's founders was to conduct their own national gathering, organized by copy editors, for copy editors. Four months later, the first ACES national conference was held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The participants, who numbered more than 340, felt the euphoria of shared experience, shared problems, shared goals and shared hopes. (See some comments from participants.) We left Chapel Hill feeling an enormous drive and energy, and that enthusiasm has propelled us through year after year of larger and more successful conferences. CONFERNCES BY ATTENDANCE Dallas: 525 Hollywood: 504 Long Beach: 440 Baltimore: 425 Cleveland 420 Chicago: 410 Portland: 400 Houston: 390 Louisville: 354 Chapel Hill: 347 We have moved the conference around the country in an effort to reach as many editors as possible, and this practice will continue. More than 4,200 participants have taken advantage of the educational and networking opportunities offered by these sessions. Our national conference is our major event each year. Workshops and panel discussions form the backbone of the gathering, but each year we have added and reconfigured sessions in an effort to thoroughly cover topics of interest to all those who edit copy. The conference schedule now offers three full days of training. Nuts-and-bolts workshops on editing and headline-writing are always emphasized, and feature a variety of approaches to benefit editors at various skill levels. Larger issues relevant to anyone in the news industry are featured, as well. Most sessions are of interest to those who edit for any publication, in print and online. We also welcome students, reporters, managers and others who want to know more about editing issues. We keep our registration fees low so that as many editors as possible can afford to attend. In fact, our fees are far lower than those for any training opportunity that is even remotely comparable. ACES members receive discounts on registration costs, as do members of the Society for News Design. Although the conference may be inexpensive, its lineup of presenters is first-rate. Our program has consistently featured many of journalism s leading educators and top-notch speakers from the industry and academia. All of them appear without charge to ACES. We think that our conferences are the best value in journalism education. We encourage you to join us for these upbeat gatherings of editors, where the emphasis is on education to improve professional skills and on raising the voice of the copy desk. Return to the ACES home page CONFERENCE SPEAKERS These journalists are among the hundreds of professionals who have donated their time to speak or lead sessions at ACES conferences: Merv Aubespin, Louisville Courier-Journal John Carroll, Los Angeles Times William G. Connolly, The New York Times (retired) Gene Foreman, Penn State Anne Glover, St. Petersburg Times Joe Grimm, Detroit Free Press Molly Ivins, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Bill Kovach, Committee of Concerned Journalists Paula LaRocque, Dallas Morning News Walter Middlebrook, Newsday Jim Naughton, Poynter Institute Merrill Perlman, The New York Times Sandra Rowe, The Oregonian Mike Waller, Baltimore Sun (retired) Barbara Wallraff, Copy Editor Bill Walsh, The Washington Post Yvette Walker, Kansas City Star Warren Watson, API