IPEd Notes June 2009
IPEd Notes
News from the Institute of Professional Editors Limited
June 2009
Dates to keep in front of mind are 30 June and 12 September 2009, and 14July and 8 October 2009. The first couplet comprises the closing date for early-birdregistrations for this year's accreditationexam and the date of the exam; the second, the closing date for early-birdregistration for the national conferenceand the starting date of the conference. Note that both early-bird sign-updates are imminent. You can still register after those dates (till 1 August and7 September, respectively), but it'll cost you more and who wants that?
You can register for the exam online at <www.iped-editors.org>. Alsoavailable there are an exam guide for candidates, FAQs and answers, and a sampleexam. The last-named item will be a very good indicator of what you can expectin September, and trialling it under simulated exam conditions will help youdecide whether or not you are ready to take the test. It remains the IPEd AccreditationBoard's view that an editor with two to three years' full-time editingexperience should be able to pass the exam. As a further aid to candidates, allsocieties will be organising pre-exam workshops and other supportive activities.Keep an eye out for notices of those.
A dynamic program is in store for participants in the 4th National Editors Conference, thevenue for which is the Adelaide Festival Centre. During 8-10 October, they willhear and discuss papers from their peers exploring the conference theme, ‘Gettingthe message across', and engage in lively debate on the relevance and value ofediting as seen from various perspectives. Expert panels will explore thefollowing topics: Turning the tables: editors being edited; Paying it forward:the editor as mentor; and Into the unknown: the future for editing'.
Keynote speakers at the conference will be human rights and refugeeadvocate Julian Burnside AO QC; author, community worker and mentor WendyMcCarthy AO; US editor and publisher of prize-winning childrens's books NealPorter; and former senator and now University of Adelaide research fellow, Natasha Stott Despoja.Participants can look forward to a series of stimulating and diverse addresses.
Not the least of the joys of the conference social program will be themultitude of opportunities to get together and chew the fat with fellow professionaleditors, but scheduled events include a civic reception at the Town Hall, hostedby Adelaide'sLord Mayor, and the conference dinner at the National Wine Centre.
As with the exam, you can register for the national conference onlineat <www.iped-editors.org>. Don't entertain regrets: do it now. And don'tforget that various costs associated with attendance at the conference-aprofessional development episode-can be claimed against taxation.
Ed Highley
Secretary
