The following is an edited version of IPEd Chair Stephanie Holt’s address at the 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM).
I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about some highlights from the annual report, covering the period of the last financial year.
But first, some notes on the Board. I shared chair duties during the reporting period with Ruth Davies AE, who was the chair until November 2023, remaining on the Board as the director from Queensland. More of that later.
We had 7 of our 10 Board positions filled for the year: 5 of our branch-appointed positions and 2 Board-appointed positions. In addition, the branch-appointed director from Tasmania, Gordon Campbell AE, served until November 2023. After remaining vacant during the reporting period, that position has been filled in the subsequent financial year. The branch-appointed position from Aotearoa New Zealand was unfilled for the year, though discussions with a likely director are continuing.
In early 2024, Russell Noakes, our company secretary, advised that he wished to reduce his role prior to stepping down. Efforts to confirm a new company secretary continued through the remainder of the financial year and have since come to fruition with a new company secretary now being inducted, and Russell remaining in the role to support this process.
I thank all our directors for their dedication and expertise in their service to IPEd, and our company secretary for his continued activity in that role.
The year has seen a return to more face-to-face activities, with members enjoying the opportunity to gather with colleagues for a range of social and networking events, and occasional in-person professional development opportunities.
Collegial discussions and connecting with peers have felt all the more vital as we confront together the rapid changes being wrought by AI on our industry. Asserting the worth of what we do proves more difficult as increasingly sophisticated AI serves up passable prose and tackles the improvements that were once our bread and butter. These in-person occasions are also valuable for supporting emerging editors as they enter the profession, and for maintaining warm and appreciative connections with those retiring or winding down.
IPEd has two major recurrent events, the conference and the accreditation exam, which take place in alternate calendar years. Neither fell during this reporting period, but extensive preparatory work was undertaken, particularly for the accreditation exam held this August. The theme for an in-person 2025 conference was also established during the reporting year – “Editors as changemakers”. We continue to explore how best to make sessions available to those who will not be present in person. The conference is one part of a widespread professional development program, which otherwise continues to be offered almost wholly online.
Two major IPEd publications were a focus during the reporting period. After a meticulous process, the IPEd Standards Working Party released the third iteration of the Standards for editing practice in March 2024. This provides a significantly updated and commendably clear and inclusive overview of the expectations of today’s professional editors, capturing the breadth of the profession, and the range of editorial input, specialisation and expertise.
The Accessibility Initiative Working Party had released Books without barriers in April 2023, but during the reporting period there was much activity to promote it. This is a vital resource for the book publishing industry on how to create born-accessible publications, and IPEd continues to advocate for it.
On the completion of their work, both these working parties were wound down, but their accomplishments continue as an important touchstone for IPEd and for our wider advocacy.
For members, we continued to produce the monthly newsletter Gatherings, always bursting with interesting updates and thought-provoking reviews and opinions. We also introduced a new events bulletin to complement Gatherings. Both are edited by our communications officer, Kirby Fenwick, with support from member contributors and interested Board members, most significantly Justine Dixon Cooper AE, who proofreads Gatherings.
Feedback from members has been very positive about both publications. Together, they provide a terrific showcase of IPEd’s breadth of activity, highlighting especially the energy and creativity of our branches, which generate most of our events.
Other notable member-focused publications produced during the reporting period were:
- the suite of accreditation-support materials produced with the Accreditation Board
- revised information on indicative costs of academic editing produced by the Standing Committee on Academic Editing, and
- revised indicative pay rates for freelance editors, and a guide to working with self-employed editors, from the Pay and Conditions Standing Committee.
As we moved into a new strategic planning period, we established working parties to support two emerging areas of focus. The Working Party on Artificial Intelligence and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Party were initiated during the reporting period, and have since begun work. These complement other IPEd-wide committees focused on other strategic pillars, including standing committees on Professional Development, on Awards and Prizes, and on Academic Editing, alongside the Accreditation Board.
I commend all those who work on our branch and IPEd-wide committees, and on the Accreditation Board, for their contribution to the profession and service to our members.
It was gratifying to see new volunteers eager to join the new working parties, or answering the callouts from existing standing committees and branches.
Turning to IPEd finances, the last financial year income was $363,009 and we finished with a deficit of $15,878 compared to a budgeted surplus of $511. Contributing to this outcome was:
- investment in uninterrupted service to members, which relied on backfilling personal and annual leave for staff
- taking out cyber insurance, given the increasing urgency to protect against digital threats
- support for a mid-career freelance editor to attend the industry’s Residential Editorial Program.
The Board continues to control spending and monitor budgets closely, to ensure a sound financial base from which to deliver the benefits members expect, with a budgeted surplus for 2024–25 of $9,127.
Members’ equity now totals $ 224,874, of which $111,755 is in retained earnings, $115,687 is in branch reserved funds and $13,310 is in the Janet Mackenzie reserved funds.
Turning to membership, total active membership at 30 June 2023 was 1,329, which is a small decrease of 11 from the same time last year. The main reason people didn’t renew was retirement or moving out of the profession. We continued efforts to attract new members, and ran a campaign focused on students and graduates. This made modest gains and provided connections and templates to build on for future targeted recruitment.
As an aside, I recently went to one of my branch’s periodic lunches, and met three young members – one a student, one a publishing intern, one a recent graduate – attending their first branch event. I came away energised and so impressed – the enthusiasm of new members, and the insights of this emerging generation of editors create optimism for the future and provide the best kind of challenge to our organisation.
I will close these remarks with thanks again to my Board colleagues, and to the dedicated IPEd staff, and with two tributes. Russell Noakes has served in the exacting and often under-recognised role of company secretary, and has continued longer than he may have hoped – we thank him for his commitment. And Ruth Davies will be stepping down as the branch-appointed director from Queensland, having joined the Board in November 2019, and shortly thereafter becoming chair. If November 2019 strikes a chord, you’ve probably realised that this coincided with the emergence of Covid-19. Ruth steered IPEd and helmed the Board through the uncertainty of those times, overseeing rapid transition in how IPEd worked. She was a thoughtful, expert and dedicated chair, esteemed by all her Board colleagues, and actively engaged with her branch and select committees, most recently joining the new AI working party. Ruth was a persuasive and then a focussed and supportive colleague in getting me on board the Board as her deputy and successor. I suspect we embarrassed her with our expressions of appreciation in her final Board meetings, but the members would, I’m sure, want to join us in expressing appreciation and best wishes again tonight.