By Sally Asnicar AE
In 2024, the stars finally aligned and I was able to attend a CIEP annual conference on 8 to 9 September. The venue was the fabulous Aston University campus in Birmingham, England.
As an early arrival and residential delegate, I was fortunate to join some fellow delegates on a cultural walking tour of the unseen side of Birmingham. Rather than showing off the city’s many magnificent historical edifices and monuments (we could discover these for ourselves later), the tour was a fascinating, warts-and-all, two-and-a-half-hour insight into this Midlands city’s canals, industrial history, street art scene and culture. Plenty of nods to Peaky Blinders too. Footsore, we returned to our on-campus accommodation for a brief rest before the welcome dinner and trivia night.
The next morning, many more delegates arrived and after the welcome address, the opening plenary began with the Whitcombe Lecture by Rob Drummond, Professor of Sociolinguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University. His presentation, “Ten things everybody should know about (spoken) language”, deftly and succinctly looked at 10 ways language affects our perceptions of one another, and how it is constantly evolving.
Rob said he has spent the last decade “trying to persuade people that we should actually celebrate … diversity and take time to appreciate the fundamental connection between the way we speak and who we are”.
As a fellow linguistics fan, I found his presentation insightful, humorous and thought-provoking. Thus, I would say he is succeeding in his quest.
Then began the seminar sessions. As is often the case with these jam-packed conferences, simultaneous sessions made it difficult to choose which to attend, given the varied and interesting topics. These were the presentations I selected over the two days.
“ePlayer: a Microsoft Word add-in for copy editors” by Dick Wynne
Attendees were introduced to a new add-in editing tool called ePlayer, which is like PerfectIt and can work in conjunction with it. It is like running a bunch of macros at once, pre-, during and post-edit, with the ability to scan for and apply styles, make discretional changes (tweaks) etc.
“Much ado about point of view” by Christina Fret
We were taken through our paces identifying the various points of view (POVs) and the pros and cons of each, including first person and third person (objective and subjective, omniscient, and limited). She explained the risk of head-hopping and how to avoid or fix it.
“Coaching fiction clients” by Aimee Walker
This session looked at how to work with fiction clients by helping them with goal setting, running sessions that suit their writing pace, re-evaluating progress, and actively listening to the client.
“Thorns on the rose – tricky editing issues” by Laura Poole
Some of the tricky editing issues Laura covered included whether ®, ™, and © are necessary (Chicago says no, while APA style* states not necessary in academic writing, but may be necessary in marketing work). She also discussed brand names and recommended trying to use generic form (e.g. tissues, antidepressant, cola) but noted that (branded) pharmaceutical names must be capped (and possibly use ® or ™). Recommended reading included The conscious style guide by Karen Yin or APA Chapter 5 on bias-free language. How will bias affect your readers and, importantly, your reviews? Lastly, she covered plagiarism – non-breaking spaces, hyperlinks and changes in language/writing style are red flags. Trust your gut. If you’re suspicious, copy and paste the text into Google – is it too close (if paraphrased) or exactly like the original?
“Understanding self-publishing” by Anna Davidson
Some of the downsides of traditional publishing are that it takes a long time; the publisher has commercial/creative control over your work; and they are not usually interested in “one-offs”. The upsides of self-publishing are that you are in control; a one-off book is okay; it can be part of a broader platform (e.g. to promote your business/services); and there is no need to wait. When comparing your options, consider what you want to achieve. Success means different things to people. Aggregators can sell your book on ALL platforms (and take 10% commission). Check Publisher Rocket for publishing statistics (subscription) – helpful for searching/finding keywords.
“Editor blog 101: how to write blog posts that attract clients to your editing business” by Magda Wojcik
When planning a blog, first think about the main purpose. Passive income? To showcase yourself/expertise/products? To educate clients (send them links)? You can self-host a blog on your website, use a platform such as WordPress or Squarespace, or choose a site like Medium that is dedicated to blogging. Harness your expertise to write about specialist topics that people want to know about. Add keywords that will come up on Google (so people find your blog posts). Lastly, keep track of which posts do well and why.
And just like that, it was time for the closing plenary address by Professor Lynne Murphy, who posed the suggestion “there’s no such thing as a word”.
Apart from the mentally exhausting pace of two full days of proceedings and networking, there was much laughter, some wonderful meals and a lot of wine! It was great to meet delegates who had come from all over the UK, as well as internationally. Several of them I have come to know well online over the years, so it was fabulous to meet them in person. This included the legendary Louise Harnby, Chair of CIEP; and CIEP Vice-Chair Denise Cowle. I chatted with CIEP’s CEO, Christine Yeates, and suggested CIEP and IPEd try to find ways to foster closer collaboration for the benefit of both organisations and their members. Christine enthusiastically embraced the idea of CIEP and IPEd discussing how closer collaboration might come about.
As so many of us work from home, we have limited opportunities to network with our peers, engage in professional development and share stories. While we can do all this online, it can be a great joy to leave the haven of the home office to attend these conferences. So if an opportunity arises (such as IPEd’s 2025 conference in Adelaide!), I encourage you to seize it and attend if you’re able to. You won’t regret it.
*Chicago Manual of Style and Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association