From the committee
We Zoomed into the meeting this month with much to discuss, as always. First up was the subject of our branch budget. Our balance sheet is looking sound as we approach the end of the financial year, which is always good news, and we are now in the process of evaluating our financial needs to carry us forward through the next 12 months.
As IPEd looks at ways of further standardising practices across the branches, we discussed the format of our speaker meetings to take us into 2021. It was noted that the move to online meetings has been warmly welcomed by our regional members (and probably will be by local members too, now the winter chill is setting in). These events also now attract members from interstate, particularly from smaller branches that may not have the resources to set up such meetings themselves. On that basis, the committee decided to move to online meetings as the default setting from now on. Our thanks to Rob Rowe, Caroline Hunter and Sara Kitaoji for all their hard work in setting up templates and procedures to ensure these events run smoothly.
Another issue we explored this month was the possibility of offering recordings of the presentation for sale after the meeting. Until now we have been limited by the nature of our agreement with the speakers, who of course own the rights to the content they present. We are now in the process of contacting future presenters to see if and how we can vary these terms, to make the recordings available beyond their current use for transcription only. As noted in last month’s newsletter, please continue to check event details carefully at the time of booking, as they may vary with the presenter.
Meanwhile, while we will continue to organise face-to-face events once restrictions in the community ease further, they will now all be offered separately from our formal member meetings. In addition to our editors’ lunches, which are already established and ready to roll again, we are thinking of ways to hold informal evening get-togethers in the city. Bear with us as we build on that idea further.
The July dinner is still in abeyance and we will monitor the situation again at the July committee meeting. If it appears viable, we hope to offer the event in late July.
Our next scheduled event, other than the dinner, is the Annual Branch Meeting (ABM) in August, which will be delivered by Zoom. This is our opportunity to thank the outgoing committee for all their hard work and announce who will make up the new committee for the coming year. Attendance is free to all members of Editors NSW, and we shall invite you to bring along your beverage of choice (be it a glass of wine or mug of tea) to help us celebrate our achievements. Details will be included in the invitation.
Before this, though, will be our annual call for committee volunteers. Now that both our monthly committee and member meetings are all held online, almost every committee role can be performed from any location. We have lots of ideas for developing future events, but we can only develop them if we have enough people to help out, so please do consider joining us and supporting the work of the branch. Look out for the official ‘call for nominations’ email or contact ednsw.admin@iped-editors.org for further information.
It is a whole new way of working for both the committee and the branch, but we are excited that online delivery feeds directly into IPEd’s mandate to offer professional development and news to all its members. It just took a pandemic to get us over the finish line.
Susie Pilkington and Julie Ganner
Events
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, and when possible, member meetings will continue to be held via videoconference using the Zoom application. Members are urged to check their email for the latest information on any event.
Topic: Mid-year dinner
Date: One evening in July 2020
Location: to be determined
Details: Will the COVID-19 social and physical restrictions have lifted enough by July to enable us to get together for our regular mid-year dining experience?
Keep an eye on your email for any decision or news as the time approaches.
Topic: Annual Branch Meeting
Date: Tuesday 4 August 2020, 7pm AEST
Location: online via Zoom
Details: will be announced closer to the date
Cost: free to members
Bookings: for this members-only event close Friday 31 July and a link to join the Zoom meeting will be emailed to all registrants on Saturday 1 August. Bookings via the IPEd Events page.
Topic: Australian Manual of Style (AMOS)
Date: Tuesday 1 September 2020, 7pm AEST
Location: online via Zoom
Details: will be announced closer to the date.
Presenter: Andina Faragher, principal science writer and editor, and AMOS manager, at Biotext
Cost: $10 members, $15 non-members, no concessions for this event
Bookings close Friday 28 September and a link to join the Zoom meeting will be emailed to all registrants on Saturday 29 September. Bookings via the IPEd Events page.