Professional development
EAC-QAC Seminars for Editors
The EAC-QAC is gearing up for another season of English seminars and we are pleased to offer seminars in Atlantic Canada as well as in Quebec. Please check this webpage regularly; as events are organized, they will be posted online.
ATLANTIC CANADA SEMINAR
| Title: | Eight-step Editing |
| Date: | Friday, April 30, 2010 |
| Time: | 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Place: |
TBA |
| Instructor: | Elizabeth d'Anjou |
| Cost: |
$150 for EAC/PWAC/WFNS members Registration closes April 23 Lunch and coffee breaks included. There are no early bird discounts or student rates. |
Eight-Step Editing breaks the editorial process down into a series of tasks that will improve the readability of the final product. If you're an editor, whatever your experience level (from novice to expert), this seminar will help you develop a systematic approach and identify functions you may have been performing only intuitively. If you're a writer, the eight-step process will give you techniques for improving your manuscript before it goes to an editor.
Elizabeth d'Anjou has 18 years' experience as a freelance editor with a diverse clientele, from textbook publishers to corporations and non-profit agencies. An expert in plain language editing and translating jargon into accessible prose, she is excited to be following in the footsteps of eight-step creator Jim Taylor as a presenter of this bestselling seminar.
Seminar coordinator: Christine Beevis
How to register
- Register online only
- Note that payment by cheque or money order is possible with online registration.
- Confirmation available upon registration. Receipts will be available at the seminar.
Registration and payment information
Cancellation policy
MONTREAL SEMINAR
| Title: | Paper to pixel: Editing for the Web |
| Date: | Thursday, September 24, 2009 |
| Time: | 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Place: |
Hotel Ruby Foo's |
| Instructor: | Christine Hastie |
| Cost: |
$160 for members Lunch and coffee breaks included. There are no early bird discounts or student rates. |
What you'll learn
Web text should be concise, scannable, and written using simple language. Hundreds of studies have confirmed this. But your client's draft is a long report and doesn't look like a Web page at all. Or perhaps a client expects you to develop Web pages from a variety of materials. This presentation will help you identify your client's needs so you can offer Web-appropriate text. We'll share ideas on making fewer words do more as they become a vibrant source of energy that attracts readers and carries them through the information.
We'll cover
- Understanding Web readers' needs and expectations in various contexts
- Structure and other features of good Web writing
- Developing an approach to the project and steering through the challenges
- Adding value and ensuring quality
Note: This workshop can be helpful for editors looking to enhance their structural editing skills.
Your participation
Please submit your Web text problems and samples to the coordinator, Claire Sutton, especially if they can be shared with all participants. Handouts and exercises in Word format will be emailed in advance. Bring a laptop, arrange to share one, or use the paper copy supplied. (N.B. Laptop not required for this seminar.)
About the presenter
After living in a Cree and Métis community for several years, Christine Hastie established herself as a communications healer in Montréal in 1993. She freelanced for a number of years—creating her first Web page and a touch-screen interface in 1997—and joined the federal public service in 2002. Now working at Ste. Anne's Hospital in Communications with Veterans Affairs Canada, she develops tools for a community of practice in mental health. Specializing in rewriting, she contributed an article to La révision professionnelle : processus, stratégies et pratiques (2007), edited by Jocelyne Bisaillon. Christine has a Master's degree in English literature from the University of Western Ontario.
How to register
- Register online only
- Note that payment by cheque or money order is possible with online registration.
- Confirmation will be provided upon registration. Receipts will be issued by e-mail within 10 days of registering.
Registration and payment information
Cancellation policy
MONTREAL SEMINAR
| Title: |
Punctuation and Mechanics—Seminar cancelled due to low registration. |
| Date: |
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 |
Seminar Description
"God is in the details," the old saying goes, though any editor who has agonized endlessly over a comma or a hyphen might argue that a far darker entity lurks there.
This seminar takes an unsurprisingly detailed look at punctuation and mechanics, including commas (what's right, what's wrong, what's optional), semicolons, colons, quotation marks, apostrophes, dashes, hyphens, italics, and the ever-perplexing bullet points. We'll discuss up-to-date rules and guidelines, examine how punctuation and mechanics affect meaning (for instance, the relationship between commas and modifiers), and note some of the most useful style guides available. There will be practice exercises throughout the day, and you're encouraged to bring along troublesome editing samples for discussion.
Presenter
Frances Peck is a Vancouver-based editor, writer and instructor who has taught editing and writing for over 20 years. She prepared the Canadian edition of The St. Martin's Workbook, a university-level grammar exercise book; recently completed Peck's English Pointers, an e-book for the Translation Bureau; and is a regular columnist for the periodical Language Update. A member of West Coast Editorial Associates, Frances is also an instructor with the Print Futures program (Douglas College) and the Writing and Publishing program (Simon Fraser University).
Seminar coordinator: Wendy Gokhool
Seminar cancelled due to low registration.
ATLANTIC CANADA SEMINAR
| Title: | Usage Woes and Myths—Seminar cancelled |
| Date: | Thursday, November 5, 2009 |
Seminar Description
You've sorted out imply and infer. You know it's not all right to use alright. But what about more troublesome usage points, like the difference between may and might? Or such frequently misused expressions as centre around and beg the question? Is it true that you should always change though to although, till to until, like to such as?
For anyone intent on preventing (not avoiding) word errors and avoiding (not preventing) usage myths, this seminar will help. Through discussion and examples, the session will provide an up-to-date look at some of the most misunderstood and contentious points of English usage and will suggest helpful guides and other resources. Bring along your most perplexing usage questions to share with the group.
Presenter
Frances Peck is a Vancouver-based editor, writer and instructor who has taught editing and writing for over 20 years. She prepared the Canadian edition of The St. Martin's Workbook, a university-level grammar exercise book; recently completed Peck's English Pointers, an e-book for the Translation Bureau; and is a regular columnist for the periodical Language Update. A member of West Coast Editorial Associates, Frances is also an instructor with the Print Futures program (Douglas College) and the Writing and Publishing program (Simon Fraser University).
Seminar coordinator: Christine Beevis
Seminar cancelled
Registration and Payment
Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Payments by cheque must be received within 7 days of registration or the registration may be voided.
- Registrations must be received at the very latest five business days before the seminar. No registrations will be accepted after that date.
- Walk-in registrations on the day of the seminar and cash payments will not be accepted.
- Full payment is due at the time of the registration.
Cancellation Policy
EAC-QAC reserves the right to cancel any seminar if registration is insufficient. If a seminar is full or cancelled, you will be notified by email or telephone before the scheduled seminar date.
- Cancellations are accepted up to five business days before a seminar. A $50 fee is charged for each cancelled registration. No refunds are given for cancellations received within five business days of the seminar.
- Please allow two to four weeks to process a refund.
Cancellations can be made by sending an email to rqa-qac@editors.ca.
Professional Development Committee