Honorary president: Judith Butcher Honorary vice-president: David Crystal OBE

One Step Beyond
16th Annual SfEP Conference
Crown & Mitre, Carlisle

26-27 September 2005

The venue is the old but comfortable Crown & Mitre hotel in the heart of the ancient city of Carlisle.

This year's conference will concentrate on widening our horizons: learning new skills, finding new markets, meeting new clients. We have a mixture of sessions suitable for all stages of expertise

The plenary sessions cover areas of common interest such as the knotty question of what to do about upgrading our computers and the even knottier one of what our clients expect from us.

There will be specialist surgeries, run by experts, on common (and complicated) problem areas. Questions will be taken both in advance and on the day. Delegates will be able to move between surgeries to get the maximum benefit from the expertise on offer.

Seminars (delivered programmes with room for questions and some discussion) and workshops (smaller groups with an emphasis on exercises and discussion) have always been the intense learning parts of the conference. This year, each delegate will be able to attend three sessions instead of the usual two. The seminars and workshops have been grouped so that delegates should be able to find a good first and second choice in every session. Some sessions will require hands-on activity in a computer suite.

For those who missed the wonderful Whitcombe lecture by Professor David Crystal at Birmingham in 2003, there will be another opportunity to hear him following the conference dinner.

Beginner or old hand, whether you proofread or edit, design or manage, there's something for you: graphics, software, websites, marketing, pricing and new clients, fiction and copywriting. Take a good look at the programme. This is not a conference any professional editor or proofreader should miss.

Here is the provisional programme.

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Accommodation will be spread between the Crown & Mitre and the Lakes Court Hotel, where B&B only will be provided, all other activities taking place at the Crown & Mitre. The two hotels are just a few minutes' walk apart, mainly through a pedestrian precinct in the heart of Carlisle.

Other than that, everything will be under one compact yet capacious roof. There is a swimming pool so everyone can work off the extra inches acquired from the food, which will be good and as local as possible.

An important point this year is that, as we are using a hotel, we need to give final numbers earlier than usual – by 25 July – and accommodation in the two hotels is finite. So please book early to ensure not only that you get a place but that you take advantage of the 'early bird' discount.

If enough people are interested, it may be possible to arrange an independent two-night break on the Friday and Saturday preceding the conference, at a hotel in the Carlisle area. This could include outings to the Lakes and/or to Hadrian's Wall.

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