Honorary president: Judith Butcher Honorary vice-president: David Crystal OBE
Media release: 31 July 2006
Blue-sky thinking under a green roof
SfEP Conference: 18-19 September 2006
Jubilee Campus, Nottingham University, Nottingham
This year the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) is holding its annual conference at the award-winning Jubilee Campus of Nottingham University. The campus has cutting-edge communication facilities and striking modern architecture set in parkland surrounding lakes and streams. The buildings have been built with energy conservation in mind – the green roofs are carpeted with low-growing alpine plants to help maintain a steady temperature throughout the year, and the room lights are automatically switched on and off by sensors as people enter and leave.
This year's SfEP conference will concentrate on the importance of being professional and entrepreneurial and, perhaps, 'stepping outside our comfort zones' to meet new challenges in our working lives. For those of us who are more than happy not to stray too far from our comfort zones, we'll be looking at ways of working more effectively, to reduce levels of stress and make us more fulfilled by our working lives.
While the conference is always a good place to network and get new ideas, this year's programme is quite unusual in concentrating so hard on new ways to get work – and keep your clients. John Button, Eleanor Stanley and others deal with how to provide a professional service. At the Whitcombe Lecture and other events throughout the conference, freelance opportunities, networking and the power of email marketing will be discussed. Other sessions concentrate on new skills such as newsletters, rewriting, combining copy-editing, proofreading and typesetting, while still others will endeavour to help us improve our abilities, whether we want to become expert proofreaders, use the internet as a resource and as a way of marketing, or learn how to work with PDFs.
The Whitcombe Lecture will be given this year by Ian Ritchie, entrepreneur and business angel – particularly appropriate given that we are concentrating on being more professional. He has clear views on how small businesses can improve their chances of success – including the importance of building relationships with your clients so they will want to stay with you and develop a collaborative relationship over many years.
The conference is not just for SfEP members – it can also be a useful place for publishers to meet freelances and find out which services they have to offer. There are now only a few places left – for further details about the conference, visit the website (www.sfep.org.uk) or contact the SfEP office on 020 7736 3278 (admin@sfep.org.uk). There are also still some sponsorship opportunities for companies wishing to support various aspects of the programme or exhibit during the conference; please contact Sara Hulse – pr@sfep.org.uk – to discuss the options.
Editors' note
For further information about the conference and the SfEP, please visit the website (www.sfep.org.uk) or contact Sara Hulse (tel: 01623 823002; email: pr@sfep.org.uk).Society for Editors and Proofreaders, Riverbank House, 1 Putney Bridge Approach, Fulham, London SW6 3JD (tel: 020 7736 3278; fax: 020 7736 3318).
