Conference 2019: In the beginning was the word
Page owner: Conference director
Reports from the 2019 conference at Aston University
Merriment, Motörhead and medication: Vignette of a delegate’s first SfEP conference
Reported by Lucie Zeale
In the beginning was the word, and the word was ‘shoes’. I assumed that the SfEP conference would involve sitting in meeting rooms and learning. Well, it turns out that a lot of walking and talking is involved too!
The video on the SfEP’s website from last year pictured sensible people discussing serious matters. Would they know I was not a real editor? Consequently, I was unsure of what to expect when I walked into the Conference Aston centre and found myself in a brightly chatting group of people. With barely time to put my bags into the luggage room, I was off speed-networking. Here I was forced to swallow my shyness and talk to strangers about myself! This proved surprisingly easy, and carried on being easy all weekend.
Drinks turned into dinner, where conversation flowed quite naturally. The evening was capped by a pub-style quiz, which was a great ice breaker for those who were still feeling nervous. I discovered that I was surprisingly good at the subject of song lyrics – hence Motörhead in the headline – which earned me respect from my teammates. Although we did not win, I want to thank team ‘Aston Martinis’ for making it such a fun evening!
Sunday started with the Whitcombe Lecture from Chris Brookmyre, although ‘Lecture’ is a misnomer as Chris was a very funny and entertaining speaker.
It finished with the gala dinner, where we listened to a lovely hymn on the joys of being an editor, to the tune of ‘He Who Would Valiant Be’, written by Riffat Yusuf and performed by The Linnets, a choral group assembled from delegates with an interest in singing. There were a few speeches and a toast from Gerard Hill to the new Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading! After a delicious dinner of sea bass and ‘mango three ways’ (cue my bad MasterChef impression), Rob Drummond gave a rousing after-dinner speech describing the stages of English language pedantry, which was very amusing.
In fact, all of the events I attended this weekend were both enlightening and humorous, and I learned a large amount about the publishing industry. I met people who edit books, magazines and essays; I also met people who edit board games, greeting cards and musical scores. I learned that freelance editors are innately curious and are friendly and helpful to a novice. It was an invaluable experience for me.
I also enjoyed the closing speech of Professor David Crystal, who filled the room with his melodic tones as he described editing his encyclopedia using new technology and a lot of help from his wife, Hilary.
The hotel itself was lovely, the food good and the beds were comfy (possibly too comfy!). There were snack and sweet selections next to the coffee stations around the building, to help us keep energy levels up. And Tesco was nearby for when I inevitably needed painkillers and blister-plasters for my feet!