Summer Break

What a difference a year makes!

Almost a year ago, two dozen Calgary editors gathered in the upper lounge of Raw Bar on a warm evening in late June. It was a chance to eat, drink and mingle with local editors. It was also an opportunity to celebrate the newly formed Editors Calgary twig and discuss the needs and wants of twig members. While it was a casual affair, the room seemed abuzz. Conversations flowed easily and the general consensus seemed to be that the time was ripe for a local group of Editors Canada, open to both members and non-members, as a place to share tips and commiserate with other editors, in addition to offering one or two workshops a year.

Fast forward to June 28, 2016, the date selected for the first Editors Calgary AGM, at the Old Y. The plan: to go over the year’s successes (which included one half-day workshop on style sheets, one full-day workshop on grammar and a few more socials) and plan for the next year. But despite the promise of 10 or so RSVPs, I found myself sitting in an empty room with my co-chair Chrissie Mains. After waiting for about 30 minutes, Chrissie and I walked over to Raw Bar for the second part of the evening’s festivities, uncertain whether other editors would show.

It turned out to be a lovely evening in the end, with six members sitting down to enjoy a selection of hors-d’oeuvres and beverages, courtesy of Editors Calgary. It was a far cry from the buzz of a year ago, but the evening was yet another lovely opportunity to catch up with existing editing friends and make new ones.

But the lukewarm turnout at these events has left us wondering whether the twig is meeting the needs of its members (of which at present we have more than 50, according to Editors Canada). We have surveyed our group, we have offered events in different parts of the city and on different nights of the week, we have tried making the Old Y our home base, but so far, turnout has been very low. We’d love to repeat the success of one year ago, to become a hub for Calgary-area editors to share conversations both social and professional. But perhaps that’s not what you need from Editors Canada.

We’ve cancelled our room booking for July and August and will take a break over the summer. We’ll still check email, so please do send your comments and questions and suggestions. And we’d love to add guest posts to the blog, if you want to send something along. We’ll keep the Twitter feed active also. But we won’t arrange social gatherings or workshops until the fall, when we’ll hold a social gathering in September and a professional development workshop in October.  And at that time, we’ll also be asking for volunteers who’d like to step up and get more involved in the behind-the-scenes work, such as running the Twitter account and/or blog or organizing a workshop.

Have a lovely summer, and Happy Stampeding!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
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