Taking on the role of local organizer for an Editors Canada conference is a big commitment—but it can also be a lot of fun. Tara Avery and Kyle Hawke of Editors BC talk about some of the highlights and challenges of co-chairing “Present Progressive: Passion, Precision and Purpose” in Vancouver this past June. 

Find out what happened…and whether Tara and Kyle would do this again!

You can jump to any question. (By the way, strikethroughs are intentional!)

• Why did you volunteer to co-chair?
• What prompted the letter “P”?
• What did you find pleasurable and challenging about planning the Friday events?
• What were your Friday highlights?
• What kept you busiest during the main conference?
• What’s your advice for future EC conference planners?
• Would you do this again?

WCE: What on earth possessed you Oops, that is—what inspired you to volunteer as the local conference co-organizers?

TA: Inspired! Right! Let’s go with inspired. Because I also serve on the national executive, I knew ahead of time the conference would be held in either BC or Alberta. Since Editors BC has been actively working toward meaningful community-building, I wanted our local executive to be part of the process. So I volunteered. And since Kyle’s the one who dragged encouraged me to join the Editors BC exec, I thought I’d return the favour by dragging encouraging him to co-chair the conference with me.

KH: Possibility. Tara and I had talked after previous conferences about what we’d like to see in future ones. Tara really focused on the idea of fun. We’ve had too much darkness and dire predictions in the last few years, from the pandemic to the rise of AI.

Editing has a place in our society, and that allows for light and joy. Tara wanted to celebrate that, and I had to be along for the ride. We brainstormed all kinds of things to remind editors of their power and their purpose, but always with fun at the heart of it. Many of those ideas will never see the light of day, but they helped start the process.

WCE: What prompted you to pick “the letter P”? What ideas did that produce?

TA: The conference committee hadn’t yet settled on a theme, but I wanted to focus on community, connection, and fun. Kyle and I had been talking about the idea of tense—both in the linguistic sense and as a reference to how some editors feel about the ever-changing landscape of the industry (i.e. robot overlords, etc.). I’m afraid I’m entirely to blame for the plethora of Ps—I penned a prospectus permeated with them, and we proceeded with “Present Progressive: Passion, Precision and Purpose.”

KH: Tara wanted fun, but you can’t just tell people to have fun; you have to give them room to play. More, you have to lead by example. Tara got inspired and crafted the invitation with alliteration. There were a dozen editors with eyes on that—a great team putting the conference together—and I think maybe one word changed from the original. It was pure inspiration, encapsulating everything we’d discussed in a positive and playful framing.

WCE: You were responsible for arranging the Friday pre-conference schedule. What gave you the most pleasure about that? Was there anything you found challenging?

TA: The Friday of the conference is usually devoted to professional development hosted by the local branch or twig—at an additional cost. Given the economic struggles so many have faced in recent years, I didn’t want to ask members for more money. Instead, Kyle and I decided we would use the opportunity to create some connections between the writing and editing communities.

Kyle did a great deal of the organizing for that day, and I think he’d probably agree with me that the biggest challenge was that the responsibility fell on us. Normally, the conference chairs wouldn’t also be responsible for organizing the branch contribution, but a significant turnover of the BC exec essentially left us doing All The Things. And we survived! Mostly unscathed, even!

KH: The first thing we had to address was that this year, the Friday coincided with National Indigenous Peoples Day. The idea had been to let writers mingle with editors, and we made sure to have Indigenous authors perform their work for editors. The performances were also meant to offer editors in attendance a shared experience, a talking point to build connection on.

We had a last-minute change of venue for the Friday events, so everything had to be restructured on the fly, but it all worked in the end. Walking past editors talking about something we’d programmed made all the work worthwhile.

WCE: What would you each pick as a highlight of Friday’s activities?

TA: I can’t speak for everyone who attended, but Friday was certainly a highlight of the entire weekend. The performances were moving—and then I laughed until I cried at some of the purple prose we edited in the afternoon. When I looked around that room and saw everyone laughing, joking, and making new friends, I really felt like my deepest-held hopes for the conference had been realized.

I admit I probably took the most pleasure from knowing that, due to a printer mix-up, all the purple prose came from one brave author—and he was in the room with us the whole time. He did laugh as much as he suffered, though. I think. I hope.

KH: The Purple Prose Paragraph Relay. We wanted something interactive and fun, so we asked the Federation of BC Writers to ask members to write intentionally bad paragraphs that our editors could edit as a relay race. The day was sunny, and the venue change meant we had a small crowd, so we just let tables work on their own edits. There was much laughter when we discussed the results, but beyond that, we built connection around editing.

WCE: What kept you busiest during Saturday and Sunday when the main conference took place?

TA: Fortunately, things ran fairly smoothly over the weekend, leaving me with a lot of time to just be…present. The fires I had to put out were minor, which meant I was available to help where I was needed. I met a lot of wonderful people, had a lot of wonderful conversations, and hopefully laid the groundwork necessary to build some new and wonderful connections within the writing and editing community I call home. I even managed to take in a couple of sessions! I still collapsed into a heap and slept for a week when it was over, though.

KH: There was always something to check on, but everything worked out seamlessly in the end. We had an amazing team of volunteers who were on top of everything. The chairs were expected to spend their time putting out fires, but instead, we got to attend sessions and have great conversations with our community.

WCE: What advice would you give anyone interested in helping organize a future Editors Canada conference?

TA: It’s very fun. It’s very rewarding. It’s also a lot of work and a lot of responsibility. Lead time and vision are really important, yet so many variables will end up outside your control. With the costs of pretty much everything skyrocketing, budgeting is beyond challenging. Despite these rising costs, unexpected fees, and the unprecedentedly high cost of travel and accommodation, over 230 editors attended our conference. And we didn’t lose money! Not losing money is important! 

Personally, though, success was never going to be measured in profit (yes, I’m aware that’s probably the wrong thing for the national treasurer to say!). Instead, the weekend provided an abundance of laughter, friendship, enthusiasm, experience, and community-building that I truly believe benefits the entire organization.

KH: Remember that the people attending are the biggest draw. Help them connect, and amazing things will happen!

WCE: And finally…would you do this again? Or is one life-changing experience enough?

TA: Most of the current Editors BC exec—and Kyle in particular—can probably attest to the fact I’m forever taking on new challenges with great enthusiasm and a total disregard for adequate sleep. I don’t know if I’d take on this particular challenge a second time, but a plethora of other plans are percolating. Expect playfulness. And puns. Probably.

KH: I think I’ve had my chance to toss some ideas into the ring. Other editors deserve their turn, and I can’t wait to see what they have to offer.

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Amanda Goldrick-Jones, publications co-chair for Editors BC, created the interview questions and edited the responses for length and clarity. Copy edits by Lisa Guglielmi. 

Lisa Guglielmi is a freelance content writer and editor for BC’s Ministry of Environment and specializes in auditing websites. As a new editor, she’s also a volunteer copy editor for Editors BC. She is currently finishing the Editing Certificate Program from Simon Fraser University, writing her first novel, and studying Spanish.

For fun, Lisa enjoys cycling on Highway 97 and is training for the 2025 Gran Fondo season.