State of the Guild Speech
by 2015 Board President Rebecca Brinbury
Day of Meeting: September 13, 2015
Introduction
Welcome to our 2015 member potluck! It’s wonderful to see you all here. My name is Rebecca, and I’m the president of the board of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild. It’s become a tradition for the president to deliver a sort of “state-of-the-Guild” speech at each member potluck, so here goes—a brief update on where we are and where we’re going.We’re entering our sixth year of operating as a nonprofit 501(c)6 and our nineteenth year as an organization—what a great history we’re building.I’d like to take a moment to recognize my fellow board members—those of you who are here, if you could stand when I call your name:
Kathleen Walker
Jen Grogan
Rob Esene
David Downing
Julie Klein
Jennifer Hager
Richard Issac
Tamara Neely-Tinney
Kristin Vorce
And our advisory council:
Anne Moreau
Kate Rogers
Sherri Schultz
Bill Thorness
I’d also like to thank some volunteers who help our member meetings happen. Set-up volunteers:
Roberta Klarreich
Bonnie Pasek
Kristin Carlsen
And Heidi Sewall and Jill Walters, our meeting notetakers.Christy Karras is our Speakers Bureau volunteer, and I know she’s working on, among other efforts, having a Guild presence at the American Copy Editors Society conference next spring in Portland. Thank you, Christy!The Guild is so lucky to have those dedicated volunteers in these roles.Thanks also to our administrator, Toddie Downs, who keeps the checks deposited and the email fires burning.If you’re interested in volunteering in some capacity or serving on the board, please come talk with a current board member or get in touch with me at president@edsguild.org, and I can connect you with the right person.
Administration and Membership
From 2013 to 2014, our membership grew by about 11 percent, and we are on track to pass 400 members this year. We have members in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. Thanks to prudent management over the years, we have the equivalent of about twenty-eight months of operating reserves in the bank. In the interest of providing for the future of the Guild, the board has invested some of that surplus in responsible vehicles to generate a bit more interest than we would otherwise get—which creates a foundation for future financial health and, hopefully, expanded programming for an ever-increasing member base.
Programming and Resources
And speaking of, we’re also proud of the programming we’ve been able to provide. Member meetings this year have focused on round-table sharing, business skills, client communications, and industrial design (“crafting your online profile” with Beth Jusino is on tap for November here at Hugo House—save the date for that). All our meetings continue to be livecast on our Google Plus and YouTube channels for those who can’t be there in person (and archived on our YouTube channel for later reference, as well). Our most popular video, by the way, which has been viewed 174 times to date, was last July’s presentation on e-book formatting and conversion. In addition to our member meetings, informal coffee and happy hours continue to happen around the region, giving our members a chance to meet and guide conversations as they see fit.
Conference
And we can’t talk about programming without talking about the conference! A lot of energy and time has gone into planning this year’s conference, which I hope you’ve all signed up for—October 10th at the Center for Urban Horticulture—and it will be the Guild’s biggest conference yet, including discussions on topics as diverse as pricing strategies, delivering difficult feedback, financial planning, e-books, career transitions, project management, and much more. Remember that Guild members get $30 off registration fees! All the info is at edsguild.org/conferences, and a big thank-you goes out to our conference committee and conference volunteers for making this great event happen.
Mentoring
A couple other new initiatives deserve mention, as well. One is the Guild mentoring program, managed this year by volunteer Julie Van Pelt (thank you, Julie!). This program pairs up Guild members as mentors to help each participant develop new skills, and 2015 was its pilot year and was a great success. The program will continue, with three start times per year of about three months’ duration each. If you’re interested in participating, please get in contact with the new program volunteer, Pm Weizenbaum, at pm@leeweiz.net. We have a long list of mentees signed up already, so we’re particularly interested in having people sign up as mentors—and don’t worry if you feel like you don’t have “enough experience”; we have found that most people with even just a few years of editing work already have something to offer as mentors.
Online Presence
Another current project we’re working on is an improved online presence for the Guild. Building on the great work and content that went into the edsguild.org overhaul in 2013, the board is collaborating with a web developer to further improve the Editors Guild website, including making it responsive for mobile use, creating an optional automatic member-fee-renewal system, and other improvements. Look for that to debut sometime this fall.On social media, our reach continues to grow. The Guild has more than 850 “likes” on Facebook and more than 400 followers on Twitter (where you can find us at @edsguild).
Conclusion
Let’s close with a quick revisiting of our mission: “The Northwest Independent Editors Guild connects clients with professional editors in the Pacific Northwest. We foster community among our members and provide resources for their career development.” The Guild does that and so much more, thanks to the involvement of our members and volunteers. My very rough guess is that in any given month, dozens of volunteers dedicate about a total of 150 hours or so to keep this ship barreling full-steam ahead.Our work as editors is diverse, wide-ranging, and important to the economy and to our clients and employers. Congratulations on another good year; here’s to many more!