Friday 15 June 2012

Report from MagNet 2012





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A report back on PWAC@MagNet12 from Calgary Member Jacqueline Louie:
MagNet 2012 and PWAC AGM

This was a great opportunity to connect with PWAC members from across Canada and attend some excellent professional developmentsessions. I was very pleased with the 4 PD sessions that I attended - it was really interesting to hear what the presenters had to say and a good look at what's going on in the wider industry. Also PWAC Toronto and head office did a great job of making delegates feel welcome and find their way around, with a lot of wonderful social events, as well as tours of Toronto.

PWAC Calgary and PWAC-SK PWAC Prairies and the North regional conference Sept. 22 in Saskatoon, it sounds like an excellent day of professional development sessions including a 2-hour workshop on travel writing and a panel of writers with various specialities. Early bird rate until Aug. 15 is a very good deal. They may be able to arrange billeting for members coming from out of town. (more to come later).

Check out the new writers.ca - everything from the previous website has been migrated to the new site. They want feedback this summer on how the site works for members. (currently still has some bugs in it).

Resources - PWAC Toronto newsletter apparently has some good ideas for events, and reaching out to the community. i.e. reaching out to colleges and universities and offering journalism students a student rate - it's a good way to give PWAC exposure to up and coming journalists and possibly encourage them to join PWAC as members. By linking with other organizations PWAC can do some good cross promotion of various events.

Thank you for the opportunity to be a Calgary chapter delegate to the PWAC AGM. It's definitely worthwhile for members to attend the PWAC AGM and MagNet, which will both be held in Toronto again next year as well as in 2014.

Writers.caThe new writers.ca - it's where writers and clients connect.
Check it out! It's PWAC's new tool for writers, publishers, editors and corporate buyers.
It's in stage one now and PWAC needs its members to try it out and provide feedback on how the site works for them. (provide feedback over the summer with formal launch this fall).
You can enhance your PWAC member profile - use lots of keywords so that people searching for a writer in your specialty can find you. What kind of companies do you want to serve and what services do you offer?
There will be room to include testimonials as part of your updated profile.
There will be forums - one private for PWAC members, one for the public. Visitors will include potential PWAC members and potential clients. You can use the public forum to announce things like professional development events, book releases, etc. etc. The site will include online work tools, boilerplate contract to offer clients, a database of clients, a digital repository where writers can post material to resell (thanks to Access Copyright support); paypal payments for resales as a convenience to clients ... a FAQ page is in the works. The main steps for members now is to update your profile;
use the forums to discuss things you are interested in; and you can create forums as well.
Members can still use existing PWAC list serves. Note: the new site is still a little buggy.

- Jacqueline

Award winning news!


For a great follow up on the PWAC@MagNet12 - AGM and Magazine Canada Conference – click on the Calgary Chapter link in the header above and read a great follow up report by Calgary Chapter member Jaqueline Louie. It was a great conference and I hope to see many of you there next year!

Bonnie Zink, left, with PWAC VP Doreen Pendgracs
Congratulations to the new President of the Saskatchewan Chapter, Bonnie Zink – winner of you REGIONAL VOLUNTEER AWARD this year at presented at the PWAC Awards Banquet at MagNet12.
 Her nominee has this to share about her: Bonnie has been dedicated to infusing new life into PWAC-SK for the past two years. She has been relentless in contacting members, new and old, to keep the PWAC fires burning. As member-at-large this year, she has lent her social media expertise to initiate ideas such as the PWACsask Facebook site and Twitter account. Through both, she has been energetic and supportive in sharing information and ideas among PWAC members of all regions. She has also volunteered her home to host a regional meeting, spent hours developing resources for PWAC members, and used new media such as "Doodle" meeting sign-up forms, and newsletters designed with such programs as MailChimp. She's an excellent role model for us all.”

Also from our Region was the Larry Jackson Award, the highest honour we bestow each year on a volunteer that has consistently gone beyond the norm in providing time, energy and intelligent leadership to PWAC over a span of time. The board of directors recognized Edmonton’s Cynthia Dusseault for her contributions as a past chapter president (Edmonton), a Regional Director (Prairies and the North) and most recently leading the task force that accomplished our constitutional renewal in Montreal last year. Here is what her nominees had to say about her: Cynthia was a remarkable RD for our region for two years, and we believe she deserves the recognition of this award. As RD, she emailed us all once a month or more, with information about conferences, job opportunities, and many other regional concerns and ideas. She was instrumental on the board in addressing larger issues as well, including the recent constitutional change. In 2010, she managed to help plan the best PWAC AGM in Toronto - while living in Edmonton, running a successful freelance business, emailing promptly with answers to questions from a fledgling PWAC chapter in the region, and being the an all-round great Prairies Region RD. She even started discussion groups on regional concerns, such as a Prairies website for communication across geographical distances. Prior to this, she won the regional volunteer award in 2005. She was a chapter president in Edmonton, and helped plan and run an AGM in that city in years past as well. And she manages this super-human schedule with grace and good humour. She's a credit to PWAC and a role model for all of us.

For the latest details on the fall REGIONAL EVENT in Saskatoon ... check out the latest posting in the Forums on the all new Writers.ca at – early registration fees offer a great saving! The exciting news is that a successful application to PWAC national has resulted in full Board support and Regional Funding granted to help make this a great day! More details at: