About the conference
ACES 2024 San Diego: Unleashing Creativity was held April 4–6, 2024, at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. The conference sold out, reaching capacity earlier than expected.
The program included 51 sessions led by 80 expert speakers. Sessions were grouped into four topic areas and three audience levels: introductory, intermediate, and advanced.
Notable events included:
- Ask the Editing Experts Roundtable: A pre-conference workshop on April 3 and ACES’ first in-person training since the pandemic. Attendees met with editing experts in small groups.
- First-Timers Reception: A welcome event on April 3 for first-time conference attendees.
- ACES Pun Slam: The first ACES Pun Slam debuted at the opening session, with competitors drawing topics and taking two minutes on stage.
- ACES Education Fund Spelling Bee: Merriam-Webster’s Peter Sokolowski served as pronouncer. The celebrity judges were Grant Barrett, Martha Barnette, and Andy Hollandbeck, the 2023 Spelling Bee winner.
- Silent Auction: Attendees bid on editing, language, and book-related items. All proceeds went to the ACES Education Fund’s scholarship programs.
- Peer Connection Coffee Chats: Small groups of peers met on April 6 to discuss marketing, workflows and project management, and AI within their specialty.
- ACES Awards Banquet: Held Friday, April 5, with the conference keynote.
Keynote speakers
Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett delivered the keynote at the ACES Awards Banquet on Friday, April 5.
Barnette and Barrett are co-hosts of “A Way with Words,” a call-in public radio show about language that’s heard across the country and around the world via broadcast and podcast.
Sessions
Breakout sessions were organized into four topic areas, each offered at introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels:
- Core editing skills
- Words and language
- Business of editing
- Panels
General sessions
- Merriam-Webster — Peter Sokolowski
- AP Stylebook
- Chicago Manual of Style