At the end of my second year, I received an e-mail from the advisory team that I was selected as the copy-editor for the editorial team of IBCoMagazine 2016/2017. I applied mostly because I thought it was time for me to give back to the IBCoMmunity that had guided me through my first two years of IBCoM and I thought it was exciting to learn more about journalism and the process of creating a magazine. I never thought it would be so fulfilling, so much fun and so educational. They say that time flies when you’re having fun; well, I learned that during my time as an editor, because last week, we started the recruitment process for next year’s editors.
Halfway through summer break, I first met with my fellow editors, Yanniek and Reyhaan. We noticed immediately how different we all are with various experiences, various study years and various interests and backgrounds. This has only helped us in creating content as diverse as possible and diversity is definitely something we’re looking for in the next editorial team.
As editor-in-chief, Yanniek is the one who ties everything together. She keeps in touch with the team, the editors and the advisory staff. She is always busy with contacting team members, helping writers with their articles and just making sure that the overall process of creating the next magazine is running smoothly. In the end, she is responsible for the release of the magazine on time and for the positive atmosphere within the entire team. The busiest period for Yanniek is mostly between the release of an issue and the deadlines for the articles of the next issue.
Reyhaan is our managing editor and he is mostly responsible for the external contacts. Working together with parties such as AIESEC, ACE and other student-run organizations, Rey spends a lot of time e-mailing and contacting people for marketing purposes. This is sometimes about mutual collaboration, sometimes about promotion and sometimes about sponsoring. Furthermore, Rey is in charge of the Facebook and the Instagram page, to make sure that we engage enough with our audience.
As a copy editor, I, Sophie, have two main tasks: I run the blog and I edit all the articles (multiple times) before they are sent to our designers. This gives me a fairly constant workload, because I make sure that my team of bloggers know when to write what, then I edit it a bit and I upload it to the blog. Thanks to my dedicated team, managing the blog is a piece of cake. The only really busy period for me is when all the articles are handed in and I have to make sure that they are edited and ready to go for the designers.
Considering the fact that all of us editors manage our studies pretty well, play sports and have a decent social life, it’s clear that being an editor for the IBCoMagazine is a pretty doable extracurricular. But do not mistake, it is a true commitment and once you start, it will keep you busy for the entire year. In my opinion, it is totally worth the time and effort; I love being a part of such a dedicated and fun team. The team meetings are frequent – once per week with the editors, twice per term with the entire team and once per term with the advisory team – but also a very nice and a great occasion to hang out or drink a cup of coffee together.
I would say there is an endless amount of advantages to being an editor: you learn so much in a year, you create something really awesome, you get to know a lot of fellow IBCoMmers, you give back to the IBCoMmunity, you gain journalistic experience, writing skills and leadership expertise and it’s just a lot of fun! Check out our Facebook page or Sin-online and send in your applications before the 22nd of March.