Here is the replay of the ICF webinar on Learning and Editing Certifications by The Art of Copyediting on 27 April 2025. The recording has been broken down to 16 small videos that you can listen to at your convenience.

The crux of the webinar is this: Should ICF continue being what it is, or should it move forward to become a more professional body?

A suggestion for moving forward is presented, offering The Art of Copyediting's professional standards, structured courses, and certification system as a framework for helping editors grow professionally. That way, ICF can become a more professional body, with a sense of direction cut out for the next decade, and play a larger role in the growth of its members in the industry.

But of course, this depends entirely on ICF members. You can listen to the webinar videos here and then post your views on the ICF India WhatsApp group.

There's one point, however, that I'd like to clarify. There have been some voices that seem to clearly say that certification is not quite necessary. Well, I do NOT buy in to that idea at all.

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."—Rosalynn Carter

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."—Jack Welch

Greetings and overview of the webinar

Course completion certificates vs certification

Approaches to certification

Question and Answer

What can and cannot be done in India now (and why)

Understanding your possible clients and knowing what type of certification would work for you

How The Art of Copyediting can help ICF members in the short-term and long-term

Posttraining support to perfect sentence analysis and become independent

Long-term certification in stages and a strategy for making it happen

Implications of ICF representing a standard and having a team of certified editors

The FSEE program + posttraining practice—A first-level certification

Thought-provoking questions and answers

Thoughts expressed by some participants

Very interesting meeting.. covered a lot of ground.. about ICF, about the AOC courses specifically, and the way forward

Obviously there is a lot of discussion, strategy, and committee work that lies ahead to establish ICF as a formal nationally/ internationally recognised entity

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There were no such courses when I started full-time editing more than three decades ago.. I had to learn everything by trial and error

Today's young people, or all those who want to enter the profession, have the benefit of learning more quickly through these well-structured courses

I personally think this concept of starting from the sentence level, understanding every element in a logical way, is very beneficial for us if our English is not of near-native fluency

I was amazed at the number of aspects on which Dr Venkat has developed courses, and look forward to many people taking advantage of ICF membership and certification in the future
—Zarine Arya

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Very profound experience....look forward to more such events
—Gaurav Sharma

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I'm glad I attended the webinar. I found it very useful and informative. So glad I didn't miss it.
—Aishwarya-Littlelog

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Thanks much for the very informative session!
—Abhijit Baroi

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The webinar has been really interesting and informative. Thank you for your time and for sharing your expertise. It’s been great to hear your perspectives
—Participant (name not known)

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Thank you Dr Venkat sir for sharing valuable information
—Lakshmithaa