Tip 41: Conceptual Proofing

Proofreading is traditionally thought to be the checking of copy to detect misspelled words, bad grammar, etc. This is important, but someone should also take the responsibility to do a conceptual proofing of the piece.

Conceptual proofing is stepping back to see the big picture so no "global" mistakes are made. You cannot do this by simply comparing the copy with what was submitted. You must go back to the original source. Some examples:

Checking the schedule of conference sessions:
- Is Monday, September 11, 2001 correct? You must actually look at the calendar. Either Monday is wrong or September 11 is – go to the source to find out which.
- Are the session days and time correct? Go to an independent source to verify.
Phone number – independently check all phone numbers such as travel and housing. Actually call the number to verify its accuracy. Ditto with web sites.
Speaker info – is title, firm and city/state included for all speakers?

Be careful. Making a global mistake – such as a wrong phone number or web site for your housing firm – can be very costly.