How I spent this coming weekend...
Sep. 14th, 2000 09:38 pmEarly on after going full-time in the translation business, I joined the American Translators Association. I did so purely as a marketing tactic, figuring that ATA membership would look good on my marketing materials (especially after I passed the accreditation exam). Soon after joining, I learned that most people who buy translation services didn't really care whether you were an ATA member or not, and many of those who did care made lousy clients. Nonetheless, I maintain my membership, mostly because of the opportunity to associate with some pretty professional folks, and for the conferences.
The first ATA conference I attended was in Austin in 1994, and I've only missed two conferences since. I find these annual events to be an ideal venue for meeting friends, renewing contacts, learning some new tricks, and doing a little marketing.
One of the tricks I learned in the software business was that the best way to gain visibility - for yourself or for your company - is to sign up to do a presentation at events such as conferences. This year, I submitted a proposal that, unfortunately, did not make the first selection cut (serves me right for submitting it a day late). The letter informing me of this remained upbeat, however, telling me my presentation might be included in the program if other presenters were forced to cancel out.
So, here I am, less than a week before the start of the conference, and ... yes, you guessed it ... I find out I'm in the program. Leaving aside issues related to "Gee, it was nice of them to tell me," (I found out from an acquaintance, not from the organizers), this leaves me basically this weekend to come up with a reasonable presentation on the subject of Building an English-Russian "Lexicon" of Specialized Terms and Acronyms for the International Space Station Program.
Actually, since I have a 45 minute slot, putting together the presentation shouldn't take too long (in fact, if anything, I'm going to have to struggle to cut what material I have to fit, and leave a few minutes at the end for questions). Then, of course, there will be a couple of run-throughs to make sure everything hangs together.
In the end, I am a little bugged about two things: (a) my presentation is scheduled for the last time slot on the last day of the conference, and (b) I am not at all sure that my current travel plans don't call for me to leave before my scheduled presentation. Ah, well, those are the breaks. My acquaintance tells me that she is looking forward to my presentation. May her tribe increase.
Cheers...
The first ATA conference I attended was in Austin in 1994, and I've only missed two conferences since. I find these annual events to be an ideal venue for meeting friends, renewing contacts, learning some new tricks, and doing a little marketing.
One of the tricks I learned in the software business was that the best way to gain visibility - for yourself or for your company - is to sign up to do a presentation at events such as conferences. This year, I submitted a proposal that, unfortunately, did not make the first selection cut (serves me right for submitting it a day late). The letter informing me of this remained upbeat, however, telling me my presentation might be included in the program if other presenters were forced to cancel out.
So, here I am, less than a week before the start of the conference, and ... yes, you guessed it ... I find out I'm in the program. Leaving aside issues related to "Gee, it was nice of them to tell me," (I found out from an acquaintance, not from the organizers), this leaves me basically this weekend to come up with a reasonable presentation on the subject of Building an English-Russian "Lexicon" of Specialized Terms and Acronyms for the International Space Station Program.
Actually, since I have a 45 minute slot, putting together the presentation shouldn't take too long (in fact, if anything, I'm going to have to struggle to cut what material I have to fit, and leave a few minutes at the end for questions). Then, of course, there will be a couple of run-throughs to make sure everything hangs together.
In the end, I am a little bugged about two things: (a) my presentation is scheduled for the last time slot on the last day of the conference, and (b) I am not at all sure that my current travel plans don't call for me to leave before my scheduled presentation. Ah, well, those are the breaks. My acquaintance tells me that she is looking forward to my presentation. May her tribe increase.
Cheers...