Musings from an overworked translator

Musings from the ATA Conference November 1, 2010

Yesterday was an exhausting day spent getting upset at Blue Sky Shuttle, whose driver was 25 minutes late for my scheduled 7 am pick-up and extremely rude to boot! No tip for him! My flight home was blissfully uneventful, apart from seeing Air Force One on the tarmac in Cleveland (President Obama was speaking about 4 miles from my home and the highway was lined with police officers awaiting the motorcade). I arrived home, unpacked and drove to my sister’s in time to trick or treat with my nieces. I slept 9 hours last night and feel ready to take on the world.

Photo by Jeff Sanfacon, ATA

I had a great time at the ATA Conference. I met a lot of you who told me you enjoyed reading the blog. Thanks ever so much! I love writing it. I also came up with the idea to market my services in alignment and optical character recognition conversion.

Speaking of OCR, my preconference seminar with Tuomas Kostiainen was well-received. We had 60 attendees, and I hope those of you who attended learned something. The best feedback I heard was from one of my older German colleagues, who is a known IT hater. She said “I didn’t enjoy the presentation, but I learned a lot.” LOL! That’s all we can ask.

Approximately 1500 people attended the 51st Annual ATA Conference in Denver, Colorado this year. The organizers really did a great job. The Welcome Reception and Division Open House was a fun time (although I don’t know how they expected us to use all the drink tokens in two hours. I know I didn’t…). The sessions were varied and ranged from practical (such as “Breaking into the Industry: How to Gain Experience When Employers Will Not Give You Experience Without Previous Experience” or “Ensuring Payment: Before, During, and After the Project”), serious  (“Transcription and Translation of Evidence Recordings”) to whimsical (“What, Me Worry? Managing the Unmanageable Cycle of Feast or Famine”). I didn’t attend as many sessions as I wanted, because four of them were scheduled at the same time and several were scheduled when I was presenting. Luckily I ordered the eConference, so I will get a chance to check them out at my leisure.

Photo by Jeff Sanfacon, ATA

I came equipped with business cards and resumes and made sure I picked up my plastic stand from the Job Marketplace on Saturday before the Exhibit Hall closed. The days seem to just fly by at the conference. I arrived on Tuesday and left Sunday morning. One older gentleman in the shuttle yesterday remarked that he thought the conference was too long. I disagreed and told him I never want the conference to end (tip: if you think it’s too much just attend for one day or two days). I enjoy seeing old familiar faces, catching up with my friends, and meeting lots of new people. I didn’t do as much socializing in the hotel bar as I have in the past. I blame the rough year I’ve had and the jet lag. However, I did get a chance to catch up with a lot of different people in the hallways, at special events and at breakfast, lunch or dinner. The GLD “Unofficial Official Get-Together” at the Peaks Lounge was extremely memorable and offered a fantastic view of the mountains and the Denver skyline.

I also have to give kudos to the hotel, the Hyatt Regency. My roommate and I were impressed with the service. The concierges were wonderful, and the staff was extremely responsive to our every need. The hotel was conveniently located near a lot of great restaurants that offered something for every budget, and Denver’s public transportation was very convenient. After enjoying Thai and Indian food during the week we were craving Italian on Saturday night, so the concierge made a reservation for us at Venice Ristorante. The free bus whisked us away down 16th Street, and we enjoyed an absolutely lovely meal with lots of laughs and socializing. My risotto with filet mignon, mushrooms and truffle oil was delicioso!

I plan on following up with the new clients and new colleagues I met as the day goes on. I hope you all enjoyed the conference as well – and those of you who did not attend hopefully enjoyed all the work that came your way!

Trying to decide about the 51st ATA conference February 16, 2010

Hi everyone,

Maybe some of you can help me decide what to do about the 51st ATA conference. I toyed with the idea of sitting this one out (mainly because I would like to enjoy ONE Halloween with my nieces before they are too old to trick or treat), but knowing how much I enjoy them and how beneficial they are I am most likely going to attend this year in Denver. I am now trying to decide whether I should present and whether I should submit a proposal for a preconference seminar or one-hour session and what I should present on. Most of you regular readers are familiar with the things I am passionate about – including getting started as a freelance translator, proper formatting in Word, word counts, PDFs and OCR, Internet privacy, ergonomics and work-life balance. Many of you have probably attended one or more of my sessions over the past 8 years. So I ask you, dear readers, what would you like to see me present? Would you like Corinne and I to present our preconference seminar on How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator again? Would you like a preconference seminar on PDFs and OCR? Would you like me to present an hour session on how to set tabs and format documents in Word to look like the source text? Do you have another idea I haven’t even considered? I would love to hear from all of you in the comments. The deadline is March 8th, so I need to make a decision soon. Thanks for your help!