Palm Springs or Bust! - American Translators Association (ATA)

Source: The ATA Chronicle

From the President-Elect
Ted R. Wozniak
ted@tedwozniak.net

ATA60 is less than five months away, so it’s not too soon to start making plans to come to Palm Springs for four days of top-notch professional development training, numerous networking opportunities, and the chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Conference registration is open, so reserve your hotel room now at the very attractive Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel (the host hotel) or the Hilton Palm Springs Hotel for the extremely affordable rate of just $199/night. We expect the room block to fill up quickly, so don’t wait too long.

Remember, if you make your reservations at the Renaissance or Hilton by October 21, you could be one of five lucky attendees randomly selected to win one free night’s lodging! Need a little more incentive before making a decision? Here’s just a small preview of what’s in store for you at ATA60!

Venue: The weather should be great, with an average high in the mid- to upper 80s and a low at night in the low 60s. That can be chilly in the high desert, so a light sweater or jacket may be advisable at night. There are almost 200 restaurants in Palm Springs, and most are a short walk from the Palm Springs Convention Center, site of the main conference activity. There are also plenty of clubs and entertainment venues. On Thursdays, Palm Canyon Drive becomes a pedestrian zone for a giant block party. Vendors of all kinds offer food, jewelry, crafts, along with entertainment. I enjoyed it immensely during our planning meeting in January.

Advanced Training: Advanced Skills and Training (AST) Day will offer intensive three-hour training sessions on legal translation, machine translation and post-editing, project productivity boosters for individual practitioners, and, again this year, preparation workshops for the Chinese>English, French>English, English>French, Spanish>English, and English>Spanish certification exams. (New this year: there will be at least one exam sitting on Wednesday at the conference for those who are ready.)

Over 170 Educational Sessions: As always, ATA’s Annual Conference will be chock full of educational and networking opportunities. Over 170 sessions have been selected through a rigorous peer review process to provide you with training in almost every facet of our profession. The new audiovisual track was given special emphasis this year due to Palm Spring’s proximity to Los Angeles and the large number of submissions from ATA’s new Audiovisual Division. In addition to the regular sessions by your peers, 17 distinguished speakers have been invited to impart their expertise and perspectives to you. As we’ve learned from past conference surveys, 88% of attendees report gaining a new skill by attending the conference.

Networking, Networking, and More Networking: While education and training are great and are alone worth the registration fee, I know many of you attend the conference to get more work and expand your client base. Previous conference surveys show that 98% of conference attendees made new contacts at the conference. To help you get more work, the Job Fair will again be held on two nights to allow more time to connect with representatives from language services companies. You can also network and gain valuable business knowledge at the ever-popular Brainstorm Networking session and Business Practices Happy Hour, as well as make new contacts at the Welcome Celebration and in the Exhibit Hall. Seasoned attendees can also help newcomers by participating in the Buddies Welcome Newbies program.

Connect with Attendees Before, During, and After the Conference: There’s an app for that! Once the conference app is available, make sure you download it and complete your profile, including uploading your résumé. Not only will this put you in contact with about 1,400 attendees, but also with representatives from language services companies. In addition, you can only provide feedback on the sessions you attend using the app. Your feedback is vital and is used every year during the session selection process for the upcoming conference, so please submit your session reviews. The mobile app works on Android and IOS devices, and the online version works in all browsers.

Still Not Sure?

Still on the fence about whether or not to attend? Visit the conference website (www.atanet.org/conf/2019) to see what past attendees have to say about the value of attendance and to get more details about networking and education opportunities. If you still aren’t sure the conference is worth the investment, check out even more “Reasons to attend” on the conference website (www.atanet.org/conf/2019/attend).

So, make your plans to attend ATA60. My investments in attending ATA conferences have been paid back many times over. I’m sure yours will as well!