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ATA’s 67th Annual Conference takes place October 28-31, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, and those four days will fly by. The attendees who get the most out of the conference are rarely the ones with the best luck; they’re the ones who did a little homework before boarding the plane. Here are nine things you can do ahead of time so you arrive ready to learn, connect, and enjoy yourself. 1. Order paper business cards now Yes, still. Paper cards remain the fastest way to close a conversation gracefully in a noisy hallway. Order them early enough so…
Following up after the ATA conference—How to ensure your efforts and expenses don’t go to waste!
by Jamie Hartz Follow up and follow through Within two weeks Review your notes from the conference sessions and networking events. Make a to-do list of people to follow up with, and save all the business cards you collected. You can upload them to an electronic contact file, but be sure to save the business cards too in case you…
How to Get the Most Out of the Buddies Welcome Newbies Program at the ATA Conference
by Helen Eby This post contains some of the information we provide in a presentation for the Buddies Welcome Newbies program we hold the day before the conference (Wednesday). Our goal is to help you think about how to prepare for the conference. We hope these tips will serve you well at other networking events too. Why did we start…
How to prepare for the ATA conference
What sessions should I go to? What should I do to prepare? How can I find what I’m looking for? What should I even be looking for? A few days ago, one of my newbies sent me a list of great questions about preparing for the ATA conference. After writing down my answers, I started to wonder if these thoughts…
3 Ways to Enhance Your Medical Interpreter Training Experience
By Erin Rosales Reblogged from Connecting Cultures with permission from the author (incl. the image) You finally did it! After months of consideration and endless prodding from family, friends, and even that guy at the supermarket, you finally enrolled in an interpreter training program. Woo hoo! Your course work will prepare you to interpret in the medical field, but there will…
The Savvy Social Media User—Twitter Handle & Sharing Frequency
By Catherine Christaki and David Friedman Here at The Savvy Newcomer, we often get questions from our blog readers about social media and blogging. We would like to share some answers and advice concerning some of these questions below and also to encourage you to email us your questions anytime. Our topic of discussion today is social media, and more…
Collaborating with Other Translators
Lund Translation Team by David Friedman I wanted to find a way to collaborate closely with other translators ever since the early days of my translation career, because I thought it would open up more opportunities and would be more fun than going it alone. This is the reason I have experimented with different forms of collaboration, strategies, methods and…
What I Care About
By Helen Eby What have I learned over the last few months? I care about people. María Díaz. Wow! She was one of my students in a class in Woodburn. She was a nurse in Mexico, and came to the US because her son needed medical treatment. She knew no English when she came, but she had been managing five…
Medical Translation Regulations
By Surinder Singh Partly reblogged from The Language Blog by K International with permission from the author (including the image) Medical translation is serious business. Mistakes can be a matter of life or death. As such, medical translation is one of the most heavily regulated segments of the translation industry. Translation vendors and clients alike must navigate a complex labyrinth…
Buddies Welcome Newbies at ATA56
By The Savvy Newcomer Team If you’re a newbie to the American Translators Association, or to translation or interpreting in general, and you’re thinking of attending the ATA conference in Miami this November, then this post is for you – so read on! The Savvy Newcomer Team would like to tell you about an event that was a huge success…
Keeping a Steady Pace: Balancing work, volunteering, and family life
By Daniela Guanipa Derek Yorek was a complete stranger until he appeared on television this year, leading the world-famous Boston Marathon at mile one. He savored his accomplishment for literally five minutes of glory; then suffered for three endless hours until he crossed the finish line. One doesn’t have to be a marathoner to know that pushing oneself to the…