Association of Translation Companies 
Annual conference

5th November 2003
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

THANKYOU TO ALL THOSE INVOLVED

SPEAKERS NOTES ARE HYPERLINKED BELOW

'Opportunities for the future'

Never before has the translation market been under such pressure. Clients require faster turnarounds, better and better quality and all for lower prices. Squaring the circle has never been more difficult for translation providers - companies and freelancers alike.

Divining what may be around the corner and anticipating how best to meet the challenges are constant struggles facing everyone operating in the translation profession.

This year's annual conference of the Association of Translation Companies seeks to look beyond the horizon, anticipate the trends and explore some of the means by which the profession might begin to set itself up to take advantage of future opportunities.









Programme

10.00 - 10.30 Registration and coffee

10.30 - 10.35 Introduction for the day
John Wheen, Chairman Association of Translation Companies

10.35 - 11.00 Making the link between profitability and investment in language capabilities
Isabella Moore, President British Chambers of Commerce and Director of Operations Comtec Translations (Dictation and Transcriptions Limited) (Word speech notes)

11.00 - 11.25 Developing the alliance between translation companies, academics and software providers for the benefit of the whole profession
Professor Tony Hartley, Director Centre for Translation Studies School of Modern Languages and Cultures University of Leeds & Geoffrey Bowden, General Secretary, ATC

11.25 - 11.35 Panel discussion and questions

11.35 - 12.00 Break / Exhibition

12.00 - 12.30 Reading the runes: a futurologist examines the economic forecasts and suggests the likely impact on key markets
Chris Peacock, Managing Partner, Perspective

12.30 - 12.50 Will a quality standard improve the translation profession's prospects?
Liz Robertson, Chair UK Mirror Group CEN/BTTF 138 Translation Services
Chris Cox, Secretary UK Mirror Group CEN/BTTF 138 Translation Service, British Standards Institute
Fatima Castanheira , Chair Portugese Mirror Group CEN/BTTF 138 Translation Service and Chair, Associação de Empresas de Tradução APT (for panel discussion)

12.50 - 1.00 Panel discussion and questions

1.00 - 2.00 Lunch and exhibition

2.00 - 2.45 Parallel workshops

Workshop 1 Managing translation and localisation projects: two case studies
Adriane Rinsche, Language Technology Centre
Workshop 2 Reducing translation costs and simplifying procedures
Darren Clare, New Ventures
Workshop 3 The intelligent directory - making it work for you
Simon Jefferson, Coordinator ATC Directory
Workshop 4 How to Localize a Software Project
Florian Sachse, MD, PASS Engineering GMBH

2.45 - 3.00 Break / Exhibition

3.00 - 3.25 Pooling resources and talents - winning more business through co-operation - UK launch of the European Union of Associations of Translation Companies' Piazza Project
Alfredo Spagna, Vice President EUATC and Vice Chairman Suomen (Aquarius presentation)
käännöstoimistojen liitto ry (SKTOL) Association of Finnish Translation Companies

3.25 - 3.30 Questions

3.30 - 3.55 Translation IT: Current state of play and outlook
Frank Bergman, Independent IT Consultant specialising in IT technology, multilingual architecture and localisation

3.55 - 4.00 Questions

4.00 - 4.15 Round up from the day and conclusion
John Wheen, Chairman Association of Translation Companies