It was due to a misunderstanding about the start time, probably arising from me and the organiser being in different time zones. We didn鈥檛 use a calendar invitation (always use one), I just received a Zoom link and the schedule for the multi-speaker event, and I failed to notice that the slot allocated to me was not the one I鈥檇 proposed in our email correspondence. We were two hours out of sync.

Consequently, at 9:00 on a Monday morning when I was comfortably lining up the day鈥檚 tasks at my desk, dressed in my gym gear for the virtual physiotherapy session I was due to have at 9:30, an email popped up in my inbox asking if I had trouble logging into the Zoom meeting. Even then, the penny didn鈥檛 drop. I logged in to the event, saw the audience nicely in attendance, and thought 鈥測es, sure I can log in, I鈥檓 ready for when my time comes鈥�. As it turns out, it had already come.

Fast forward past the eureka moment, a quick dash back to the event programme and a short period of frantic scrambling, and my potential no-show turned into a 60-min slide deck being presented at break-neck speed in 45 minutes. I had to skip some content and present off camera which I consider a real faux pas for online speaking. Furthermore, my phone rang in the middle of the talk with the physiotherapist chasing me for the missed appointment and the overloaded washing machine kept drumming in the next room with an ear-shattering spin cycle (always do the laundry outside of online meetings).

Not my proudest moment. I don鈥檛 take kindly to professionals winging public speaking, even when we are essentially making a voluntary goodwill contribution. You prepare, out of respect for the audience for whom you want to provide value, but also because your reputation matters.

Speaking in a professional peer context is quite an art form. I was reminded of this last week at the virtual event. At the language industry events, our knowledge sharing is always member-generated, and at times I wonder what motivates someone to spend hours to prepare a free online webinar, publish an article on an association platform, give a talk at a special interest group or do an interview with a podcast host, knowing that the audience may consist of knowledgeable peers and interested business partners but also of competitors? Perhaps it鈥檚 about staking a claim. Spreading ideas. Making a difference. Eradicating problems. Benchmarking self.

With virtual meeting opportunities multiplying in the past two years, we鈥檝e been challenged to re-evaluate and rethink our major language industry events. Many old-timers seem more attracted to intimate, organic and egalitarian ways of sharing views (just look at Clubhouse). It鈥檚 easy to glance at a speaker event programme and think 鈥渨hat鈥檚 new, I鈥檝e heard it all before鈥�. And it鈥檚 true, not every presentation is original.

However, it was evident from the talks at GALA Connected 2021 that the language services sector today covers so many evolving services, fast-moving technologies, diverse talent pools, interested stakeholders and hugely different client industries, that we all feel there are corners of our own industry we don鈥檛 know enough about.

Originality may be a bit overrated. Not everyone is original in business either. You don鈥檛 need a聽unique business idea to run a successful language services business. In fact, knowing that clients have paid for a similar service before is reassuring. It means that there is demand for your offering and if clients are buying it from others, they may buy it from you too. Most language service companies run their operations on the principle of giving their clients what they want and competing on being either

But we must differentiate on other kind of value too. It鈥檚 essential for enabling localisation buyers to make informed choices. The way to differentiate here is to explain how we create value added, over and above the baseline value the client can get from any LSP. That value added needs to match at least one of the localisation buyers鈥� pain points, whether it鈥檚 to give them everything they need as a one-stop vendor, be a specialist partner who knows their vertical and becomes part of their community, be a regional expert who helps them enter a specific market, or to transform the efficiency of their localisation operation with technology.

Here in the UK, the Association of Translation Companies is organising a 鈥樷�� competition that celebrates the language service companies that specialise 鈥� and who, as specialists, provide services to their industry partners. We at Sandberg are proud sponsors of the competition, having helped LSPs around the globe for 25 years with localisation into聽the Nordic languages and English.聽It was befitting that our Operations Manager Susan Hoare was on the judging panel, since adding outstanding value is something her own teams have been praised for. Their production excellence has repeatedly earned them high client feedback scores like聽鈥榓dded value provided by this team:聽5/5鈥�.

Whether in service provision or public speaking, value added is closely linked with authenticity. It鈥檚 not enough to talk the talk 鈥� the talk must be substantiated with stellar evidence. Speaking of which, GALA Connected 2021 showcased dozens of language industry professionals who had clearly distilled months and years of personal experience into their inspiring bite-size presentations. Here are a couple of quotes from what they said that I find both insightful and actionable:

鈥淚ntroverts can be immensely drained by being constantly in video calls. They are not used to looking at their own reflection all the time, it makes them feel they are always on stage.鈥�

鈥淟anguage service buyers want agility, accessibility, engagement, quality 鈥� in this order.

Language service providers offer quality, process, price, agility 鈥� in this order.鈥�

鈥淎 flat discount for MTPE does not work. And the parameters based on edit distance are even worse, because they introduce unpredictability and still don鈥檛 correlate with the time spent by the post-editor.鈥�

鈥淒ata services are the shining new thing that can transform our lives and give us purpose for the next ten years. Maybe.鈥�

I for one treasure the curated content that language industry associations and organisations make available to us. Maybe it鈥檚 because I鈥檓 old enough to remember the days when all the knowledge sharing we had was anecdotal. I continue to enjoy that kind of confidential sharing within my personal networks, but I鈥檒l also persist in contributing to and engaging with the industry鈥檚 flagship events.

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Read on to find out more about what鈥檚 on at each conference and how you can participate.

19鈥�20 September, London

This year鈥檚 ATC Summit kicks off with a look mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the language services industry and beyond. Automation, artificial intelligence and machine translation are all also on the agenda.

Our Executive Chairman Jesper Sandberg says on the Summit:聽鈥淚 keep going back to the ATC Summit because the UK is our home market and it鈥檚 the best event in the UK for us to meet all our most important industry peers. This year I鈥檓 particularly looking forward to hearing other people鈥檚 take on mergers and acquisitions, artificial intelligence and Brexit.聽This year鈥檚 venue is truly something special and quite out of the ordinary for an ATC conference!鈥�

7鈥�8 November, Brussels

Translating Europe is a project launched in 2014 by the European Commission to bring together different stakeholders in the language industry, such as language services companies, universities, the public sector and national language institutes.

The sixth Translating Europe Forum will be held this year in Brussels on the topic 鈥淭ranslation all around us 鈥� The added value of translation in business and society鈥�. STP will have a presence in the form of our very own Anu-Carnegie Brown, who will participate in a panel discussion on the topic 鈥淐ustomer relations: meeting clients鈥� needs and creating value鈥�.

Registration for the conference is . If you can鈥檛 attend in person, you can follow along online, as the entire conference will be livestreamed via the link above.

5鈥�6 December, Hamburg

Now in its fourth year, Elia鈥檚 Focus on Project Management is the language industry鈥檚 only event devoted to project management. The event is spread over two days. On the first day, four expert speakers from within the language industry deliver seminars, while on the second day they moderate interactive workshops on the same topics.

This year, our Managing Director Anu-Carnegie Brown will deliver a presentation on the topic 鈥淯nderstanding the bigger picture: The context of service provision in the global translation market鈥�. In it, she鈥檒l talk about how the job of a project manager looks different at different LSPs. At one, a PM might be a cog in a streamlined machine that consists of a salesperson, account manager, language engineer, vendor manager, graphic designer and quality control colleague. At another, one PM might perform all of those tasks.

The best PMs understand how their role fits into the bigger picture. The broader your vision, the more value you can add. That bigger picture could simply be the service provided by your own organisation, or it might be the complex network of the global language industry.

The presentation and workshop is exclusive to conference attendees. and don鈥檛 miss out!

Find out more about the role played by language industry associations such as the ATC, mentioned above, in our Industry Insights video series.

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Effective menu planning is essential for a first-rate party, and the team behind SlatorCon London 2018 did a great job selecting recipes, shopping for ingredients and prepping the dishes for theirs. What makes Slator conferences special is that they don鈥檛 lay on a sumptuous five-course dinner of a conference that leaves the guests bloated 鈥� instead, they present a tantalising tapas menu where each dish is served at a speed tailored for experienced connoisseurs. The spread needs to be consumed fast, but there is ample opportunity afterwards to digest it along with the other guests.

Aceitunas by , Slator

In his opening appetiser, Florian demonstrated that the end market for localisation services remains buoyant. However, translation unit prices continue to fall and vendors who are slow to adjust are starting to feel the strain. We are in a buyer鈥檚 market, where most of the organic growth takes place in media localisation.

Patatas bravas by , Technicis

Patatas bravas is a classic dish, just like M&A is an inevitable topic at any translation industry conference. Benjamin, however, was a fresh speaker with an engaging story, and he is on an ambitious acquisition path, which is exciting. He talked about the mobilising power of private equity funding, the integration challenges of smaller companies whose business focuses on only a few clients, and his take on leadership: 鈥淎n employee crying because they have had to work too hard is a personal failure of mine, the CEO.鈥�

Percebes by , ZOO Digital

Goose barnacles are the most expensive seafood in the world 鈥� delicious but extremely hard to come by. They have that in common with ZOO Digital, a media localisation company in a niche market where the demand for high-quality services is currently growing faster than the supply. MT is yet to make its mark on the entertainment localisation market, where the content is often nuanced, contextual dialogue with plenty of humour, sarcasm and colloquial or jumbled-up grammar thrown in. Stuart鈥檚 company, powered by its own cloud-based technology, is experiencing 70 per cent year-on-year growth.

Paella mixta by , Hogarth Worldwide

There are numerous takes on this dish out there, but they are all based on a crispy layer of rice. Richard took us back to the fundamental question of what the clients are doing. They need to get closer to their consumers, and that makes cultural relevance important. However, a global approach is also important 鈥� even essential 鈥� for them. Our task is to provide our clients with the engagement model they are looking for, because their marketing departments 鈥� operating in a world of increasing complexity 鈥� are longing for simplicity. Richard proposed we spend 10 per cent of our time on innovation work; if we don鈥檛 challenge our ways of working, someone else will.

Chorizo al vino by , Electronic Arts

EA inspires the world to play. Player engagement informs their decisions on what to localise, and their localisation cycle works concurrently with their development cycle. Michaela鈥檚 message for the audience was as comforting and filling as this gorgeously boozy and spicy dish: 鈥淲e want our partners to have a tomorrow. We are competing for the attention of our players, and to engage them, we need our partners鈥� help.鈥�

础濒产贸苍诲颈驳补蝉 by , SYSTRAN

A bit like NMT, the best thing about these juicy meatballs is that you can freeze them and then thaw them out later when you know what to do with them. Jean whizzed us through the three MT eras: Rule-Based, Statistical and Neural, and showed us how the latter is characterised by openness, fast-changing technology, a quest for data quality and a very quick transition from academia to industry. In his words, our current NMT experience is like groping for the elephant in the room whilst blindfolded; we are all feeling different parts of the huge beast and forming different ideas of what it looks like.

There was of course real food on offer as well. After four hours of presentations, SlatorCon catered for two and a half hours of pure networking, and the guests had time to exchange views on what they had heard. Nobu Hotel laid on a wonderous spread of Japanese-style delicacies to smooth the way, but I am not qualified to comment on that menu.

Here鈥檚 a selection of tasters from the menu:聽

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I am not attending the conference in order to hear how Kimon, Dominique, Gr谩inne and聽Roberto built their impressive businesses. I don鈥檛 intend to copy anyone else鈥檚 story. I am participating to learn how to make STP鈥檚 unique service offering more competitive through new strategic concepts and best industry practice.

I am not attending because I long to drink Italian wine with an international group of smart,聽successful business people. I work with peers like that every day, and some of them I socialise with outside of work too. I am travelling to Sicily in order to develop STP鈥檚 existing industry partnerships and to create new ones.

I am not attending in order to practice my elevator pitch. ELIA Networking Days have never been聽about speed-dating. They offer opportunities for detailed professional discussions that can end up shaping the future of the language industry. Since the group is small and homogenous, it is open for personal sharing.

I am not attending in order to see the most active stratovolcano in the world. Mount Etna may be in an almost constant state of activity, but I don鈥檛 mind missing those spectacular eruptions. My focus in Catania will be 100% on business.

That last bit is a lie. I am of course excited about the prospect of standing at the foot of a Muntagna and gazing up at her summit, in awe of whatever volatile mood she might be in.

The third annual ELIA networking event for language industry executives takes place in Italy in the first week of May. It brings together an exclusive group of language company owners and senior-level managers who are keen to make informed decisions about their future and the future of their companies. I am one of them, and I鈥檓 looking forward to it. If you are attending too and if you don鈥檛 know me or STP yet, please come and find me. Let鈥檚 discuss how we can work together, for the success of our companies and our industry as a whole.

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