by Charlotte Schwennsen, 2023 NOTIS Grant recipient

This year, I attended the UK’s ITI Conference thanks to a generous NOTIS conference grant.* I was a first-time attendee at the UK’s largest translation and interpreting event. It was a whirlwind experience! If you haven’t had the chance to attend, I hope this short post will give you an idea of what it was like.

The two-day hybrid conference (in Edinburgh, Scotland, and online) attracted around 400 attendees, including 120 who joined the hour-long sessions and networking chat rooms through the Canapii event app. For the in-person attendees, there were lunch and tea breaks as well as “fringe” events like singing, dancing, and city tours (side note, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the host city’s annual arts and culture event). A few days before the conference, I noted the sessions I would attend synchronously. Attendees also have asynchronous access to the app so they can take part in continuing education throughout the year..

The topics I focused on were: AI for T&I professionals: skills, ethics, and the changing landscape; business skills; career pathways and journeys; English grammar and style; and health and wellness. 

Day 1:

• Welcome Address by ITI CEO Sara Robertson and ITI Chair Nicki Bone
• Selling Human Tech Skills in an AI World: Brainy Things a Robot Cannot Do
• How (Not) to Make £100k as a Translator: Five Pitfalls of Starting Out and How You Can Help a Newbie
• Keynote (by Joanna Drugan): The History of Training Professional Translators and Interpreters in Scotland
• Goodness Gracious Grammar
• Raging Against the Machine: Is Translation Really Dying?
• Spice Up Your Writing with Figures of Speech

Day 2:

• Welcome Address with Nick Rosenthal, CEO Sara Robertson, and ITI Chair Nicki Bone
• Rage Against the Machine: Translating Swearwords – and Everything Else – in the Age of AI
• The Invisible Burden: Managing Cognitive Load in Translation
• Keynote with Sara Robertson: New World, New Work... New You
• Caring for Your Brain and Hearing Health

In her keynote speech, “New world, new work,” Sara Robertson reflected on the changing landscape in the translation and interpreting industry, recommending we as professionals focus on the future, increase our ability and willingness to be adaptable, entrepreneurial, professional, our own marketing team, and a solution for our clients’ problems. Her advice to create a business continuity plan was also relevant.

To conclude, I am grateful to NOTIS for the opportunity to attend this valuable event. I learned from a variety of presenters representing diverse sectors, industries, specializations, and languages. Since the closing session, I’ve started using some of the wellness tips I learned, and I am working toward revising my business plan in light of all the inspiring and practical discussions.

Charlotte Schwennsen is a French-to-English translator and editor based in Seattle. She currently specializes in communications for businesses and non-profit organizations, translation of official documents, and copyediting academic journal articles in the social sciences and humanities. 

*CLICK HERE to learn more about the current round of NOTIS Conference Grants. The deadline to apply is September 1, 2024!