Written on 3 June, 2019

The ITI conference, the biennial flagship event of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, was held in Sheffield in early May this year. The venue was the elegant Cutlers’ Hall, providing a lovely setting for the dozens of talks on offer to the nearly 400 conference attendees, including five Surrey Translation Bureau staff members.

STB team at the ITI conference 2019

The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Beyond the core: forging the future of the profession’, meaning that many of the talks focused on how to differentiate yourself from the competition and, of course, how machine translation is expected to change the playing field. One such talk was presented by Surrey Translation Bureau’s very own Senior Translation Project Manager Jessica Truelsen and Translation Project Manager Ashley Mikkola, who presented ideas on how to tackle this elephant in the room. The talk turned out to be extremely popular amongst the attendees, many of whom praised Jessica and Ashley for their pragmatic take on the matter.

As well as attending talks, the STB delegation also had the time to participate in the corporate showcase on Saturday morning. There, we were lucky enough to meet numerous freelancers and other industry professionals interested in our services, not to mention hand out some lovable elephant pen holders to our hardworking freelance suppliers. The conference also hosted numerous fringe events, but unfortunately, due to time constraints, we were only able to attend the Welcome Reception and the Gala Dinner in full force – although Ashley did find time to show off her athletic prowess by taking part in the Conference Run.

Speaking of fringe events, the ITI Gala Dinner was a definite highlight as Surrey Translation Bureau was once again recognised with the ITI Corporate Member award. The award committee praised Surrey Translation Bureau for introducing a key account strategy and improving machine translation post editing, subtitling and desktop publishing services, as well as launching a free webinar programme and attending outreach events for schools and colleges in 2018.

With a wealth of new information gained throughout the conference, and our trophy carefully packed in a suitcase, the STB delegation was a happy bunch on our way back south on Saturday after the conference, even despite some problems with train cancellations. The location of the next ITI conference to be held in 2021 is yet to be revealed, but you can rest assured that Surrey Translation Bureau will be there once again.

What is the ITI?

Founded in 1986, the ITI – Institute of Translation and Interpreting – is the only UK-based independent professional membership association for practising translators, interpreters and language services businesses. Surrey Translation Bureau has been a member of the ITI since 2013, and our Head of Translation Operations Hannah Stacey, Translator Nick Ives, Senior Compliance Officer and Translation Project Manager Ruth Parkin and Senior Translator and Translation Project Manager Alison Healey are all individual members of the ITI.

Are you interested in working with an award-winning team for your translation needs? Call 01252 730 014 or email hello@surreytranslation.co.uk.

Written by Jenni Inkinen