ATA59:充分利用我的第一次会议
I finally found the perfect opportunity to attend the ATA’s flagship event, ATA年会:新奥尔良的ATA59. 这一切都是我所希望的,甚至更多!
当你为参加第一次会议做准备时, 我想了解一下我是如何准备的也许会有所帮助, attended, 并跟进我的第一次ATA会议. I’m sharing some of what I did to ensure it was a wise professional investment and not just fun.
会议准备
了解会发生什么
I wrote to or spoke with at least a half-dozen colleagues to ask them about their experiences and to ask if they had any advice for me. 我得到了很多建议:1)提前计划你的会议, 2)不要试图做每件事, 3)远离大型活动. I followed tips 1 and 2 but chose to attend the massive Spanish Language Division Dinner with 200 other people, 这很棒. Already, 走过去, I bumped into two Texas interpreters I had been meaning to connect with but didn’t know would be at ATA59.
我还听了一些关于这次活动的播客. 一个是官方的 ATA Podcast,由马特·贝尔德主持. He conducted several interviews with candidates running for the board and led an informative episode with ATA President-elect Ted Wozniak about anything and everything to do with the conference. The 说到翻译播客, 由Corinne Mackay和Eve Bodeux主持, 也有专门讨论ATA会议主题的章节. They discussed making firm plans with anyone you want to meet well in advance, mentioned that the CAT tool companies offer their best discounts at the conference, 并建议明智地选择鞋子.
Goal-Setting
我的ATA导师(你可以读到我的ATA导师经历) here), 前美国航空运输协会主席多萝西·拉塞特, CT, suggested I think long and hard about what my main goal for the conference was and to plan my conference experience accordingly. 她建议我读一些与我的目标相关的会议和活动, but also encouraged me to allow enough flexibility to miss a session or two in order to spend time in 展览厅 or to continue a great conversation with someone.
Pre-Networking
Two of the best connections I made while at the conference came from reaching out to people I knew beforehand who connected me to others they knew. These two new connections were a wonderful and professional agency owner, as well as a veteran conference attendee who became my unofficial conference mentor, 邀请我和他一起吃几顿饭, 并把我介绍给他的一些同事. Both of these connections made a huge impact on my experience; I treasure the wonderful insights they shared about their working life and was pleasantly surprised that these interesting conversations even led to some work offers after the conference.
翻译和口译是一群很好的人, 所以如果你在ATA论坛上注意到有人, 或者谁的作品吸引了你的眼球 Chronicle or on the Savvy Newcomer blog, 或者你在其他地方听说过的, 在会议开始前主动联系并开始对话.
在会议上
Events Attended
I thought it might be helpful to see how much you really can pack into a few days, 这是我在ATA59做的一些事情.
In addition to thought-provoking educational sessions (there were 180 to choose from during 12 slots), I also attended the Buddies Welcome Newbies events held on the first and last days, 欢迎招待会, 展览厅, 导师见面会, 全体会员年会, 律政司午餐会, 西班牙语部的晚宴, the Career Fair, and I even was able to enjoy the “Breakfast with Board Members” by sitting at a table with a number of board members.
在这些活动中结识朋友不仅有趣, but talking shop face-to-face in informal settings gave me great knowledge of what others in my field are doing. 这也带来了精彩的对话 Savvy Newcomer leaders Jamie Hartz and David Friedman, which ultimately resulted in me writing this article. 你永远不知道会发生什么!
Follow-Up
The Buddies Welcome Newbies event offered on the last day of the conference had a lot of great tips about following up. Helen Eby, buddy Welcome Newbies的领导者之一, 计算参加会议的费用, both in terms of actual travel and conference costs and the opportunity cost of not working on those days. Helen asked what we would spend that kind of money on and then just throw away, 再也不要想了! This obviously highlighted the importance of post-conference follow-up.
我亲自跟进了一些我遇到的人, 这引发了许多有趣的对话. That being said, have I made the most of the momentum I felt after I returned from New Orleans? 我无论如何也没有抛弃这段经历, but I will admit that I have not done as much as I could to incorporate new business skills I learned, for example. 我也意识到我可以做更多的事情来加强人际关系.
Next time, I will probably pre-write a to-do list of what to do after I return and pre-schedule those tasks into my calendar before I leave for the conference, 这样当我回来的时候, I can head to my office and let my calendar remind me to do everything I know I need to do.
Conclusion
My best advice is to recognize that your conference fate is really in your hands, and it is up to you to figure out exactly what you want out of it and to make a plan for how to achieve that. I hope my experience can give you food for thought about how you can make that happen for you. Attending the ATA 年度会议 was a wonderful investment in my career and business, 当我想到未来所有的会议时,我欣喜若狂. 我希望在那里见到你!
Author bio
Jessica Hartstein is an ATA-Certified Translator (Spanish>English, French>English) and a Texas Master Licensed Court Interpreter (Spanish-English). She holds a MA in Conference Interpreting and Translation Studies from the University of Leeds and graduated Cum Laude with a BA from Rice University. 在从事自由职业之前, 她全职工作, in-house translation positions at a marketing firm in Luxembourg and an oil and gas engineering company in Houston. Jessica specializes in legal, medical, asylum, and oil and gas translation and interpreting projects. She has been fortunate to have lived abroad in Spain, China, Japan, England, and Luxembourg. E-mail: jessica@jessicahartstein.com, Website: http://www.jessicahartstein.com/
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