In these uncertain times, it's great to have something to look forward to. Postponing the unconference until April 2021 was a tough decision, but it will be all the sweeter when we finally get together. When you registered (I bet it seems a long time ago!), we asked you to answer a few questions, so we could find out more about who's attending and what kind of sessions attendees would like us to run. Here are a few juicy titbits from survey responses so far... Source languages And here are some suggestions you gave us for sessions:
There's still time to complete your survey if you haven't already. Drop us a line if you've lost the link or if you have new ideas to share and want to resubmit your responses. We're very excited about the wealth of experience and the incredible enthusiasm that participants will be bringing to the unconference. See you in Cardiff in six months! Alex We’ve been delighted to see so much interest in the ‘sustainable’ aspect of the Cardiff Translation Unconference. But we don’t want anyone to be put off by it – just remember: “it’s not about a handful of people making a massive change; it’s about lots of people making little changes”.
To us, sustainability is a whole spectrum of things: from not providing single-use cups to getting rid of printed material, from checking carefully where the lunch is sourced to understanding how far people are coming and what chances they have of reducing their carbon footprint. But we want to make it clear: even though public transport and self-propulsion (read: cycling and/or walking) are the ideal transport options, we’re also pragmatic and understand that, for some of you, getting to and from Cardiff may necessarily involve air or car travel. And some of you on our Facebook page have already come up with some great ideas on how to make that journey more sustainable:
Don’t worry – we’re not going to police how you get here, and we certainly won’t shame anyone into feeling bad. But we’re certain that if each individual tweaks just one thing, then we’re well on our way to making the unconference more sustainable. Apart from the handful of ideas we share in this post, do you have any other suggestions on how we can make the unconference more sustainable? Please do comment below. We'd love to hear your ideas! Jason When you register for the Cardiff Translation Unconference, you’ll be sent a link to a survey with ten questions about you and your translation experience.
Why do we need this information? Well, we could just have everyone turn up on the morning of the unconference, mill around for a while and see what happens. Some networking might evolve, maybe some talks would come together, and a fair few of us would likely end up in the bar. But would that meet your expectations, or would you feel it was a wasted journey that you can't quite bring yourself to claim the CPD hours on? To make sure we all get as much as possible out of the unconference, we are starting as we mean to go on: by taking our lead from you. We need to know:
The better we know you, the more likely we are to put together agenda options that fit with your idea of the kind of event you want to attend and learn from. So please, be detailed, be specific and, above all, be honest! You should know that all five of us will be carefully scrutinising your responses to find common themes, mutual interests and sharable expertise. We will put these together with your suggested formats to come up with agenda suggestions that tackle real professional issues in interactive ways. Then, when you arrive, you can vote on which sessions should run, choose which to attend, and get straight down to business. Your active involvement and engagement in all parts of the unconference, from survey to sessions, is vital to the very concept of an unconference and, therefore, to making it a success. If you would like more information on session formats or anything else about the unconference, browse the rest of the website and/or drop us a line on any of our social media channels. We look forward to meeting you! Alex As this is the first time organising the Cardiff Translation Unconference, we've decided to ask attendees to propose topics and their preferred session types in advance instead of on the day.
Once you’ve signed up to the unconference, you’ll complete a questionnaire and be asked to suggest a topic and a session type. To spur your imagination, we have come up with some proposed session types. Feel free to partner up or do a variation on a theme. Keep in mind the goal is dialogue, co-learning, problem-solving and sharing! Advice on leading a session
General advice for everyone at an unconference
Juliet Our Cardiff Translators’ group often travels to conferences together. We always get a lot out of our trips, and the networking side is almost always as enjoyable and profitable as the programme content.
I like any opportunity to meet other translators in informal settings, when conversation flows easily and barriers are broken down. Not everyone is like me, of course, but I’m sure I’m not alone. Translation conferences are valuable opportunities for many reasons and I’ve enthusiastically attended a lot of them, all over Europe, but they do have some drawbacks:
The benefits of the Cardiff Translation Unconference are:
To be continued… Juliet The Cardiff Translation Unconference has been launched, after months of deliberating and discussion.
The unconference is being brought to you by five freelance translators based in and around Cardiff: Juliet Haydock, Jason Shilcock, Alexandra Chapman, Victoria Burns and Lloyd Bingham. As regular conference-goers, we spotted a gap in the traditional CPD offering. Our profession is not short of classic conference formats, where you can listen to a presenter talk about a certain topic for 50 minutes,followed by 10 minutes of Q&A. Some conferences have even become more innovative in recent years with TED-style talks. But that very short period of Q&A often brings an array of excellent insights, experience and expertise from a variety of perspectives to the fore. So, why don't we have a conference focusing on exactly that? One that is organised from the bottom up and is participant-driven? And why don't we do it sustainably, cutting down on the unnecessary extras that we don't really need, and make it more affordable at the same time? That's exactly what the Cardiff Translation Unconference is about. Over the next few months, we look forward to refining our ideas, clarifying the concept, answering your questions and asking for your input. Expect tickets to go on sale in spring 2020. Welwn ni chi yng Nghaerdydd! Lloyd |
Archives
October 2020
Categories |