ATC Conference 2015

It’s hard to believe a year has gone by since Melanie Smith headed down to Brighton to represent Louise Killeen Translations at the ATC Conference. Twelve months ago, we had recently purchased our own, independent office building, taken on two trainee translators and were already thinking about developing our team further still. This year, the company has yet another trainee translator, a further AITI under its belt and three translators about to take their MITI examinations, not to mention a new business development department to handle our increased demand. It’s fair to say, then, that there’s always something going on at LKT! And with all systems go for us, we were very much looking forward to taking a couple of days away from our desks to catch up with our industry colleagues at this year’s 39th ATC Conference. Whether you’re into football or not, with the venue on our doorstep at the “Theatre of Dreams”, it would have been rude not to!

With a packed itinerary of presentations from leading industry experts and several pre-arranged meetings, Louise and Melanie really made the most of the opportunity to touch base with existing contacts and even make several new ones. Day one was rounded off with a fantastic dinner overlooking the pitch at Old Trafford. There was just time for a welcome glass of fizz before everyone took their seats for the inaugural ATC awards ceremony. Having been nominated for three awards – Translator of the Year, Project Manager of the Year and Outstanding Contribution to the Industry – we were absolutely delighted to scoop a clean sweep of prizes in the “Highly Commended” category against such strong opposition. 

The second day of the conference opened strongly with a lively and inspiring talk by Richard M. Brooks of K International. With much of the same on offer in terms of networking and demonstrations, we were particularly interested in the presentation on ISO 17100 given that we are about to go for certification. Much to our delight, it would appear that we already have everything in place, so watch this space for updates on our certification. As the 2015 event came to a close, there was one last prize for the taking for the company who had generated the most Twitter activity. Keen to defend our title from Brighton – and, of course, keep all our followers up to date with top titbits from the conference – we tweeted furiously to get us to the top. Even the team back in the office got involved to help push us up the rankings, prompting our new company hashtag of #LKTeamwork! All in all, yet another highly successful and worthwhile event, and we are already looking forward to celebrating the ATC’s ruby anniversary in 2016.