This section of the website collects links to my conference presentations over the past few years. If you’d be interested in having me give a talk, workshop or master class on one of these topics or another area of expertise, please feel free to contact me!

IAPTI 2018, Valencia

Freelance project management: tips and tools
Whether you’re working on your own or in a team, you can improve your workflow, reduce stress, and serve your clients more efficiently if you have a basic grasp of project management concepts, and are able to choose the tool that works for you. In this presentation, I’ll walk you through the four different approaches I used over the past 21 years, and show you how to gain more control of your workflow with Excel or with online spreadsheets. We’ll also discuss the pros and cons of project management and billing software for translators, online and offline, and briefly touch on GDPR compliance and ISO 17100 certification. Let’s take control of the process!

bp18, Vienna

Personal challenges in a professional context
Freelancing offers more freedom, but also involves more risk and responsibility. Many of us juggle challenging personal factors – acute or chronic illness, ageing parents needing full-time care, major life changes – that frequently place unexpected demands on our ability to cope with our professional obligations. Let’s discuss how to build in redundancy from the start, establish a network of trusted colleagues, and keep our customers satisfied without risking a burnout by living at the edge of our limits for too long.

bp17, Budapest

Business in transition
Isolated freelancer to networked translator: most of us are somewhere along this spectrum, and our attempts to master new technologies, find new clients, and understand market trends reflect that process. This trend holds true regardless of language pairs, target markets, or country of residence. Whether you’re hoping to solidify a freelance career, find other translators to partner with, or simply enjoy the company of like-minded linguists, connecting with other professionals offers many benefits. How can we learn from each other to make that transition as painless as possible?

bp16, Prague

Leveraging bilingual texts for CAT tools (YouTube preview)
Import your own translations from the pre-CAT era into memoQ, find better-quality bilingual texts online and process them for use in future translations, and generate better TMs by focusing on the very best source texts and translations.

ProZ International Conference 2015, Rotterdam

Work-life balance during illness: a freelance perspective
A collaborative presentation with Ellen Singer on the impact of short-term and long-term illness on working relationships in freelance practice. Communication strategies for colleagues and clients, layered redundancy in back-up plans, home workplace optimization and more. Now with more spoons.

bp15, Zagreb

Failsafe evolution: quality assurance, from manual exclusion to automated comparison
A collaborative presentation with Ellen Singer about ensuring that the QA skills learned before CAT tools became ubiquitous are integrated into current practice, complementing automated QA programs. The focus: ensuring actual quality that satisfies client needs and meets your own standards.