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February 12, 2020 |

7 Things to Do After Attending Translation Conferences

Translation conferences and other industry events are essential for your networking strategy. However, participation isn’t enough to ensure success. What you do when you get home can equally influence your growth as a translator. 

Indeed, the first weeks after the event are essential if you want to improve your performance as a translator. 

During a convention, you typically connect with experts in your field and maybe even find new clients. You can meet potential collaborators and business partners, too. But when the party’s over, you need to make every effort to maintain a good relationship with them. 

Here are seven things you should do after attending a translation conference. Follow these steps to become a better translator and boost your reputation among clients and collaborators alike. 

1. Take a Personal Day

When returning from translation conferences, your instinct may be to start working right away to meet your professional goals. Many events in the language service industry are overwhelming and can generate over-excitement. When you get home you may feel like putting everything you’ve learned into practice right away. 

However, it’s never wise to rush things. You risk setting off in the wrong direction and, before you know it, find yourself in situations that you’d rather avoid. 

The best thing you can do right after a conference is to chill out. Take advantage of this day to spend some time alone or with your family. You’ll recharge your batteries and prepare yourself to overcome any new challenge. 

2. Send Organizers a Thank You Email

The organizers of translation conferences appreciate valuable feedback, so find a few minutes to share your impressions. Write them an email and make sure you say “thank you” for all the effort they put in organizing the event. There’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes and people could use the encouragement!

It’s also a good opportunity for you to stand out and consolidate new connections at the same time. 

Sometimes, organizers may also ask you to participate in a post-event survey. If you accept, be honest with your answers. It helps them to make the events more helpful for translators and other professionals in the industry. 

3. Get Your Notes in Order

Now that you’re rested and ready to start working, it’s time to order your notes–all the information you gathered during the translation conference. As a translator, you know that having all the information in one place is crucial for any project. 

Rewrite any handwritten notes and separate what’s relevant from the information that’s of no help to your business.  

This is the right moment to go through all the materials you received during the conference. If you also bought books during the event, choose one and start reading as soon as possible.

If you postpone this step, the books and materials will end up buried under a pile of work, and they’ll never see the light of day again. 

4. Write Down What You Learned

Translation conferences are great networking events, but they’re about more than making new connections. In fact, they’re perfect for learning new techniques to work and grow your business. 

So, after the event, take the time to write down what you’ve learned from the presentations and panel discussions. Not only will this method help you go through the valuable information one more time, but it will also allow you to measure ROI. 

There’s a cost to participating in a translation conference. If you don’t evaluate the outcome of participating in industry events, you’ll never know whether your investment has paid off or not. 

5. Make a Plan and a To-Do List

After a translation conference, most participants are excited and ready to do things differently. Planning, you’re more likely to put into practice what you’ve learned during the event. It also helps you to visualize your working habits and any growth potential for your business. 

As a guideline, you should put together a to-do list that includes the things you can start implementing immediately, as well as the tasks and activities that require extra planning, such as taking a refresher course, buying new tools, or pitching a potential client. 

If you separate projects that require in-depth analysis from the ones you can dive into without any research, you’re more likely to achieve results in a relatively short amount of time. 

Moreover, you shouldn’t exclude activities that don’t fit with your current projects, such as studying for a new translation niche or testing new software. Keeping an open mind can be useful for future jobs. 

6. Follow Up with New Contacts

Another useful thing to do after attending translation conferences is keeping in touch with the people you’ve met. So, don’t wait until the next event to catch up. Instead, make room in your schedule to connect with people in between gatherings and industry events.  

That doesn’t mean you should write hundreds of emails every day or quit working hours to engage in Skype calls. Only follow up with the people you have a genuine interest in, either for professional purposes or personal development. 

You’ll save time if you’re flexible and keep multiple communication channels open. You don’t have to write long emails to nurture a potential client or collaborator. Most of the time, it’s enough to connect through LinkedIn. This will make things easier and create a less rigid relationship in the long run.  

7. Look for More Translation Conferences to Attend

After you’ve analyzed the good, the bad, and the ugly of the last conference, it’s time to start looking for other events to attend in your region or even overseas. 

Try to join different conventions during the year, so you can achieve more professional goals. Some events are excellent for networking, for instance, while others are more suitable for people who want to learn more about a specific niche.  

What matters is that you match the conference with your goals. Analyze the topics that are going to be discussed, do some background research on the speakers, and try to find out who else from your network is joining the event. Last but not least, choose the translation conferences where you can have some fun in good company. 

Translators can become solitary people due to the nature of their work. They tend to isolate themselves, which can affect the quality of their work overtime. Going out there to socialize is excellent for self-esteem and overall productivity.