Irina Nesterenko Russian Federation Local time: 08:37 Member (2007) English to Russian + ...
costs-location
May 5, 2007
Csaba Ban wrote:
I like the idea of expanding the duration of large conferences to 3 days - but this also increases the participation fee. In this particular hotel, for example, one extra day would have cost EUR 30-35 more per person (of which 4-5 goes to conference rooms and equipment and the rest on food). This time the early bird price was EUR 140 (I definitely wanted to keep it below 150), but with a 3-day conference, the starting price should have been EUR 175, and this does not even include an evening program for the first night, so altogether we are looking at around EUR 200 (3 days, conference rooms, equipment, 3 lunches, 6 coffee breaks, 2 dinners).
I'm afraid that this extra 60 euros would have turned away quite a few potential partipants. All in all, I think this is a good idea to explore for future conferences, but probably only for large international conferences.
Interpreting is of course technically feasible, but this would further increase the costs (and reduce the number of seats). I don't know the prices for this, as I have not even considered this for a minute. I think adding interpreting to the available services would unreasonably increase the participation fee, without adding too much value.
Instead, having more regional conferences in languages other than English is a much better idea.
cs.
[Edited at 2007-05-05 07:57]
just to comment on the costs associated with the proposed increase of a conference duration - the thing is that costs are directly dependent on the lcation of a conference, therefore, by choosing a more cost-effective place it's possible to expand the duration by keeping the costs reasonable, in which light, the south of France doesn't seem very cost-effective, nonetheless beautiful). basing on this, why don't we consider Portugal or Spain..or Mongolia?:)
[Edited at 2007-05-06 08:03]
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I believe our discussion has yet to take place once we start getting closer to the next conference. I understand these are just some preliminary thoughts and ideas.
As for the equipment, the next able organiser might be able to come accross a sponsor who might want to provide the interpreting equipment (unless there's any in the rooms) in return for a little promotion. This would reduce costs, I guess.
Perhaps the interpreters' group, as well as others who take interest in that, might formulate further their thoughts in a separate thread and come up with some recommendations as to the advisability and "feasibility" of the idea.
I agree with Steve that the "conference core" doesn't have to be extended.
However, perhaps a good idea would be to have the two days reserved for the topics proposed, while the opening and closing (plenary) sessions could take place the day before/after (on the eve of the conference we could be at the opening session around 5.30 p.m. and then go to the first powwow; the morning after the conference, say 10 a.m., we could hear the closing word and wish a safe trip to one another).
Csaba did it perfectly by making arrangements (internet, reduced hotel charges, etc) possible for those who arrive earlier, and it's up to them to decide if they want to organise some informal (perhaps proz.com group) meetings before the official part of the conference (apart from having the paid activities: ATA exams, trados training, etc), or they would want enjoy sightseeing.
Miroslav
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sandhya India Local time: 10:07 Member (2003) German to English + ...
Great experience.... participant from distant India!
May 6, 2007
Hi,
I must first start by thanking Csaba (sorry, CB... but this is a must!). He helped me get my visa by dashing off an email to the Hungarian Embassy within minutes of me sending him an SOS mail... truly amazing.
I must also appreciate your incredible patience and your permanent smile and unruffled countenance. The conference was organized very well indeed, barring a few delays with sessions.
Although I will enter individual feedback for those I attended, here is some general "critique" on the sessions:
1) Most topics were very helpful. Some weren't... at least not to me.
2) The most hyped and over-rated sessions were the biggest disappointments!
3) A couple of speakers had great content but poor presentation skills... while a couple had great presentation skills but OK content.
But I learned a lot and for me, having travelled all the way from India, it was well worth the effort and money!
Hope to attend many more conferences in future
cheers
Sandhya
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Russell Jones United Kingdom Local time: 04:37 Member (2004) Italian to English
MODERATOR
Yet another great conference
May 6, 2007
I know Csaba is embarassed about compliments but this was my third conference and, without doubt, the best yet.
My main regret is that, not being a very gregarious person, I did not take the opportunity to get to know more of the participants.
I certainly understand the suggestions for interpreting (as a Brit I hate the word interpretation, which to me means something quite different) but I feel humbled by the English language skills of my international colleagues. I would have struggled in my working language of Italian.
Budapest was also a brilliant location, as was the hotel, which, despite the not particularly friendly staff, provided superb organisation and facilities.
My fear with our conferences has been that we have become over-dependent on a limited number of our colleagues willing to contribute as speakers or moderators. This conference was undoubtedly a step in the right direction, although I think we should consider paying top-notch keynote speakers in the future if we can continue to attract members in these numbers.
Well done to all concerned; thanks for a great event. Looking forward to the next one.
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Kryssy Spain Local time: 05:37 Spanish to English + ...
High and rising: Budapest conference
May 7, 2007
Hi everyone,
I would like to thank all of you who worked so hard to make this conference a tremendously uplifting experience for those of us normally stuck at home chained to the computer.
The atmosphere was very friendly and relaxed, we had plenty of nice long coffee breaks and lunch breaks to chat to so many different and interesting people (the Hotel food was of excellent standard for a conference by the way) and I came away with a definite glow and pride in my profession.
I agree that perhaps it would be more useful to have on the spot feedback for the sessions next time, although frankly offering to present a paper in front of any number of people feels me with awe and I take my hat off to all the speakers.
Of the pre-conference events, my favourite was the walking tour on Saturday, which was very informative, interesting and long enough to get a real feel for the city, as well as a great opportunity for those of us who had just arrived to meet other translators. The dinner at the Oktogon was rather poor quality and the waiters hassled and rude, but the crowd, i.e. us, made for a good atmosphere! The dinner/dance trip was lovely and just the right sort of event to get everyone moving around - my only complaint was that those of us who were a little slow on the uptake (too busy chatting) never got any dessert as it had all run out! A bit more generosity next time please!
I think Csaba excelled at organisation and this conference should definitely be taken as a model for the future.
As one of the interpreters who spontaneously joined a session dedicated to us, I was delighted this came about, thanks to Kyoko, and look forward to next time when we can talk about issues specifically related to interpreting.
Thank you again,
Kryssy Sleziak
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Csaba Ban Hungary Local time: 05:37 Member (2002) English to Hungarian + ...
TOPIC STARTER
visas, etc.
May 7, 2007
When I started organizing this event, I never imagined that I will need to intervene at several embassies to convince them to issue visas.
During my travels, I visited some Hungarian embassies abroad and for one noteable exception, all of them were downright unfriendly and not helpful at all. So I could not imagine that any request for help would be fruitful.
This time I was in contact with 5 different embassies of Hungary. Chisinau (Moldavia) and Skopje (Macedonia) were the ones where I actually made phone calls to. It turned out in certain cases the fate of the visa application may depend on the actual person dealing with the application. I sent two unofficial invitation letters to Skopje - one conference participant received the visa without any further questions, but I had to call the embassy a few times for the other one. They had exactly the same types of documents, they just happened to apply on a different day...
For India it was easy - I just sent an email to them, explaining the conference, etc. I'm not sure if this email helped at all, or Sandhya would have received the visa anyway... for good measure I did mention in my email that I personally know a few people who used to work at the embassy in New Delhi back in the 80's...
The first embassy I got in contact with was Abuja (Nigeria). In January, I started receiving inquiries about our conference from dubious "government agencies" in Nigeria about sending 3 or 4 "delegates" to the conference. The strange thing was that none of them had anything to do with translation. They all emphasized the need for official invitation letters and all of them wanted to pay for the conference upon arrival only. A quick email to and from the embassy revealed that this is a usual scam, so I became immune to these inquiries. (I received about 15-20 of them in total).
When a Proz.com member from a neighbouring African country expressed interest in the conference, I sent a series of emails to the same embassy to explain that contrary to the dubious "government agencies", this particular person is a legitimate person, is indeed a translator, already paid for the event, etc. She applied for the visa 4 weeks before the conference, but even this was not enough. I know it may be difficult in the immigration office to distinguish between one visa application and another, and I'm in no position to question Hungary's visa policy....
At least my conscious is clear ... I really did everything I could to help potential participants get their visas.
If I had more time in the months that lead up to the conference, I would have written a blog about the process. Exchanging a long series of emails with 200 or more participants and potential participants, meeting face-to-face with restaurant owners, talking to embassy staff, trying to enlist intellectual celebrities as keynote speakers, etc. What you saw was an end product, but in reality there was much more work involved.
Anway, I loved doing this, and I very much appreciate your kind words.
And now back to my never-ending relationship with a huge load of ttx files...
Csaba
[Edited at 2007-05-07 10:36]
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CommsLab Romania Local time: 05:37 Member (2003) English to Romanian + ...
Batch email for surveys and end-of-session feedback
May 7, 2007
Hello,
I was very happy to be in Budapest with all of you, I congratulate Csaba for his effort and I look forward to the next conference.
I just want to say that one very useful tool for speakers would be the possibility to send batch emails to his future participants. This would allow the speakers to conduct surveys and to better assess the impact of his presentation. It was a good thing that Csaba insisted on the early registration to sessions. This should be encouraged by all means. Batch emailing shouldn't be a big problem technically and I hope it will be implemented in the future.
I am also in favour of the feedback collected on the spot. An anonymous feedback after the sessions would assure a clearer view and would help adaptation and improvement. The feedback we have now is nice, but I think only about 5% of the participants actually offer one and it is mostly positive, because people are reluctant to saying not-very-nice things. The paper forms should be personalised and prepared or adapted by each speaker. The conference organiser would be able to read them if he/she wants and I'm sure that every speaker would be interested in reading his feedback. I know this makes it more complicated for the organiser, but I'm sure it's worth it.
Best,
Dan
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Csaba Ban Hungary Local time: 05:37 Member (2002) English to Hungarian + ...
TOPIC STARTER
easy to implement
May 7, 2007
Sending batch emails to participants of individual sessions is a feature that was introduced just a couple of weeks before the conference (upon my request). Currently only the conference organizer has rights to do this, but it's a valid request to extend this right to individual speakers as well, and it's probably very easy to do.
Printing out evaluation forms to be distributed for each conference session is also easy, it only requires loads of paper and ink cartridge. (It's not too environment friendly though...). If we do not aim at statistical processing of evaluation data, a paper feedback form is quite OK.
I insisted on early registration to sessions to help me with logistics: which session should go to which room, etc. But even after this, actual attendance at some sessions was way out of the predicted figure, in both directions. In theory it would be possible to swap rooms on the spot, to allow for some flexibility, but in reality it's impossible to forecast actual attendance figures until after the sessions start.
cs.
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Rebekka Groß United Kingdom Local time: 04:37 Member (2001) English to German
batch mail feature for speakers
May 7, 2007
Dan Marasescu wrote:
I just want to say that one very useful tool for speakers would be the possibility to send batch emails to his future participants. This would allow the speakers to conduct surveys and to better assess the impact of his presentation.
Hi Dan
It was nice to meet you in BP, thanks for coming up to me before the closing session to say 'hi'.
As Csaba said conference admins already have access to such a feature and I'll explore with my developer how easy it is to allow individual speakers access to the batch mail feature for their session. I agree that it would be a useful option for speakers.
Printed feedback sheets are certainly an option as well. Perhaps we could compile a generic one that each speaker can download and print. Let me mull over what sort of questions should go into such a form, put a draft together and ask for input from a selection of speakers via a private forum. How does that sound.
Rebekka
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Diana Cossato Belgium Local time: 05:37 Hungarian to Italian + ...
Interpreting
May 7, 2007
Hi all,
the conference was great and I really enjoyed meeting so many of you.
As for interpreting, even if we had volunteers (I had volunteered right from the start), equipment can be quite costly. I suppose we're thinking in term of simultaneous here, as consecutive would not be feasible for multiple languages and would take twice as long, and that means at least 4 booths per session with 2 interpreters per booth... even if not all sessions were interpreted and even if we actually had enough interpreters (deciding which languages are actually needed could also be tricky), you still have to consider all the booths + receivers etc. and the staff to actually take care of that (during the conference time + before and after). Even if you do find a sponsor, it's unlikely it is willing to bear all costs.
Should it be feasible, however, I am certainly available.
As for letting people with no interpreting experience whatsoever try it out at the conference, I would have to discourage that, without at all wishing to sound rude or elitist, but it would probably hinder communication rather than help it... Interpreting students may, on the other hand, be suitable for the task.
Overall, although I would welcome more opportunities to mingle, I would avoid increasing costs and vote against prolongng the conference. Even though 60 eur may not be much, if it's added to accomodation and pocket money it may increase costs substantially and may in fact result in greatly decreased participation.
Still haven't look at the pictures, I'm really curios!
All the best,
Diana
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Helena Diaz del Real Germany Local time: 05:37 Member (2005) German to Spanish + ...
Just a very short question...
May 8, 2007
Diana Cossato wrote:
equipment can be quite costly as consecutive would not be feasible for multiple languages and would take twice as long, and that means at least 4 booths per session with 2 interpreters per booth
Hi Diana,
Why not consecutive and considering the people attending this speech, to choose the second language (the one to be interpreted to) accordingly?? I remember very well doing that way at the faculty, althrough as an exercise for all: The "interpreters" (all fellow students, of course), the teachers (playing the role of a speaker in their own mothertongue) and the rest of students (as public)
Of course it would take longer -no doubt! But it's a matter to prevent that people do not attend a certain speech due to the language or that nobody leaves the room thinking: "What a pity, that I only understood the half of it!"
The problems you describe I see them much smaller than you, I think...
At any case, the hungarian conference was more than excellent! I am enthusiastic about!
Let's meet again at the next conference!
Cheers,
Helena
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Diana Cossato Belgium Local time: 05:37 Hungarian to Italian + ...
with one language maybe, but still...
May 8, 2007
Hi Helena,
consecutive would only be a (semi)viable solution if interpreting were to be provided into ONE foreign language only, you certainly cannot have a number of interpreters following each other and delivering the speech in various languages after the original one.
English is the language spoken (or at least understood) by most people, so which language should the speech/es be interpreted into? Unless the speaker doesn't speak English and his/her words were therefore to be interpreted into English, would you have a consecutive interpreter for one or two people's sake (assuming the few that actually need an interpreter have a common language)? The point is not that they wouldn't deserve to understand only because there's few of them, but that means the whole audience would have to sit through the whole speech being interpreted in the other language, that's not ideal, is it?
Chucotage (whispered simultaneous for that person's benefit) would clearly be the solution in this context, but again, how many languages and which ones?
Each non-English speaker should in this case signal their need for an interpreter beforehand and the organizer could try and ask if there are any volunteers willing/able to carry out the task in that language pair/direction. With a long speech two interpreters would be needed (chucotage being a simultaneous without the equipment and therefore just as, if not more, tireing). This might be the solution, having one or two personal interpreters for each person requiring the service, it still sounds a bit far-fetched, but possible I guess.
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Veronika Hansova Czech Republic Local time: 05:37 Member (2006) English to Czech + ...
Let's find out how many people would be intersted in having the lectures interpreted
May 8, 2007
Diana Cossato wrote:
English is the language spoken (or at least understood) by most people, so which language should the speech/es be interpreted into? Unless the speaker doesn't speak English and his/her words were therefore to be interpreted into English, would you have a consecutive interpreter for one or two people's sake (assuming the few that actually need an interpreter have a common language)? The point is not that they wouldn't deserve to understand only because there's few of them, but that means the whole audience would have to sit through the whole speech being interpreted in the other language, that's not ideal, is it?
I don't agree with this. Put it this way - can we somehow find out how many Prozians do not understand English and still would be very much interested in attending a conference?
IMO, there would be more than 1 or 2. And I also think that there is a bigger chance that they would agree on another world language if they had a choice from English and let's say Spanish or Russian or French.
Simultaneous booth interpreting with pre-issued summaries or texts of the lectures would be the solution. I know the objections - the costs. But let's not throw in the towel. Let's do some survey of interest and willingness to pay more if the interpretors were involved.
Veronika
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Helena Diaz del Real Germany Local time: 05:37 Member (2005) German to Spanish + ...
I agree with Veronika and disagree with Diana
May 8, 2007
Hello!
@ Diana:
I am not saying that a speech must be translated into the mothertongues of all attendees: This is, in my opinion, impossible/nonsense.
And of course, english is a language most of translators work with. BUT what I meant was that there are a little bunch of people still interested in one speech which are not able to understand it all, because their language pair do not include english. I.e. myself: In Edinburgh there has been a very impressive and excellent speech abut Tolstoi. The speaker was (if I recall it right) teaching at Oxford University. The matter interested me soooooo much, that I went in. BUT my english is not good. I do not work with English. If there would have been an interpretor into either spanish (one of the most spoken languages in the world) or german, I would have understood it all. The question is, also: How many people did not get into a speech they would have loved to, just because of the spoken language?
Of course you cannot interpret into all languages. BUT as Veronika said, it would be very good to know at each speech in a conference how many people would really be interested in. And from all those how many are fluent in english and for the rest if they have one other common language (either own mothertongue, or working language)
I really do not see it so unviable as you describe, really!
@ Veronika:
I completely agree with what you say! And another help could be to let speakers make a little summary of what they are going to say and let's translate it into one of the non-english languages the attendees wished to have it into.
Many greetings from rainy Nuremberg,
Helena
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The translation workplace 
. This would reduce costs, I guess.
