BeatBabel has been a proud member of GALA for the last 9 years, and GALA’s yearly conference is one of the highlights of our year as far as industry events go. The year 2018 was particularly good for our company, it saw the expansion and consolidation of core and collaborating teams, bigger and more complex projects coming from long-term as well as new clients, and a clearer conception than ever of our objectives and role as an LSP.
And this isn’t just corporate mumbo-jumbo. These developments, notably the air-tight teamwork of our Project Managers, had a very real impact on the availability of our team to engage in industry events, train in new areas of interest and go out and listen to experts in the field. This atmosphere of participation in the industry, knowledge as an asset and service as partnership has facilitated the following 5 reasons why GALA 2019 Munich is our most anticipated conference yet:
1. BeatBabel is sponsoring one of the Rising Stars winners
The Rising Star scholarship holds a special place in our hearts, not only because we are firm believers in engaging the young professionals and students in the Industry, but because it is how we met some of our own team members! We were thrilled to be able to sponsor one of the winners of the scholarship, and our own Burckhardt Rueffer was part of the Selection Committee judging the fantastic essays sent by students all over the world. Our sincere congratulations to Rita Pang and Katherine Tse!
2. Marie Flacassier, our COO, will be presenting as newly elected Board Member
When Marie announced her intention to run for the GALA Board of Directors, the whole office showed their support and a small team was assembled to help her get her message out in a series of short-form interviews you can watch here. Marie was elected to the Board of Directors after what GALA themselves defined as “the most contended” campaign in years (which was cause for much celebration and cake in the office). She is now deeply involved in the strategic planning of the organization and will be presenting some of the new board’s ideas at the Annual business meeting on Day 3 of the conference.
3. TWB is throwing an 80s-themed party
This year, we also had the chance to collaborate with Translators Without Borders and help raise funds for their holiday campaign. We wrote about it in detail here, and were surprised to receive an unexpected question from the audience at tcworld 2018, in Stuttgart. during BeatBabel’s "Fast-Foodifying of Localization Services” presentation. The question came from a representative for TWB and we were thrilled to finally meet her in person after exchanging a number of emails. The great work for the association continues with the 80s-themed party taking place at 8 pm on Tuesday is another great “day to find you” and jam out to A-ha and Wham!
4. The word “human” is almost as common as “AI” in the program
BeatBabel’s very own “presentation dream team” or “comedic duo” (depending on who you ask), Burckhardt Rueffer and Miguel Sevener, have been speaking about the state of the Industry at numerous events. They have been making the case for small LSPs leveraging their human capital to compete against the “institutional trust” of the big players; they have hope for the practitioners of the profession to reclaim Quality standards and prevent “de-professionalization”; but above all, they don’t lose sight of the human element at every level of the translation service chain. We are all for technologies that empower the practitioners of our profession, and this symbolic terminological balance in the program is a good sign that this will be a people-focused conference.
5. BeatBabel celebrates its 10-year anniversary
The year 2019 marks the 10-year anniversary for our company, a language service provider focused on providing solutions to our clients, engaging in partnerships, scouting out the best and most sympathetic talent in the industry and organic growth that doesn’t lose sight of quality and people. A series of events celebrating this milestone year will be announced soon, but GALA 2019 Munich will be the first conference we attend as “ten year olds”. So please stop by to wish us a happy anniversary (and maybe toast to another successful ten years with some delicious German beer). And stay tuned for more anniversary announcements…
And no matter the reason you are attending, have a great time and happy conferencing!