Last week, the Israel Translators Association (ITA) held its 2025
conference in Tel Aviv with the theme being the customer challenge, or more
specifically how find and retain customers in a changing market. The two-day
event was packed with lectures, each offering a different point of view and
series of suggestion on how to create and maintain a successful language
provider business. The speakers ranged from experienced translators and interpreters
in Israel and abroad to professional marketers. Of course, some, but far from
all, of the presenters discussed the application of AI with an emphasis on
using it for administrative and creative tasks. Overall, it was an enriching
and enjoyable experience.
Over the two days, many experienced linguists shared their wisdom on how
to seek new customers in a market in which some niches are shrinking. One
important theme was the necessity for active steps to remain relevant. Hadassah Levy noted in her presentation “Marketing Your Translation
Business in 10 Minutes a Day” that creating content and then automating
their publication renders digital marketing much more time-efficient in the
long term and creates a vital effective online presence. Helen Baker discussed a
weekly time investment in business networking groups as a means of building
productive business connections. Finally, Tess Whitty discussed the attaining
additional skills, in her case SEO, to add value to her services and income to
her business. Other relevant lectures include Chiara Vecchi on her
effective reaction to reduced business volume, Miriam Blum on the importance of
the ITA “Recognized Translation” and Mikhal Heffer on working with agencies. I
contributed a presentation on how to prepare a professional presentation to
clients and colleagues. Overall, the lectures provided a bounty of ideas.
The
conference also featured presentations by professional marketers. Dotan Grably
provided a strong theoretical and practical approach to the general principle
of how to attract customers. He focused on two concepts and explained how to
apply them in practice. Yarden Lerer went into great detail on content creation
and its effect use for marketing. Both of these presenters provided great food
for thought.
Of
course, as in any professional conference today, AI was on the agenda. Aliza
Berger showed and compared translation of a short legal title using various AI
engines as well as human translation. Uriel Shuraki discussed the
characteristics of several AI applications. Beyond the use of AI as a
translation tool, Alfonso González Bartolessis and Dominique Bohbot related AI
to business management and its benefits in increasing efficiency. These and other lectures helped reduce the “flight
or fight” reaction to AI in many of the attendees.
To
those presenters whose name I failed to mention or whose content I did not do
justice, I apologize and remark that both space on this post and in my brain’s
memory is limited. The two days were truly packed with information and ideas,
the recipe for an ideal conference. Chapeau to the organizers, who organised
the event. I strongly recommend any translator or interpreter that is feeling
nervous about the market to attend such events. The meeting of minds and people
opens up great opportunities because it provides a multi-perspective view of
what is and what can be. I am looking forward to further events on the same
subject as well as the conference next year.
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