How Many Language Conferences Are Enough?

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Global Watchtower

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Posted by Donald A. DePalma on August 15, 2007 in the following blogs: Translation and Localization
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First off, let us say that we think industry conferences are valuable exercises in giving people with the same interests a reason to gather, helping them network, and educating them in new technologies and best practices. In 2003 and 2005 we conducted large-scale surveys of delegates and prospective attendees, finding that most people went to conferences for exactly those reasons. They also complained about there being too many conferences to choose from, suggesting that the various conferences weren't as different from each other as their organizers would have you believe.

None of the survey findings surprised us, but the recent proliferation of new conferences and geographic expansion of existing ones do seem odd given delegate perceptions. Every conference organizer seems to think that the problem is with other events, missing the point that their own sessions suffer from the same depressing litany of problems:

Same old content. Examine the agendas of the various conferences and you'll find a numbing similarity as speaker after speaker examines the standard list of localization issues. Meanwhile, people new to website globalization and product localization tell us that they can find very little information aimed at the newbie. They feel as if they have been dropped into the middle of a Thomas Pynchon novel -- they see lots of stuff going on and information flying around the room, but the connections aren't obvious. At its June conference in Berlin, Localization World programmed one track for newbies -- that's a positive step in the right direction.

Same old presenters. While there's the occasional presentation by some fresh faces like China Air or autoparts maker Magna, the practitioner side is generally represented by the usual suspects -- HP, IBM, Microsoft, Palm, and Symantec. These high-tech regulars push the technology envelope, so their experiences -- while fascinating to the cognoscenti at Level 4 of the Localization Maturity Model -- mean little to people new to localization or to less globally evolved delegates.

Same old small numbers. AIIM drew thousands of delegates to its annual conference in Boston in April. Last year's Drug Information Association conference in Philadelphia drew over 8,000 people. SAE hosts legions of delegates. Compare that with the balkanized conference landscape for globalization: Localization World, the biggest of the language industry conferences, brings in a few hundred. The grand-daddy of them all, LISA, is happy to register 100 or 150. ATA draws over a thousand, but all are suppliers. At most language industry conferences, the majority of attendees hail from the supply side, their sheer numbers worrying -- if not scaring away -- corporate buyers and practitioners.

Same old business model. Little has changed at language conferences -- lots of presentations and panels plus a trade show. The events rely on a heavy dose of sponsorship money, selling branding rights to everything but the urinal cakes. While delegates are probably inured to logo ubiquity, much like Formula 1 and NASCAR fans, vendors must decide whether to buy naming rights to the bags, pens, lunches, dinners, coffee breaks, cocktail parties, free wifi, internet cafes, and all the other brandable sessions. If it were just once a year, they tell us, it would be okay, but once you factor in a trio of LISA and the fraternal triplets of Localization World conferences, a couple of IQPC summits, smaller events from CSN, and events sponsored by industry trade associations like ATA, suppliers must make some tough decisions about where to show the flag to maximize viewing by the small pool of delegates.

Same old scheduling. For the States and Europe, the spring "high season" for conferences is mid-March through mid-June. Then there's the October-November pre-holiday stretch, a prime patch for conferences leading into the office Christmas party season. For Asia, the leading conferences have chosen March. Besides these predictable high seasons, there's also the practice of predatory or preemptive scheduling -- one organizer announces it will be in Shanghai in March, another schedules an event in Beijing the week before. But it's the conferences that suffer as they force delegates to make a decision between the 2 because few can afford 2 weeks out of the office plus the additional conference fee, hotel, and meals.

Same old limited buy-side participation. Practitioners and decision makers from the buy side are too busy, too restricted by budgets and management edicts, or too concerned about competitive advantage to speak at the conferences.When they do, many can't stay around for the whole conference so they dash out after their presentations.

So there's lots of problems. How can the organizers fix it? In upcoming Global Watchtower postings, we'll suggest partnering, amalgamating, marketing, and changing the format as ways to improve the conference scene. Meanwhile, I gotta go -- I have to finish a few PowerPoint presentations before the next conference. We're all part of the problem.

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