Continuing with the theme of setting New Year’s resolutions, I always enjoy learning new things and developing my skills.
So it was fantastic to attend TerpSummit 2023, an annual three-day online event that provides a great opportunity to connect with other interpreters and share ideas. This year’s theme, ‘Coopetition’, combines Competition and Cooperation, as discussed by the conference host Sophie Llewellyn Smith in her opening speech. Once again, the event centred around three key themes: self-care/confidence, marketing/branding, and interpreting skills.
An incredible line-up of experts gave live presentations over the three days, covering a huge range of topics, such as imposter syndrome, mental health, hearing health, marketing, branding and finances.
I was unable to participate due to a whistle-stop trip to Sicily and an interpreting assignment in France, but I received recordings of the presentations. Sophie’s talk on time management was very useful – bursting with tips and tricks on how to improve productivity.
She challenged listeners to ask themselves, ‘Why don’t you have enough time?’
Is it that you don’t have enough time, or is it that you struggle with issues such as:
- Distraction
- Procrastination
- Overwhelm
- Lack of motivation
- Unrealistic assessment of how long tasks take to complete
- Trying to do too much – not enough hours to fit everything in
Her suggestions included turning off your phone or notifications to avoid distractions – ‘multi-tasking is a myth’, and trying the Pomodoro technique, where you work for 20-30 minutes at a time, with breaks in between.
I particularly enjoyed her advice on setting small goals. You may feel as though you have an ‘elephant burger’ of projects to get through, but if you break them down into smaller tasks with visual cues and rewards at the end of each, you will feel less overwhelmed.
A poll taken during the closing speech revealed that 72% of interpreters feel they are more collaborative these days than they were in the past, indicating a move from competition to collaboration.
Plenty of food for thought!
Does any of the above resonate with you? I’d love to hear your views.
Thank you so much to Sophie Llewellyn Smith for putting together such an inspiring and collaborative event. I look forward to attending again next year!
If you’d like to find out more about my interpreting and translation services for conferences across the globe (both remotely and in-person), please don’t hesitate to get in touch!