A special invite for Lingua Greca readers: Zingword is now public! Use this link to create your translator profile, set your own prices and target your favorite projects. No job bidding or price dumping involved! As readers of Lingua Greca already know, there is quite a bountiful offer of localization events out there! The TIL (translation, interpreting and localization) industry covers all sorts of subject matters, business practices, modes of delivery, and more — which is precisely why it’s important for language professionals to keep track of recent advances. Why do localization events matter? Localization events help you keep your ear on the ground of the industry, while also providing a great way to develop your professional translation services, and grow your freelancing business. For freelance translators / interpreters and in-house ones alike, the most important aspect of localization events is continuous professional development (CPD). Here are some of the benefits CPD events can bring to your translation business: Gaining knowledge — language work is often about acquiring new knowledge. Webinars, workshops and courses can help you get ahead of the curve and learn directly from experts in your chosen field of translation. Developing soft and hard skills — some events focus precisely on freelancing and general business practices in localization, and can be a great resource for developing your work processes. Gaining credibility — attending industry events can help you gain credibility among your translation colleagues (who will start viewing you as an expert) and help you reach new clients (who will see you’re dedicated to progress). In a nutshell, professionalism requires learning, development, and community, all three of which localization events can provide. But there’s also one added advantage to attending them — clients love to see that you’re invested in your work. Keeping Track of Localization Events Check out how Zingword can help you keep track of your CPD for yourself — Create and publish your profile for free, and impress translation clients with your affinity for self-improvement. On most translation marketplaces today, there is no way for clients to see how much work you’re putting into upgrading yourself. What they usually see is an impersonal image of a translation provider who works with words for a certain price, which makes it hard for you to stand out. While you can list your CPD efforts on them, they won’t catch your prospect’s eye, and might result in what we at Zing call “the paragraph block of death.” Not super attractive! Zingword’s profile design, however, allows you to keep track of your CPD efforts and localization event attendance, keep your clients attention, and show them that you’re devoted to progress. Your ongoing learning entries also help with your search rankings, since they influence search algorithms — especially when they come with a link: Each new entry helps you be more searchable, reflects your dedication to being a consummate professional, and shows that you have a true interest in your translation work — all wrapped up in clean design that helps keep prospect clients interested. Planning your localization event schedule In a sense, choosing which events to attend is also a matter of design, but for a different reason. There are some factors you should consider before splurging on any of them, like whether the event topic goes with your intended line of work and whether it can help you achieve your business goals. Here are some tips for choosing the best possible events to advance your career: Focus on your (intended) specialization — it’s important not to overload yourself with knowledge that will never come in handy. If you’re devoted to a niche, e.g. specifically wine products and marketing translation, you probably wouldn’t benefit from a webinar on health care interpreting. Focus on the aspects of your business you want to improve — if you’re extremely skilful with the linguistic side of your translation business, but find yourself losing your grip of the administrative side, it might be the time for a good course on accounting for freelancers! Reserve time for events you really want to attend — finding time for localization events in your busy schedule can be a challenge, which is why it’s important to set your CPD time aside. For example, you can start by choosing one event a month and adapting your schedule around it to make sure you’ll be able to attend. This way, you’ll be able to create a strategy specifically designed for the way you handle your translation business. Lingua Greca brings you a sea of events — it’s up to you to map out the best course through them. Once you complete a journey, you can display it on your Zingword mantelpiece, and clients will come swimming in. Header image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay