The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2017 - 13

FEATURE

BY SHARON HELLER AND KATJA YEATS

a longtime CTA member, opened the
conference with a heartfelt welcome speech
that energized the audience. Corinne noted
that two CTA members-Jane Maier and
Karen Tkaczyk-are currently serving on
ATA's Board.

"CHANGE YOUR MINDSET-
GROW YOUR BUSINESS"

View from the National Center for Atmospheric Research building on Saturday

Recap of the Colorado
Translators Association's
Seventh Annual Conference
A late April snowstorm couldn't keep people's spirits down during the
Colorado Translators Association's seventh annual conference!

M

ore than 80 language professionals
braved a spring snowstorm to
attend the Colorado Translators
Association's (CTA) seventh annual
conference, held the last weekend of April
in Boulder, Colorado, at the stunning
National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR) building nestled against the
foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The
theme for this year's conference was
"Change your mindset-grow your
business." The three-day event of ATA's
Colorado chapter drew speakers and
attendees from across the U.S. and beyond,
and offered a variety of educational sessions
for both beginning and experienced
translators and interpreters.
www.atanet.org

The weekend kicked off Friday, April 28,
when 19 attendees took ATA's certification
exam at the conference venue. While
most exam candidates opted to take the
computerized version, several candidates
preferred to stick with the handwritten
exam, which is always an option.
The exam sitting was followed by a
casual happy hour sponsored by CTA at
Backcountry Pizza, a popular Friday evening
hangout in Boulder. This was a good
opportunity for attendees and speakers to
catch up with old friends and make new
acquaintances ahead of the main conference.
CTA was delighted to host many outof-state and international attendees this
year. ATA President-elect Corinne McKay,

In keeping with this year's theme,
keynote speaker Sameh Ragab presented
an inspirational talk on how freelance
translators can adopt a winning mindset
to help them gain a competitive edge.
Sameh, an international speaker and
industry trainer who traveled all the
way from Cairo, Egypt, had presented
at CTA's sixth annual conference. He
received so much positive feedback
that CTA's board decided to invite him
back. Sameh shared personal insights
and experiences that have helped drive
his own business success. He also gave
attendees a teaser of what to expect
during his scheduled full-day workshop
on Sunday.

There's no doubt that CTA's
members are the backbone of this
small but mighty ATA chapter!

After the keynote, attendees chose
from a program of 12 breakout sessions
that covered such topics as marketing,
website development, subtitling,
conflict resolution, copyright, and
tax deductions. For interpreters, CTA
offered a three-hour workshop on
handling emergency room situations,
as well as a session on intercultural
mediation in health care. The following
is a brief sampling of what attendees
learned during the weekend.
Finding Your Unique Selling Points
(Presenter: Tess Whitty): A unique
selling point is the reason people do
business with you and not someone else.
Tess presented five practical tips on how
to find and define your unique selling
points, plus how to use them to find and
contact translation buyers.
American Translators Association

13
http://www.atanet.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2017
