Last week I attended memoQfest, a user conference for the CAT tool memoQ. The event was held in Budapest; in fact I'm writing this blog post from my hotel room in that very city.
The conference was my first (translation) industry event, so I had no real idea what to expect.
The venue was spectacular: the Gundel restaurant (oh the sumptuous lunches...).
Everything also seemed very well-organized, though some sessions could have been a bit better moderated.
The conference was attended by freelancers, translation agencies and corporations that out-source most of their translation. This means that the audience is very diverse but can also have quite divergent interests regarding the future development of the software. As it was, in some sessions these interests conflicted and some of the audience probably felt their concerns were insufficiently addressed.
What made the event a success for me, though, was the chance to meet memoQ users from many different countries and types of companies. While we may all be using the same tool and sometimes face similar problems, we also bring some unique problems an solutions to the conference.
What I take away from the conference, is the need to really make the most of the server solution by automating more of our processes. This will take time and effort to investigate but it will be both useful and needful.
Overall, it was an inspiring event and I feel reinvigorated for my work, though it remains to be seen how long that lasts when I return to the office...
memoQfest attracts a very laid-back crowd and I met some very nice people and interesting characters:
"I am Kaspars Kļaviņš from Latvia, the greatest country in the world"
Next, I'll post about my time off in Budapest.
Seems like you had fun! Good!
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