For a relatively small team like us, attending any kind of industry event is a huge deal, and any new opportunity can make a world of difference. When we sent Levan, our project manager, to Together 2023 in Rome, we were all feeling excited, albeit a bit nervous. None of us at Interlanguage had ever done something like this before. Levan was tasked with the super-important mission of representing our company at an international event for the first time.
“To be honest, I was feeling pretty jittery about the whole thing. I mean, it’s only the first time my team paid thousands so I could act on their behalf at a conference abroad, but hey, no pressure, right? When I first arrived, I didn’t know how things worked or where to start.
On the first day, there was an introductory late-hour event at Translated’s office, which was actually meant mostly for freelancers, but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway to gain some confidence and hopefully figure out how I could get as much as possible out of the whole experience. Going there ended up being a great idea. People were really friendly and welcoming, to my relief. It was kind of like being at a party – you know, where you want to talk to people but feel hesitant to approach strangers, thinking that maybe some people might not be very receptive to you. In this case, though, we just clicked.
During one of the breaks, for instance, I was approached by someone from a Turkish translation company. It was really great to chat with him, and he ended up being a huge help; without him, I probably would have only achieved 15-20% of what I actually managed to do there. The guy gave me tips on how to filter through people on the event’s app and reach out to them, and basically dropped his 10-year-plus knowledge on how these events work and how to get the most out of them. Others shared some really creative ideas that other companies have used to stand out, like bringing a professional photographer or being a really good dancer (I might as well learn a couple of moves for our next conference and see what happens, or would that be a bit much?) These are just a few examples of how open and helpful the crowd was! So, even though everything was new and a bit overwhelming at first, it turned out to be a great start overall.
On the second day, the official Day 1, I decided to just go with the flow and see where things take me. I did attend some workshops, but my main takeaway from the day before was that the most important thing here was to meet people, and that’s exactly what I did. The nervousness I felt in the beginning was completely gone by then; in fact, I even noticed that some other attendees were visibly nervous, despite some of them having attended similar conferences before. Since I was feeling confident, I tried being the first to approach them, which seemed to help break the ice.
Meeting my peers from other LSPs really put things in perspective for me. Some of the issues they deal with on a daily basis are actually quite different from ours and not always relatable (mostly because, as one of the co-founders of Interlanguage, I have a huge variety of roles in our company, with responsibilities relating to every part of the business; as a relatively new company, our challenges are a bit different). However, I was able to find common ground with everyone.
On Day 2, workshops continued in the conference halls, but it seemed like everyone was most excited just to be outside networking. Unfortunately, though, I had some urgent projects to deliver and had to spend a half day inside working, so my goal for the future is to be able to completely focus on an event and leave work behind. Just like on the first day, every meeting with every person was a unique experience. The interactions didn’t feel repetitive – talking in person is way different from sending an email or jumping on a call, a simple truth we started to forget during the pandemic. Some meet-ups were strictly business-oriented, and others led to… well, drinking, laughing, and making unforgettable memories. It was a sense of companionship you can’t really describe in a short blog post.
The event was something very novel for me, and I definitely felt sad when it ended. As the event came to a close, I felt a sense of emptiness that I haven’t felt in quite some time. For real. It was like the feeling you get when a great theater performance or TV show ends, and you just don’t want it to be over. I would love to do it all over again in the future. Actually, I’m sure I will.
Text by: Alex Kriventsov
Raw emotions by: Levan Giunashvili
