Powwow ideas Thread poster: Keren Terret
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Keren Terret
Israel
Local time: 14:17
Hebrew to English
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Dear colleagues,
I'm hosting a Powwow next week and although I plan to make it an informal, friendly get together, I'm interested in hearing some ideas for potential activities. Perhaps some of you have attended powwows in the past or have hosted them yourself. I'm expecting approx. 20 people and it will be held in the evening in a restaurant. All ideas are welcome.
Thanks!
Keren
| | | | Niraja Nanjundan (X) 
Local time: 16:47
German to English
Hi Keren,
I just had a look at your powwow sign-up page. It's great that you're having a powwow in Israel and that there's been such a good response. All the best and enjoy yourselves!
I have organised two powwows in Delhi, both informal ones, and the feedback I got is that people prefer a mixture of work related and informal networking. Since you are having your powwow in a restaurant, it might be difficult to do something work related. It seems many of the people don'... See more Hi Keren,
I just had a look at your powwow sign-up page. It's great that you're having a powwow in Israel and that there's been such a good response. All the best and enjoy yourselves!
I have organised two powwows in Delhi, both informal ones, and the feedback I got is that people prefer a mixture of work related and informal networking. Since you are having your powwow in a restaurant, it might be difficult to do something work related. It seems many of the people don't know each other yet, so maybe this time round you could just have a "getting to know each other" powwow and ask people what they would like to do for the next one. If you are going to be in a separate room in the restaurant and if they have facilities for presentations, maybe you could ask someone to do a presentation on some translation related topic, which would be followed by a discussion.
That's all I can think of now. Not much, but I hope it helps a bit.
Have a nice powwow - I'm sure you will.
Best regards,
Niraja ▲ Collapse
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Hi Keren - I attended a powwow in Berlin three weeks ago. The host, Steffen Walter, reserved a room for presentations: "How holy is the source text?" and one about context needed for KudoZ questions. There was also a fine presentation about terminology.
I would imagine most of your attendees participate in KudoZ and those who don't would be interested in hearing about it.
I agree with Niraja that just getting together with fellow pros makes the experience very worthw... See more Hi Keren - I attended a powwow in Berlin three weeks ago. The host, Steffen Walter, reserved a room for presentations: "How holy is the source text?" and one about context needed for KudoZ questions. There was also a fine presentation about terminology.
I would imagine most of your attendees participate in KudoZ and those who don't would be interested in hearing about it.
I agree with Niraja that just getting together with fellow pros makes the experience very worthwhile.
Good luck with your powwow!
Kim ▲ Collapse
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I also organized one last year but at home (18 people attended the meeting). Most of the people brought a notepad with them and we talked about some topics we had previously agreed on. It can be anything: rates, clients, the way Proz works, etc. Things that can be easily discussed; at the end someone should note down and read the conclusions. People can also offer tips or ideas they have been experiencing through this Proz world of translation; most of the participants really find these useful. ... See more I also organized one last year but at home (18 people attended the meeting). Most of the people brought a notepad with them and we talked about some topics we had previously agreed on. It can be anything: rates, clients, the way Proz works, etc. Things that can be easily discussed; at the end someone should note down and read the conclusions. People can also offer tips or ideas they have been experiencing through this Proz world of translation; most of the participants really find these useful.
Now I don't know if this is the kind of restaurant where they want to kick you out as soon as you are finished eating, so perhaps you may want to continue talking with the rest somewhere else, in a pub or park. You can also arrange another meeting soon to continue with the same topics, or just join at home with a group of four or five of the most interesting people and talk about more ideas.
Good luck!
[Edited at 2008-05-19 13:55] ▲ Collapse
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| What not to do | May 19, 2008 |
I organised one a couple of years ago and while I think most participants enjoyed it, it could have been a lot more worthwhile if I'd put more thought into it beforehand. I just booked a table in a restaurant and hoped for the best, but I think it would have been far more successful if there'd been some sort of theme. As it was, conversation frequently stalled - not helped because there wasn't a single common language among us - and the noise level in the restaurant made it difficult to communic... See more I organised one a couple of years ago and while I think most participants enjoyed it, it could have been a lot more worthwhile if I'd put more thought into it beforehand. I just booked a table in a restaurant and hoped for the best, but I think it would have been far more successful if there'd been some sort of theme. As it was, conversation frequently stalled - not helped because there wasn't a single common language among us - and the noise level in the restaurant made it difficult to communicate as a group, so people just tended to talk with their immediate neighbours (and there were only about 10 of us, it wasn't a huge group).
If I ever organise another one, I'll try to pick up on some of Cristina and Niraja's suggestions. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Gad Kohenov
Israel
Local time: 14:17
English to Hebrew
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| Keren Terret
Israel
Local time: 14:17
Hebrew to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Thanks to all! | May 19, 2008 |
A sincere thank you to everyone who answered my post. The cumulative advice is indeed very helpful, and the link that Desert Fox included is extremely useful. I will definitely have some theme, which I will discuss with my co-organizer.
I hope the powwow will be a success and pave the way for regular future powwows in my country.
Warm regards,
Keren
| | | | Textklick
Local time: 12:17
German to English
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In memoriam | Presentations | May 19, 2008 |
Kim Metzger wrote:
Hi Keren - I attended a powwow in Berlin three weeks ago. The host, Steffen Walter, reserved a room for presentations: "How holy is the source text?" and one about context needed for KudoZ questions. There was also a fine presentation about terminology.
Hi Keren:
It might be an idea to ask your participants what they would be interested in hearing or for that matter maybe presenting.
As Kim says, just getting together with your peers is more than good enough. But if you want to have a specific topic featured, it leads to even more knowledge sharing and lively discussion.
I've variously experienced presentations in Germany about aspects of DTP work, DejaVu, OmegaT, How to find direct customers etc. plus of course what Kim mentioned above.
And as Marie-Hélène says, when you have a better idea of attendees, a separate room really is a good idea.
Mazel tov with your event!
Chris
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Keren Terret
Israel
Local time: 14:17
Hebrew to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you Chris | May 21, 2008 |
Thanks for your input Chris and kudos on the mazel tov!
Keren
| | | | Paul Dixon
Brazil
Local time: 08:17
Portuguese to English
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Dear Keren,
I have organised three PowWows, two in São Paulo, Brazil, and one in the neighbouring town of Guarulhos, where the international airport is located. In my view, they were great experiences and a great opportunity to get to know other people in the business, although attendance (especially in Guarulhos, due to the distance from the city centre) was not that good - 10 to 15 people is the average here.
Traditionally, Brazilian PowWows are usually held in resta... See more Dear Keren,
I have organised three PowWows, two in São Paulo, Brazil, and one in the neighbouring town of Guarulhos, where the international airport is located. In my view, they were great experiences and a great opportunity to get to know other people in the business, although attendance (especially in Guarulhos, due to the distance from the city centre) was not that good - 10 to 15 people is the average here.
Traditionally, Brazilian PowWows are usually held in restaurants, usually Saturday lunchtimes. I have already been to Powwows at restaurants serving all kinds of food, including Italian pasta, seafood, pizza and the mouthwatering Rodízio de Carnes, where the waiters bring different kinds of meat on a spit in endless sequence until you burst.
Conversation flowed quite well, but, as Marie Heléne points out, a common language makes the difference - and of course in Brazil everyone speaks Portuguese. Last time around we had about 8 languages represented!
A powwow around a theme has never been tried here, at least not to my knowledge, but could be a good idea - but would not work at a rodízio, as the cuts of succulent meat would distract everyone! As mentioned here, rates, clients and CAT tools could be interesting themes.
In any case, I wish you the best of luck with your PowWow - or, as we say here in Brazil, "boa sorte" (that is pronounced bow-ah saw-tea) ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Avoid places with live music | May 22, 2008 |
Keren,
From my experiences - not in Proz powwows, but translators from Yahoogroups lists getting together here in Sao Paulo and vicinities - I'd advise you to avoid places with live music.
If it's some CD player, you can always ask the waiter to lower the volume. But for musicians, that's an insult!
So once we went to a huuuge restaurant, where a band of 4-5 were playing live. It was on a regular midweek night, so the place was kinda empty-ish. The meeting ... See more Keren,
From my experiences - not in Proz powwows, but translators from Yahoogroups lists getting together here in Sao Paulo and vicinities - I'd advise you to avoid places with live music.
If it's some CD player, you can always ask the waiter to lower the volume. But for musicians, that's an insult!
So once we went to a huuuge restaurant, where a band of 4-5 were playing live. It was on a regular midweek night, so the place was kinda empty-ish. The meeting was on account of some foreign translator visiting. So we chose a table far away from the stage, in order to be able to talk. The band felt it was their duty to ensure we had plenty of their art, so they played as loud as their equipment could deliver it, in spite of our frequent admonishments to the mâitre d'. Every time, they lowered the volume a bit, then gradually let it rise to the max.
There were similar incidents in other places, so we tend to avoid places with live music. The only musical exception worth it was a karaoke, where each translator was requested to sing something in their source language. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Paul Dixon
Brazil
Local time: 08:17
Portuguese to English
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| PowWow Suggestion | Jul 6, 2008 |
Dear Keren,
I hope your PowWow was a success.
Further to my previous posting, we have just had a PowWow at a member's house. This was the first time we have tried this here and it was a great success. The food ("feijoada", the traditional Brazilian black bean stew) was supplied by a local buffet and we even had shirts made with the Proz.com logo on them! The shirts can be seen in the right-hand photograph. This could be a suggestion should you ever organise another PowW... See more Dear Keren,
I hope your PowWow was a success.
Further to my previous posting, we have just had a PowWow at a member's house. This was the first time we have tried this here and it was a great success. The food ("feijoada", the traditional Brazilian black bean stew) was supplied by a local buffet and we even had shirts made with the Proz.com logo on them! The shirts can be seen in the right-hand photograph. This could be a suggestion should you ever organise another PowWow.
(You can check out the happy group at http://www.proz.com/powwow_report/2003. I am the one in the wine-coloured sweater in the back row and my wife is beside me, in red, in the first photograph.) ▲ Collapse
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