ITI French Network Workshop 2025

Programme (provisional)

• 08.30 - 09.00: Registration
• 09.00 - 09.20: Introduction
• 09.20 - 10.50: Translating Picture Books with Rachel Ward
• 10.50 - 11.10: Coffee break
• 11.10 - 12.10: Snippet slams
• 12.10 - 13.30: Lunch
• 13.30 - 14.50: All About You: Connecting with clients through your personal branding and marketing with Fiona Gray
• 14.50 - 15.10: Coffee break
• 15.10 - 16.30: Continuation of Fiona's workshop followed by business discussions
• 16.30: Thanks and goodbyes

Registration

Registration is open to French Network members and non-members.

Ticket prices:

• £28 for French Network members
• £38 for non-members
• £15 for students

Sales start on 31 March 2025 and end on 28 May 2025 at midday.

Translation Workshop

Translating Picture Books with Rachel Ward

Translating picture books involves the constraints and challenges of a text designed to be read aloud, plus the interplay of words and pictures and, potentially, the space on the page. It is also a lot of fun, with plenty of scope for creativity. This workshop will be very hands-on, with a chance to work together to create your own translations of assorted picture books between English and French and try your hand at word-play and capturing the voice and rhythms of a text.

Rachel Ward, MA, FITI, lives in Wymondham, near Norwich, UK, and has been working as a freelance literary and creative translator from German and French to English since gaining her MA in Literary Translation from the University of East Anglia in 2003. She specialises in children’s and YA books as well as crime fiction and other contemporary literature. Her non-fiction interests include history, politics, art, journalism and travel. She can be found on Bluesky as @racheltranslates.bsky.social and Instagram as @racheltranslates.

Snippet slams

Having warmed up our creative muscles with picture books, we'll get our teeth stuck into some fresh challenges from a range of sectors. Attendees will work together to come up with solutions to a selection of tricky texts before facing off with the other groups in a snippet slam.

Business Workshop

All About You: Connecting with clients through your personal branding and marketing with Fiona Gray

As freelance translators and interpreters, finding new clients is never far from the top of our to-do list. But how do we turn our client dreams into dream clients?

In this interactive session, we’re going to start off by identifying our ideal clients. And then we’ll think about ways to speak to them in their language and communicate the value we can offer them. They need to know how we can solve their problems, address their pain points and get them the results they want.

We’ll consider the power of authentic and consistent personal branding in attracting the right clients and repelling the wrong ones so we can build sustainable businesses and do more of the work we love.

Let’s analyse examples, share ideas and take the first steps together.

Fiona Gray MITI helps brands and businesses based in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg to find their voice in English through creative copy and compelling content that makes their German words travel. She has over a decade of experience in the translation industry and has been freelancing for the past eight years. Fiona has been on the ITI Board of Directors since 2022 and will become the next ITI Chair on 1 May 2025. She won the ITI Mentor of the Year Award in 2023 and was named Linguist of the Year at the ATC Language Industry Awards 2024.

Business Discussions

Thanks to Fiona's workshop we'll be well and truly in the business mindset and ready to share experiences with and learn from colleagues. In small groups, attendees will be able to discuss a series of questions that are on all our minds as we seek to develop a sustainable business. If there's a topic you'd like to discuss, please let us know so that we can add it to the options. You can email us at events@iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk

Tables/Boards

Portfolio table: This table will give members the opportunity to bring along a portfolio of work to show others what they do.

Revision club board: Are you looking for a revision club partner or two? You can advertise for partners here and have a chat in the breaks about whether you'd be a good fit for any existing groups.

Lunch (included in ticket price)

Lunch will consist of an artisan sandwich selection (meat, fish and vegetarian fillings), home-made cakes & brownies and fresh fruit provided by our venue Dragon Hall. Please let us know if you have any dietary requirements when you check out.

Thursday Entertainment (not included in ticket price)

If you will be in Norwich on the Thursday afternoon/evening before the event, please join us for a walking tour and/or meal. If you would like to attend, please add these options at the checkout. If you are travelling with a companion, you are welcome to bring them to the meal on Thursday. Just purchase an extra meal ticket at check-out.

Activity:

Join us for a walking tour of the hidden streets of Norwich. Numbers are limited for this activity.

Cost: £16.50

Time: 16:30

Please note that this tour is not wheelchair accessible as it involves two flights of steep stairs and uneven flooring.

Meal:

Venue: Bill's

Cost: £27.95

Time: 19:00

(See sample menu below. We will send you an email for pre-orders closer to the date.)

Travel and Accommodation

Norwich is well connected whether you're travelling by public transport or car. We encourage members travelling by car to lift share where possible. Please let us know at the checkout if you would be interested in lift sharing.

There are a number of accommodation options in the city. Please let us know at checkout if you would be interested in sharing a room or private accommodation (e.g. AirBnB) with colleagues for the event.

French Network CPD Grants

Don't forget that the French Network offers a limited number of grants each year to help members attend CPD events. Please get in touch with our Treasurer to apply: treasurer@iti-frenchnetwork.co.uk.

This event is subsidised by the ITI French Network.