Back in 2020, when we all lived in a worldwide lockdown, event organizers were forced to hold online events. In fact, BP20 in April 2020 was the first translation conference that was moved to an online platform, and that in a matter of just a few weeks.

Seeing an opportunity, we experimented with a new event format a few months later, celebrating St Jerome’s day with a 30-hour marathon. This massive online event consisted of several language-specific 2-hour blocks, sometimes with several blocks running simultaneously. 

There were short talks and presentations, followed by discussions in about 10 languages, covering all time zones.

In 2022, we held our first ‘Winter* Translation Forum’ in the first days of December with hundreds of participants, with sessions in 10 different languages.

Yes, the organizer is aware of what ‘WTF’ commonly stands for.  But we, as translators, know all too well that the meaning depends on context. 

Btw, WTF will take place on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday 🙂

*If you come from the southern hemisphere, or from the tropics, let’s just say this is a ‘Warm Translation Forum’, or a ‘Weather-neutral Translation Forum’ 🙂 

Winter Translation Forum will consist of several 2-hour blocks spread over 3 days (29 and 30 November, and 1 December).

Each 2-hour block will take place in a particular language and/or a particular subject, and several blocks may be running simultaneously.  So at any one time, we may have a block on AI in German, a general block in Romanian,  and a block on transcreation in Spanish.

Each 2-hour block will consist of several sessions.  By default, these sessions will last for 30 minutes, but we may also have 60-minute and 90-minute sessions. In some cases, a 2-hour block will consisst of three 40-minute sessions.

There may be 2 to 4 such 2-hour blocks running simultaneously, and you’ll be able to jump back and forth between any of them, without leaving the event platform.

We’ll have 60-minute networking breaks between such blocks throughout the day.   These may be language-specific or subject-specific, following a 2-hour block immediately before them.  Or, networking breaks may have a special theme (e.g. literary translation in French, payment practices in English, a quiz in Polish, etc.)

The number of blocks and simultaneous tracks depends on the number and subject area of the talks.  A more or less final schedule will be available by mid-November.

If you’d like to host a networking session, apply through the form above.

At Winter Translation Forum, any translation-related presentations are welcome, not just about Business and Practice.

Are you an expert in a unique niche?  Have you translated an interesting book?   Do you have an inkling for linguistics?  Would you like to share your expertise with an international audience?  Have you always wanted to try yourself as a conference speaker?

Apply now, until 2 October 2023, using the form above.

There’s no restriction as to what subjects will be included. We’ll try to group similar talks into the same 2-hour blocks.

Approved sessions will be published from mid-October, and a preliminary schedule will be available from early November.

Each attendee will receive a certificate of attendance in pdf format that you’ll be able to use for CPD purposes. Certificates will be issued in English.

Attendance at Winter Translation Forum will be available at a very reasonable price, but we cannot offer it for free.

We have to cover operational costs, platform licences, and compensation for speakers will also be covered from ticket revenues.

The event is organized by BP Translation Conferences, which is a brand name for a company registered in Hungary.

This means a 27% VAT rate is applicable in the following cases:

• You purchase your ticket as an individual, no matter where you are based
• You purchase your ticket as a company registered in Hungary

If you purchase your ticket as a VAT-registered company in any other EU member state, you’ll need to provide your VAT number on the Checkout page.   Please note on the Cart page the total amount still includes the VAT — the net amount will appear on the subsequent Checkout page, after you entered your valid VAT number.

What if your VAT number is not accepted?   This can happen for one of two reasons:  (1) Either EU’s VIES database or your national database of VAT numbers is down — this does happen occasionally. Please try again in a minute.  (2) You are currently based outside the country where your business is registered.  We use a geolocation plugin to show the relevant prices for each country. One side effect is that your VAT number must match the country that’s guessed based on your IP address.  In this case please send us an email with your invoicing details, and a pro forma invoice will be issued for you (or use a VPN to set your own country as your location).

If you purchase your ticket as a company outside the EU, make sure you’re eligible for VAT-free purchase according to the taxation rules of your own country. As far as the shopping process is concerned, simply tick off the box that says ‘Company billing’, and VAT will not be charged.   Please do enter a customer name that sounds like a company or use the necessary abbreviation to denote you’re an entrepreneur eligible for VAT-free purchase.

Please buy a ticket here on this website.   You’ll receive your invoice as soon as your payment arrives.

Currently (until 31 August), an early registration ticket is availe for 50€, and for this you’ll also receive a 1-year access to BP Video Library, a collection of 200+ conference videos.

You may also combine your WTF23 ticket with tickets to BP24 Translation Conference. Special pricing is valid until 31 August.

You’ll receive an invitation to join the event space as soon as it’s published, around mid-November.  You’ll reveive a couple of reminders a few days before the event.

The event will take place on Zoom Events, an event platform provided by Zoom.  You’ll need to log in to your Zoom account to access the event.

Make sure you have a Zoom account associated with the email you use for purchasing your ticket.   

In case you currently use one email for Zoom and another for buying your ticket, please create a Zoom account for the email that you use for buying your ticket.

The event lobby will be available from about 10 November, and you’ll receive furhter information then.

If you clicked on this FAQ item, you’re probably already toying with the idea of becoming a speaker at this unique event.

Winter Translation Forum welcomes seasoned and newbie presenters alike.  If you have spoken at translators’ conferences and other training events before, you are familiar with the thrill of sharing your expertise with an eager audience of like-minded colleagues.

Or, if you have not spoken before at a similar event, this could be a good platform as any to come forward and get a foothold as a speaker.

If you have something interesting to say about any aspect of translation or interpreting, do apply as a speaker.

The unique thing about WTF23 is that it will consist of blocks in several  different languages — so you may even want to talk about the same subject both in English and your own language.

We’ll provide hints and tips on how to prepare for your talk, how to stucture your presentation, ideas on your actual slides, and even Zoom meetings to help you along the way.

Very simple.  Please complete the form above: indicate the language, the proposed title of your talk, and provide a brief abstract (do these in the language you wish to present in).  Feel free to submit up to 3 proposals.

Application deadline is 11 October 2023.

The selection process will start shortly afterwards, and may involve requesting some additional details from you.

Approved speakers will need to provide a final version of the title and the abstract, as well as submit a short bio.

Sponsors will reach a worldwide audience of professional translators who are keen to learn and invest in their own freelancer careers.

We’ll use a new platform, Zoom Events, which will give sponsors a unique and efficient way to deliver their talking points to conference attendees.

Depending on your sponsorship level, you can present your services during one of the networking breaks, or even deliver a talk or product presentation in one of 2-hour blocks.

If you’re a freelancer and you’d like to a better exposure before and during the event, you may want to be a ‘supporter’.

At a higher level of sponsorship we can display your logo on this page, together with a link pointing to your website.   We can also send out information about your company or service to all registered attendees.

The event platform allows for 3 sponsorship levels:  Silver, Gold, and Platinum.  You can find the detailed description of each sponsorhip level under the Registration secion above, by clicking on the plus icons.

Since this is a new platform and a new event format, all sponsorship packages are offered at a very low initial rate:  290€ / 490€ / 790€ until 3 November, after which the rates increase to 490€ / 790€ / 1190€, respectively.

WTF23 sponsors also get a discount off their sponsorship packages of BP23 Translation Conference.

Sponsorshop packages will be available from late August.  Alternatively, you may contact us any time by email.

Once the event platform will be set up (early November), you’ll receive further information on what assets are necessary to create your sponsor profile (logo, image, video, copy, links, etc.).

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about our sponsorship offers.