Apply to be a speaker / Call for papers
Do you have something interesting and relevant to teach to your fellow translators?
Are you an expert in a specific field?
Would you like to speak to an enthusiastic and fun international audience?
We are constantly looking for new speakers to present at the next BP Translation Conference or one of our online events
See our F.A.Q. section below
F. A. Q. for hopeful BP23 speakers
BP = Business & Practice
‘BP’ stands for Business + Practice. Make sure you submit a speaking proposal that fit into either one of these broad categories.
Our events aim to offer practical and actionable advice to freelance translators that they can implement in their own businesses.
‘Business’ can be anything along the lines of client acquisition, rates, workflow efficiency, business mindset, or similar subjects; while ‘Practice’ can be task automation, CAT tool feature, file formats, and so on.
We usually welcome speaking proposals in the broad field of ‘lifestyle’ or ‘work-life balance’ as well.
Some subjects are not welcome
BP Translation Conferences do not normally accept speaking proposals in academic fields such as translation theory or linguistics.
There are several other events for such subjects.
If you’re into literary translation, don’t talk about what semantic challenges you encountered during your last book translation, but talk about how you negotiated a good deal with the publisher.
The audience
The majority of our attendees have been freelance translators for over 10 years, and many of them have attended several BP and/or other translation conferences.
Usually, about 10-15% of attendees are not translators per se: these people include interpreters, LSP representatives and other ‘industry stakeholders’.
Some 90% of attendees are from various European countries, while the rest are from overseas, mostly from the Americas.
Presentations at past BP conferences
To have an idea of what subjects were presented at past events, have a look at our Videos page, where you’ll see a rotation of past session cards.
Presentation formats
We usually have 3 different formats of various lengths at our events.
Short talks: 20 minutes of presentation + 10 minutes of Q&A. Ideally, these are TEDx-style short talks on a well-defined subject.
Regular sessions: 40 minutes of presentation + 10 minutes of Q&A. This can be a more general overview of a subject, with more time for examples, elaborate slides and audience interaction.
Workshops: These are usually held on the pre-conference day, and are available for a separate ticket (i.e. not covered by the conference ticket). Workshops last for 3 hours + a 30-minute coffee break. Usually about 10-15 people show up at workshops.
At BP23 we may have a crossover format between a regular session and a workshop: a 110-minute ‘mini-workshop’ held during the regular conference days and covered by the conference ticket. More info on this later.
Have an idea? Let's talk about it!
If you’re pondering about a subject for the next BP conference, but you still time to formulate a title and an abstract, feel free to send us an email, and explain what you have in mind.
We may discuss your idea by email, or we may even set up a Zoom call to assist you.
Compensation
All speakers attend the conference for free, including 2 networking dinners. This is about a 400€ value.
In addition, we may be able to cover a part of the accommodation expenses (e.g. 200€). We cannot guarantee this before starting selling the tickets, but so far we managed to cover this amount at our previous events.
