Over the weekend, the Colorado Translators Association held our annual “holiday” party (which we always have in January, hence the quotation marks). We’re an association of about 100 members and we typically have about 40 attendees at this party, which seems to prove either that translators really need to get out of the house, or that we plan fun events, or maybe both! I’m the current CTA President and our Vice President Eve Bodeux did the lion’s share of the planning for this event.
One of the first steps to a successful event is a good venue: in years past we’ve had our party in the private dining rooms of various local restaurants. The 2009 party (which Eve also planned and which was praised as “best ever” by our longtime members) was at Rodizio Grill and I highly recommend their excellent food, fun atmosphere (never say the Brazilians don’t know how to throw a party!) and incredibly helpful staff. This year we decided to break the mold and hold our party in the art gallery of the Alliance Française of Denver with food by Jules Gourmet Catering and live music by Peace & Love & Jigs & Reels, featuring local Dutch to English translator Cynthia Jaffé on flute. Following are a few tips we’ve gleaned over the years to help us plan fun and successful events for our members.
The venue: if you have more than 10-15 people, you’re best off with a restaurant that has a private dining room or a rented space where you have the whole area for your group. With more than a small group, it’s hard to have a fun party in a restaurant with other people all around you, because it’s loud, hard to talk, hard to make any type of introductions or presentations, etc. The nice thing about a rented space is that you’re a little more autonomous as far as how you set things up and when you arrive and leave, but you will probably do more work in terms of setup and cleanup. For reference, we paid about the same amount of money per person for our 2009 and 2010 parties and we were very happy with the quality of the food at both of them.
The food and drink: Do not scrimp on good food and drinks for translators. Some professional groups might be content with rubber chicken, canned green beans and instant coffee but a group of translators will not be. Make sure to have a vegetarian option; buffets are always good because then you don’t have to keep everyone’s order straight and people can choose whatever they want to eat. In our experience, translators are enthusiastic wine and fancy soda drinkers, not so much beer and Coke. And don’t forget that to most Europeans and Latin Americans, decaf coffee is an abomination even at 11 PM; ask your caterer/restaurant to have both regular and decaf available.
The entertainment and activities: One year we tried having a joint party with the local interpreters association, featuring salsa dancing lessons and then an open dance floor. Unfortunately, the dance portion went over like a lead balloon with most of the translators, who wanted to hang out in a quiet but festive atmosphere, drink some wine and talk. However, this year the live music that we had for the cocktail hour earned rave reviews (just don’t ask translators to dance in public!). Door prizes are always a hit. This year our door prize coordinator, German to English translator Karen Williams, had the innovative idea of having CTA members donate door prizes related to their hobbies or professional interests. For example one of our members collects antique maps, another has a sideline business making honey, another member’s brother wrote a book of math puzzles, another member’s wife is a jeweler, etc. This made for hot competition for the one-of-a-kind items and was a fantastic personal touch to the evening.
The little touches: Make place cards so that people can put their card down where they want to sit and then circulate, or people can set up a whole table for their group of friends. Offer complimentary tickets to your key volunteers to thank them for their work over the course of the year. If you use a caterer, look for one that will let you supply your own drinks. And remember, don’t make translators dance!
Any other tips for good translation-industry events?
“Don’t make translators dance!”
Most translators I know here in France **love** to dance!
This is a fabulous summary, Corinne! At NITA, we also do a lot of events, but have yet to tackle our first-ever holiday event. Until now, all social events have been at a coffee shop and completely free, which is very popular.
I think a big key to success is planning early and sending out flyers (PDF attachments) with all information in one place — plus updating the website, of course. We find that the further out we plan, the better the turnout.
We’ll need to look into some restaurant space for a holiday party as well, and we’ll see if we could bring a projector (in case we buy one). At the parties, you usually just, well, party and don’t do presentations, or do you do a combination? And I suppose finding a restaurant that won’t charge extra for the room, but just charge per person for food/drink would be good! Did you get a flat charge — along the lines of open bar — for drinks, or did everyone pay for their own? I like the idea of having drinks, and trying to figure out how it would be less hassle for all. The idea of having this at an art gallery is fab. And Karen’s ideas for door prizes are fantastic. You are all so organized; I wish we had a door prize volunteer! How much do you think is fair to charge for this? $35- $50? We’d want it to be accessible to all members, and then of course there are minimums to meet for caterers/restaurants, etc.
Hello Corinne,
First off, thank you for a very interesting and informative blog and congratulations on having organised a successful party! Lots of great tips in this post.
I’ve learned from veteran SFT event organisers such as (the legendary) Chris Durban that name badges are always a good idea – you might want to consider those instead of place cards.
Buffets also give people an opportunity to circulate and meet lots more translators than they would at a sit-down event.
I was a bit surprised by a couple of blanket statements you made though. 1. Why would other professional groups be less discerning about their food and drink than translators? 2. Most of my French and Italian friends ask for decaf after dinner. 3. I’ve seen translator friends really get going on a dance floor once they’ve overcome their initial shyness and downed a few glasses of wine :-).
From my experience of organising the occasional bash for a large number of friends, I find people are likelier to hit the floor if there’s music they’re familiar with and can dance to. Salsa’s foot-tapping, but I don’t know if it’d get people saying “I love that song!” and rushing to the floor. How about a playlist of pop and disco hits everyone’s familiar with and an amateur DJ to pep things up? ‘Course you’d have to factor in the extra cost, plus you’d still have to have a quieter spot in the venue for people who’d rather chat.
Still, let’s not rule out dancing altogether – this is a party, right?
Thanks for another useful and thought-provoking post.
Lakshmi (translator and party animal)
@ Patricia, thanks for your comment; maybe it’s just American translators then? I’m really not making this up; the translators were hiding in a corner while the interpreters burned up the dance floor!
@Judy, I think NITA could definitely do a holiday party next year (easy to say since I don’t have to plan it!). I fully agree about the importance of planning it early; we allow at least 6 weeks for RSVPs. On the drinks (let’s cut to the chase!), when we have the party at a restaurant, CTA usually pays for 1 glass of wine per person, but it still adds up to a lot. This year we were able to purchase all of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks that 40 people could possibly consume, for about 20% less than what we paid for 40 glasses of wine last year. And the art gallery venue was great, I think NITA members would like that type of thing too.
@Lakshmi, thanks for the tip about name tags, maybe doing both place cards and name tags would be good! And I agree with you about the choice of music; I’ll dance to the Bee Gees any day (sorry, maybe that’s an overshare?) but salsa music is a little intimidating.
Corinne,
I don’t know if it is cultural or just the luck of the draw or the music selection or or or 🙂
Many people can be shy at first about dancing in public, unless surrounded by close cohorts – and I do fall into that category, though I love to dance. I don’t think translators are more likely than others to feel self-conscious, though I can imagine interpreters being more at ease being “on stage” as that is, indeed, part of their job.
I won’t be the first on the dance floor, that’s true, but my feet can’t stay passive long when there is good music and a fun ambiance. Here, it’s true, all the translators I know can dance up a storm (heck, Lakshmi, self-confessed party animal, went dancing after the JMT – given the time of year, I conked out 🙁 ).
How about starting out “strong”, with an old rhythmic favorite everyone knows and then launching something everyone can do together, like the LA Hustle? Tends to be a good ice breaker / dance mood builder, even for the most timid.