Localization Management Round Table

The Localization Management Round Table is a unique event giving localization managers on the seller and buyer side the opportunity to discuss new developments and exchange experiences on improving speed, quality, operational efficiencies, and strategy. This round table provides a safe environment for open discussion among attendees to engage and learn under the leadership of experienced localization managers from major global brands.

Localization Management Round Table
Localization Management Round Table

Round Table Details

Dates
SOLD OUT

Format
Multiday

Moderator:
Karen Combe

Fee
$1300

Language
English

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Cancellation Policy

Event Description

The Localization Management Round Table is a hands-on, 2 day forum for localization management professionals on both the buyer and seller sides.

Participants will engage in discussions and solutions for real business problems with similar level managers in localization and globalization functions. Topics will include the impact of AI, using data to inform decisions, stakeholder management, and how collaboration between partners can foster success

The goal of the round table is to provide a forum for open discussion with mutual benefit to all participants; past attendees have formed relationships lasting decades and continue to learn from one another.

By joining this round table, you will:

  • Achieve greater understanding of the most important issues in our industry
  • Learn from the other participants by discussing your mutual experience, successes, and challenges
  • Get ideas that you can transform into solutions
  • Make valuable connections with industry peers

Round Table Topics:.

  • AI – how if affects our tools, processes, roles, and jobs
  • AI solutions that companies are implementing or offering
  • Data – which data, why, how to get it and what to do with it
  • Strategic approach to localization management
  • Effective stakeholder management; managing up
  • Better together: collaboration between buyers and sellers fosters mutual success.

Why Should I Attend The Localization Management Round Table This September in Colorado?

What Can I Expect From The Upcoming Localization Management Round Table in Boulder, Colorado?

Day One

Introduction and Logistics
Participants will fill out a worksheet that will act as a roadmap throughout the roundtable and allow Karen and the advisory board to tailor the conversation. We will discuss what topics we want to focus on for the open session, and talk with participants about the state of the industry.
Moderator: Karen Combe

Session 1 – Questions Related to AI in Localization
We will tackle the omnipresent topic of AI in localization, and focus on several key questions. Will the advent of AI take jobs away, or make some roles obsolete? How has AI changed customer expectations? Can AI really solve quality issues? As AI continues to change the localization landscape, how can we help our colleagues with this transition?
Moderator: Lyena Solomon

Session 2 – AI Uses, Case Studies, and Solutions
In this session, we will examine case studies of AI usage. AI is the new shiny object, naturally, companies issue AI mandates, given this atmosphere, how can L10n ensure it works? What types of AI solutions has your company implemented? What problems has AI introduced? Are those problems even possible to solve now, or will we need to wait and see? How does AI impact the industry in terms of risks, new recruitment standards, skill building, and business models?
Moderators: Lyena Solomon and Aisling Nolan

Vote on Open Session Topics
Moderator – Karen Combe

Session 3 – Data
We will explore the differences and similarities between the buyer and supplier sides. What are the differences in data for buyers and suppliers? What are the respective KPIs that are important to our businesses? What can KPI’s tell us about quality?
Moderator: Rain Lau

Session 4 – Quality – Case Study
Moderator: Lyena Solomon

Session 5 – Worksheet evaluation
Moderator: Lyena Solomon

Session 6 – Open Session
You have voted on the topics that you would like to get into! In this open session, we respond to the feedback and work on the most pressing issues – selected by the participants! The chrysalis moment of the roundtable.

Session 7 – Wrap it up
Brief overview of the day – we go over all the topics covered during these sessions, and review key insights and takeaways.
Moderator: Karen Combe

Day Two

Session 8 – State of Management Today
What does it mean to have a strategy and how to integrate within a company strategy? How do you manage up, and what does that even mean? Are you aligned with company vision? How do you extend L10n influence within the company and become a key player? Everything is about the profit margins, how does localization contribute to a revenue-based model?
Moderators: Lyena Solomon – Rain Lau

Session 9 – Organizational Structure – L10n’s Place within a Buy-Side Company
Is L10n the central hub for tech provided to the company? Is the future of localization AI plus automation? Or, is there no such thing as a future that includes L10n departments? What incentivizes buy-side companies to pay for localization, and is it time to morph into something else, like global strategy and LSP management?
Moderator: Karen Combe

Session 10 – Issues in World View, Buyer Organizations vs. LSP’s. What are buyer’s problems with LSP’s?
Between PM turnover, and translation quality, buyers are often left with the feeling that LSP’s don’t understand the buyer’s priorities and objectives.
Moderator: Rain Lau

Session 11 – Issues in World View – What are Issues that LSP’s Grapple with Buyers?
LSP’s will invariably deal with a lack of transparency when working with buyers. Often, strategies, plans, and schedules are not shared. However, buyers and LSP’s are closer to each other than we think. Both are selling a product of some sort, and have common goals.
Moderator: Aisling Nolan

Vote on Open Session Topics – Moderator – Karen Combe

Session 12 – Open Session
You have voted on the topics that you would like to get into! In this open session, we respond to the feedback and work on the most pressing issues – selected by the participants!

Session 13 – Wrap Up and Takeaways
After two days of intense workshopping and interaction, we will have the opportunity to look back and define the most pressing problems in localization management. Many of these problems and solutions will be specific to you. In a border sense, you will also come away with a clearer understanding of the current forces at play in the industry.
Moderator: Karen Combe

View our Full Agenda 

Round Table Location

The Round Table will take place at The Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder, Colorado. Registration also includes an Opening Reception dinner at Avanti F&B – Boulder on Sunday evening, September 22nd and the conference dinner at The Chautauqua Dining Hall on Monday, September 23rd. Lunch is also included on both conference days.

The Round Table will meet in the beautiful and historic Rocky Mountain Climber’s Club room, founded in 1912.

Lodging is available and can be booked directly through the Colorado Chautauqua website. More details on the venue and link to the accommodations webpage will be published here soon. Chautauqua has a number of 1- and 2-bedroom guest cottages available as well as individual rooms in the Columbine Lodge available for attendees.

We do not provide shuttle service to the venue but the Chautauqua campus is 40 miles from Denver International Airport. There are several public shuttle services that are available between DIA and Boulder and Uber, Lyft and local taxi services are also available.

RTD Route AB1 serves Denver International Airport and Boulder with trips running east and west every hour during the day (RTD’s name for this route is SkyRide Bus.) This link goes to the westbound schedule of Route AB1 and you can plan your trip date and time using the timetable. We recommend that you exit the bus at the US36 & Table Mesa Station, which is less than a mile from Chautauqua. A standard Uber or a cab ride from that station to the venue will cost about $10.

Round Table Organizer and Moderator

Karen Combe recently retired from her position as Vice President of Localization at PTC, where she was responsible for product localization as well as for localization support for PTCU, Technical Support, and Marketing. She has been a member of the GILT Leaders Forum, a community of peers in the localization industry, since its inception. In 2022, Karen contributed as an expert from the GILT Leaders Forum and as a co-author of “The Globalization Strategy Playbook”.

Previously, Karen was Senior Vice President at International Language Engineering, where she managed Client Services, Sales and Marketing. Karen holds a B.A in Linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley and a post-graduate degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge. She served in the Peace Corps in Senegal and in International Voluntary Services in Algeria.

In addition, Karen worked for 8 years on a ranch in northwestern Colorado training horses and looking after a large herd of cattle.

Advisory Board Members

Aisling is Smartling’s VP of Customer Success, leading the customer-facing teams such as Customer Success, Professional Services, and Support. She has been in the translation industry and in customer facing roles for 20 years. Before Smartling, she obtained a BA in Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies, and a MA in Translation Studies from Dublin City University (DCU). After studies she worked in various roles including language services project management, business unit services management for a LSP, and digital marketing client services. Aisling joined Smartling in 2014 as a client service manager, progressing from there into Customer Success Management and now sits on Smartling’s leadership team. Aisling is passionate about helping customers achieve their outcomes and longer-term success with their localization strategy. 

.

Senior business leader with a proven record of successful deployment of globalization and localization strategies. Co-author: Globalization Strategy Playbook. Has strong background in analytics, usability, and smart digital experiences which inform the data-driven approach to go to market localization strategies. Focus on customer success and return on investment, operational resiliency, profitability, goals, targets, and growth.

Excels at providing direction to multiple business groups towards one goal, strategic planning, and innovation. Plays an integral role within an organization by providing motivation and fostering collaboration in diverse and fast-paced environments. Promotes the company vision through speaking engagements and training.

Specialties: strategy, execution, globalization, localization, analytics, usability and user experience, go to market strategy, ROI, digital transformation, user engagement, customer relations, vendor management, leadership and team development, training, blogging, public speaking, digital marketing, social media, program management, automation.

I am an experienced Global Localization leader with a cross cultural background. I lead with vision and strategies, manage changes, also grow and support cross functional and distributed teams. I inspire teams into action while ensuring results are measurable and sustainable by data driven approaches.

I have been in the L10n field for 20 years, 12 years in leadership position, both at the client (Google for 9 years, currently at Workday) and service provider sides (BGS, Lionbridge, Deluxe Entertainment, TVT Media, RWS) – I have been in different roles from managing language quality to overseeing global operations for 70+ languages managing 100+ people. I have experience in product management, system migration, establishing/refining and running L10n operations, managing/engaging vendors, also strategic account management working with some of the biggest clients in both the IT and Media/Entertainment industries.

Specialties: Global Team & Talent Development | Vision & Strategy | Operations Management | Change Management | Scale & Efficiency | Key Performance Metrics | Vendor Management | Localization & Internationalization | Market Knowledge

Round Table Decorum

The Round Table’s success depends on people being willing to share information and experiences freely. To encourage that, the sessions are not recorded or republished and no formal minutes or records are kept. Attendees are free to keep their own notes.

Detailed Agenda PDF

Terms and Conditions

Cancellation Policy:

The Localization Institute, Inc. reserves the right to cancel this Round Table if there are less than 10 registrants.

Your registration fee is not refundable. It is, however, transferable to a colleague, if we receive written notice prior to the start of the event. If we have to cancel a round table due to minimal enrollment, your registration fees will be fully refunded.

Payment:

We accept payment by credit card, Paypal or by invoice. Payment for invoices is due within 10 days.

If paying via Bank Transfer outside of the United States, you MUST select the FULL SWIFT option in order for your invoice to be paid in full.