Solutions Round Table
The Solutions Round Table is a two-day event that will take place on February 11-12, 2025 on the campus of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in Monterey, California. It will focus on the practice and application of various aspects of Solution Architecture. The moderators will facilitate open communication about real-world issues, problem resolutions, and wishes for technology and process improvement.
Tuesday, February 11th – Wednesday, February 12th, 2025
The objectives of the Round Table are to:
- Promote a better understanding of the practice of Solution Architecture within the language services industry
- Create a channel of open communication for Solutions Architects and related fields to discuss specific issues outside the confines of a business relationship
- Explore different areas of Solutions Engineering including supporting technology evaluation and deployment, sales support, and supporting operations in a variety of client and vendor dimensions.
- Peer-to-peer exchange of ideas
- Sharing of experiences
- Frank and free discussions of issues confronting the industry
- Networking
Focus, experience, learn!
What is Solutions Architecture? This multidisciplinary practice started becoming common in the language services industry around decade ago, emerging as a role that supports solving business problems in our increasingly complex and interconnected field. Inspired by the metaphor of designing a building, the practice involves applying technology and process solutions to business problems, understanding the interactions of different systems and procedures and how they interact with each other, how the solution will scale and be maintained, as well as understanding costs, recommending pricing, understanding customer satisfaction, sales strategy and presentation skills and the , and guiding the team in charge of execution to produce the deliverable to spec . This year we are introducing the Solution Architect Round Table to focus on the practice and application of various aspects of Solution Architecture. The moderators will facilitate open communication about real-world issues, problem resolutions, and wishes for technology and process improvement.
Ideal participants are inquisitive, curious, and willing to share their experiences in understanding and solving problems in the language industry.
An Advisory Board assists in the creation of the agenda and facilitates the topics and presentations that comprise the 2024 event. Most Board members plan to attend the Round Table. To assess the sophistication of information that will be available to attendees at the Round Table, read the bios of the Advisory Board members. There is a lot to be learned from this group of experienced industry practitioners.
Who is there and what happens?
Most Round Table attendees have at least ten years of experience in the translation industry in various roles involving solutions development, hands on management, engineering or technology application – often a combination of all four. As a result, presentations and discussions deal with advanced topics. Newbies who wish to listen, ask questions, and learn are also welcome.
The format of the Round Table relies on short presentations, some of them impromptu, followed by extensive discussions involving as many attendees as possible.
To ensure that Round Table topics are as relevant and timely as possible for the participants, we leave the last session unplanned. The subject matter for this open session is determined onsite by the attendees. Open session topics can be proposed at any time during the event.
The Round Table’s success depends on attendees being willing to share information and experiences freely. To encourage spontaneity, no formal minutes or records are kept or published. Attendees are free to keep their own notes.
Discussion of translation tool prices and details of vendor contracts is not permitted.
The Round Table is chaired by industry veteran Erik Vogt.
Round Table Agenda Topics
- What is a Solution? Introduction of frameworks for discussion. Explore the scope of the field, what activities are and aren’t solutions? What is “in scope” for the discussions.
- What role does a Solutions Architect or a Solutions Team play within an org? Is an SA a technical wizard or a pre-sales consultant? Project Manager for the proposal response? Does a Solutions Team sit under sales, operations, development, or somewhere in between?
- Is there such a thing as a Solutions – Oriented Business and how would one build one?
- Tools/Techniques for good Solutions Design: Mitigating Uncertainty, Risk, and Constraints
- Defining ROI and Success: Pitching ROI. Comparing options in a normalized manner. Communicating Business value to senior mgmt
- Understanding solutions across roles and providers: With few dedicated SA roles on client-side teams, who are the solutions people and how do they build and implement solutions across teams and vendors?
- Where do Standards play a role? Bespoke vs. Standardization. When to break the old and start over? What’s a Standard?
- Data, Metrics, PIs, KPIs: Measuring what matters – governance, control points, performance and success metrics. When should they be defined? How important are they?
The complete agenda and timetable for the Solutions Round Table, as well as details on the speakers and moderators for each round table discussion session, will be published here soon.
Registration also includes access to an Opening Reception on the night of Monday, February 10th and a conference dinner at a Monterey restaurant on Tuesday evening, February 11th. More details on these social networking events will be published here soon.
Round Table Location
McCone Boardroom at the Monterey Institute for International Studies (MIIS) – Monterey, California
Round Table Organizer and Moderator
Erik Vogt – Founder, Vogt Strategy. With over two decades of rich experience in the language services industry, Erik’s career has been marked by a deep engagement in operations, solution design, and sales leadership, ranging from grassroots to senior executive roles. Erik’s passion is striving for a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies involved in globalizing and localizing content, products, and services across a spectrum of domains and markets is backed by adeptness in steering large international and interdisciplinary teams.
Erik has a passionate commitment to building and leading teams that excel in deploying complex solutions. His core competencies lie in pre-sales consulting, program management, process optimization, and global team management and is invigorated by the challenge of bridging multiple disciplines to develop impactful solutions, meticulously tailoring each project to its unique requirements, and fostering an environment where team members can realize their full potential.
Erik also has a dedication to continuous learning and innovation as evident through an MBA, MSML, AI certifications, and a personal commitment to dedicating 6-8 hours each week to learning. His ultimate mission is to empower customers and partners to actualize their ambitions and visions, aligning processes to achieve optimal outcomes. His deepest gratification comes from seeing satisfied customers, the growth and success of the teams he works with, and the synergy of well-coordinated team efforts.
Advisory Board Members
Cori Alcorn, Meta
Konstantin Savenkov, Intento
Darin Goble, WeLocalize
Jon Ritzdorf, Procore
Tim Arata, Locale Solutions
Yonah Levenson, Director/Instructor DAM Certificate Program at Rutgers University
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.
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.
