5th ProZ.com Conference - Budapest 2007
Apr 28, 2007 The conference was a resounding success - thank you for everything
Terminology Quality Assurance Word Higher rates Web design Marketing plan Games Working for the EU Umberto Eco workshop Wordfast Déja Vu Trados ATA exam many more
5 continents, 39 countries, 34 mother tongues, 37 working languages
The conference is now over. A dozen or so people cancelled their participation due to various reasons, some of them seasoned Proz.com conference goers, who would have surely enhanced the spirit even more. Eventually about 250 of us attended the Budapest event, from 39 countries, including 9 outside Europe. Most of us had a wonderful time here, creating a sort of a VLAN - a virtual local area network. Now we are back home, sometimes thousands kms apart from each other, but now there's something that connects us.
Before you ask: I encourage you to explore this conference site, it contains most of the information you might ever need to ask about this event. The four most useful areas are: (1) this main conference page, (2) the Program tab, (3) the Venue tab and (4) the Forum tab. If you want to ask anything that may be useful to know for other participants as well, please use the relevant thread in the Forum tab. Thank you for your co-operation.
If you cannot attend the conference for any reason, please do the following. (1) inform me (2) cancel your reservation at the hotel. If you had a room in Benczúr, please tell the staff there to keep your room for other conference participants, (3) sumbit a support ticket to Proz.com's staff to get a reimbursement. You may lose a few percent due to transaction costs.
Registration in Hotel Benczúr will take place on Friday and Saturday between 7:30 and 17:30, as well as Sunday and Monday morning 07:00 to 09:00. You are encouraged to register as soon as you can, to avoid long queues in the last minute, especially Sunday morning. A small room opposite the hotel entrance will be our "conference headquarters" where you can register for the conference. You will get a plastic binder with a notepad and a pen. You'll get your printed conference program and your name badge. Also, if you paid for any of the training courses, you will get a voucher for lunch here. If you invited a guest for the cruise, you'll also get a voucher for them at the registration desk. If you asked for a rented notebook, you'll get it here. If you still have to pay for the conference and any training courses, you can do it here. On the desks there will be tourist brochures, city maps, program guides, etc. for free. Somewhere in the lobby there will be a message board with a foldout map, as well as several sheets of paper with practical hints.
Please note Hotel Benczúr thas a 48-hour cancellation policy. If you cancel your room in the last two days before your expected arrival, one night will be charged to your card. If you do not show up at all, and you previously you had not cancelled your room, all the nights of your reserved period will be charged to your card.
Registration: 
Members: EUR 180 / USD 230
Non-members: EUR 200 / USD 255
Registration + one year membership: EUR 260 / USD 330
Please note that the maximum number of conference participants is 270. Once that number is reached, no more people will be allowed to register.
The registration fee covers participation on all sessions on both days of the conference (April 29th and 30th). A conference package, including a magazine with the program, speakers and some practical information. Two buffet lunches and four coffee breaks. Unlimited wireless internet access in the hotel on April 29th and 30th. A boat cruise on the Danube with a buffet dinner and live folk music (April 29th).
One-day passes are available, at 50% of the full price. One-day passes will not include the cruise night. If you still want to participate, you will have to buy it as a separate item. For example, a one-day pass for a member costs EUR 90 / USD 115, and a cruise night will be EUR 35 / USD 45 extra. One-day passes will cover attendance on all sessions on a selected day of the conference, all printed materials, a lunch and two coffee breaks on the selected day, plus unlimited wifi access.
Additional one-year membership for EUR 80 / USD 100 will be available for new members. Existing members cannot take this opportunity. Also, it is not possible to purchase membership only. This additional membership is available only in conjuction with payment for the conference (one or both days). Membership will be effective from the date of payment.
VAT payment: When you start the payment process through Proz.com, you will see that a VAT amount is added in the first window of the process. Don't despair - if you have a VAT number in the EU, the VAT will disappear in the second window. So simply press Next, and only the net amount will be shown.
Student discount. Full-time translation students with proof of eligibility will be entitled to a 20% discount on their selected conference package. This discount is not applicable to the price of the additional one-year membership. Such discounts will be limited to 8 student participants on a first-come-first-serve basis. Please send me a scanned copy of your student ID or other document that includes your ID data and proof of being a full-time translation student in the current academic year. Registration with student discounts will be possible soon.
Residents of Hungary now have to pay online through Proz.com regular payment system. It's now too late for any wire transfer to arrive by Friday.
Guests on the cruise night are welcome, for an additional EUR 35 / USD 45 per person. If you prefer to pay for one day participation only, the cruise night is not included in your package. If you still want to participate on the cruise, please buy a separate cruise item for one person. Using a different approach: two-day passes are exactly double the price of one-day passes, but if you choose to participate on both days, you will get the cruise night for free. It will also be possible to pay for the cruise night at the conference itself, at a slightly higher rate, HUF 9000 per person. The maximum capacity of the boat is 320 people, and that includes about 35 guests.
In case of any payment issues, please submit a support request to Proz.com staff, explaining your problem. (E.g. you paid by wire transfer to Proz.com but your name still does not appear, or you need a pro forma invoice to effect payment, you cannot participate and you need a reimbursement, etc.)
Trados training sessions are now open for registration. For the time being you have to purchase these items separately, by following these links: Purchase beginners course Purchase advanced course
There is NO need to be REGISTERED at the conference to attend this sessions. Following these links you will only purchase a place in the sessions.
The beginners course will take place on Saturday (April 28th), while the advanced session will be held on Tuesday (May 1st). Both sessions will last from 9 am to 6 pm. Each of these sessions cost EUR 140 / USD 180. This fee includes lunch and coffee breaks.
You can find more information about these sessions here..
Training for Beginners
Training for Advanced Users
The maximum number of people on each session is 25, so act quickly to secure your place.
Deja Vu X training sessions: There will be three different training sessions available for DVX users. A beginner's session on Friday, and advanced course on Saturday and an SQL workshop on Tuesday. These sessions are priced at EUR 135 / USD 175 including a light lunch. Registration is now open.
Purchase beginners DVX course
Purchase advanced DVX course
Purchase SQL workshop
Sponsorship and advertising:
An audience of about 250 freelance translators is an excellent target group to advertise your product or service. All participants are high profile translators who are willing to pay for their professional development - that's why they attend the conference. Roughly 10% of conference attendants represent translation agencies.
For sponsorship and advertising opportunities please contact Mr Drew McFadyen, advertising and conference manager at Proz.com. Opportunities include placing an ad in the conference magazine to be distributed to all participants, inserting marketing collateral and/or demo CDs in the conference package, or even delivering a presentation of your product to the conference audience.
Official Program:
The Program tab of this page includes a list of proposed sessions. Feel free to volunteer for any additional sessions. Please send me an email with your proposed session and an outline.
The conference itself will take place on April 29th (Sunday) and April 30th (Monday). Additional training sessions and an ATA exam are scheduled on dates before and after the conference (April 28th, Saturday and May 1st, Tuesday). A large powwow is planned for Saturday night.
Rented notebooks will be available for speakers with Windows XP (English). For your convenience, you can bring your presentation on a CD.
Official Program Forum
Deja Vu X training sessions:
Deja Vu X training sessions will be held in English by Ms Judy Ann Schön, a certified DVX trainer for a separate fee. A beginner's session will be held on Friday, an advanced course on Saturday and a special workshop on SQL programming on May 1st. All sessions are planned to last for 8 hours (incl breaks) and cost EUR 135 / USD 175 that includes a light lunch and coffee breaks. Additional details are available in the Deja Vu Training Session Forum. The proposed content of each session is now listed under the Program tab, at individual sessions. Please sign up to individual sessions in the Programs tab to show interest. Registration is now open.
Purchase beginners DVX course Description
Purchase advanced DVX course Description
Purchase SQL workshop Description
Trados training sessions:
Trados training sessions will be held by SDL certified Jerzy Czopik on Saturday (April 28th, beginners) and Tuesday (May 1st, advanced), for EUR 140 / USD 180 each day. Registration is now open for these sessions. Both sessions will run for a whole day, i.e. from 9 am to 6 pm. The price includes a three-course lunch with drinks, as well as two coffee breaks with drinks and biscuits. Maximum 25 people are allowed to register on each of these sessions.
For the time being you have to purchase these items separately, by following these links:
Purchase beginners course Purchase advanced course
For additional details, see the Trados Training Session Forum.
Description of the beginners course Description of the advanced course
ATA exam sitting:
The American Translators Association will hold a certification exam at the conference venue, one day before the conference, on April 28th. More details at the ATA exam forum and ATA's exam page.
Venue/Accommodation:
The conference will be held in Hotel Benczúr, a 3-star hotel in a leafy neighbourhood, close to some major attractions and an easy walk from the city's favourite bar district.
Occasionally there might be a free room available in this hotel, as unfortunately from time to time some registered conference participants cancel their rooms. It's worth asking at the hotel if they happen to have a room available.
There will be unlimited wifi access in the entire building for the duration of the conference, to be included in the conference fee. If you plan to use wifi access before or after the conference, you'll be able to buy access codes at the reception desk. In addition, there's one PC available in the lobby area.
There's also an ATM (bank machine) close to the reception desk. This accepts all major cards, both Visa and EC/MC.
The conference will be a non-smoking event. Smokers will be able to go to the hotel garden during coffee breaks.
Hotel Benczúr is now sold out. All 120 rooms available to our conference are booked. The hotel has to retain a number of rooms available for a central booking system. If these rooms are still not taken about a week before the conference date, they will return to the hotel's disposal. If any of the conference participants cancels his/room at Hotel Benczúr, that room will be available again for us. I asked them not to sell such rooms to regular guests.
Other hotels previously recommended are also full.
There's a decent hotel that still has some rooms for next weekend. This is Hotel Stadion, connected by direct public transport link to Benczur (takes about 15 minutes), and it's also at a metro station that's directly connected to downtown.
EUR 90 per night for a single or double if stay for at least 4 nights, 100 if you stay 3 nights. EUR 120 per night for a triple if you stay for at least 4 nights, 130 per night if you stay for 3 nights. This includes buffet breakfast, saune, gym, etc.
If you are interested, send an email to Mr Geza Tomcsanyi, sales manager: [email protected]
Hotel Andrássy is a 5-star boutique hotel about 200 meters from Hotel Benczúr. If you are willing to pay for this comfort, there are a few rooms left for EUR 139 + 3% tax + breakfast (EUR 20) for a single, or 159 + 3% tax + breakfast for a double. Reservation here.
Carmen Mini Hotel is located downtown next to the Synagogue. You can reach Hotel Benczúr by underground in 10 minutes. Doubles cost EUR 50, triples EUR 60. They have 6 rooms altogether, some of them are still vacant.
Here are some apartments available. All of them are at a quite central location, within 20-25 minutes by public transport to Hotel Benczúr.
A good list of guesthouses and hostels, there are several places with available rooms.
Here is a very detailed list of hotels in Budapest. Benczúr is in the 6th district. About half of the 7th district is also easily accessible. The downtown area is the 5th district, most of which is also easily accessible from Benczúr. Most hotels are booked out for the long weekend, but perhaps you are lucky to find some rooms somewhere.
For more details on the conference venue, booking information and alternative accommodation options, see the Accommodation Forum.
N E W ! See the Venue tab for information on how to get to the hotel from the airport.
Social events:
On the first night of the conference (April 29th, Sunday), we will be cruising up and down the Danube. Buffet dinner and live folk music with dance teaching. The ultimate fun event of the year for the translators' community.
On the second night (April 30th, Monday), we will go to an off-site location to have a dinner and listen to some music. This will not be included in the conference fee, so everybody will be expected to pay for their own consumption. More information and signing up.
A pre-conference powwow is to be held on April 28th (Saturday), and night before (April 27th, Friday). Attendance is free on these evenings, and everybody will pay for their own consumption. More information and signing up.
For additional details and discussion, see the Fun Programs Forum.
Travel:
There is also a Travel Discussion Forum available. Flight info, travel tips for Budapest and Hungary, etc.
Tourist leaflets, city maps and other printed material for tourists will be available at the hotel for free in a variety of languages.
Contact:
You can send me a message here. I try to answer all queries quickly. If you do not get any reply within 24 hours, please re-send your query.
It's advisable to join the mailing list by clicking on the link above.
Powwow pages:
If you are interested to come but you still don't want to commit yourself, you can demonstrate your interest by signing up at the conference powwow page.
Additional powwow events - please sign up if you plan to attend:
April 27th (Friday) - First encounter
April 28th (Saturday) - Large pre-conference powwow
April 30th (Monday) - Last chance to network
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