memoQfest 2015 - recap

source: http://memoqfest.com/

It has been almost a week and I already miss memoQfest. It’s not my intention of making a confession but to let the Kilgray staff know what a great job they are doing because they deserve that.

memoQfest is a place where you can meet and hang out with the masterminds behind memoQ and all the interesting participants from all over the world. Although we’re mostly competitors in some way, at memoQfest I didn’t have that feeling, actually quite the opposite. We were all sharing thoughts on how to make memoQ even better and during the grand Gala diner we even let go of that and just enjoyed the great ambience (never thought you can make an ancient ex-prison into such a nice scenery for a dinner), food, cocktails, entertainment, live band and danced till the morning. Then we slept for a couple of hours and attended one of the most anticipated sessions – introduction of the new memoQ 2015 (but guys, why this session needs to be so early?! There is one comforting thing though, seeing Istvan there as well J).

As for the informative part in general, the sessions, there is something for everyone. If you’re new to memoQ, there are specialized sessions for linguists or project managers. If you’re setting up your business there are companies/people there who can help you set up the system. If you’re an advanced user there are topics like XML-handling or automation processes that might be of interest to you and many more that cover social media, case studies, integrations, overviews on future development of translation and technology… if you go through the schedule you can find something interesting surely.

memoQfest organizers pay great attention to networking as well. There are coffee-breaks and a lunch break during the sessions (food and staff at Gundel were by the way again impressive) and of course the great evening events where participants can hang out, exchange thoughts, business cards and talk business. Speaking of participant I would love to see more end-clients there (who doesn’t?!). Any chance to put this onto next memoQfest’s wish list (if it can be influenced of course)? J

I can actually say in one sentence why I like memoQfest so much - memoQfest is all about people. True that we’re there for the memoQ but the focus is actually on participants, how we feel, what are our thoughts, expectations… There are sessions where we can exchange thoughts and even talk to the developers about what we like/miss in memoQ (usually this session turns into a wish list for a memoQ “Dreamliner” J) but still some wishes do come true and if Gabor says “yes” you might just see your feature/button in next release of memoQ. J

I really enjoyed memoQfest from the start of my road trip to the minute a came back and if my superiors will be kind enough I’ll gladly attend the memoQfest 2016. So a BIG thank you Kilgray for organizing this great event and hopefully see you in 2016.

Cheers