Newsletter - Message from the board
Message from the Board Q1 2007
Stephen Ryan, GALA Board Chair
2006 was an exciting year for GALA. My interaction with colleagues in the localization industry constantly pointed to one undeniable truth: that everyone was BUSY (busy working with new clients; busy handling larger volumes of content; busy experimenting with new workflow systems and technologies; busy attending conferences; and busy keeping track of it all)!
While you've been busy finalizing projects or developments at hand, GALA has been busy working to serve its membership. In addition to a number of member networking events, meetings, tools webinars and joint marketing opportunities, we've also been busy planning for the association's future. The GALA Board recently published a statement of the association's 2007-2008 goals and objectives. As we prepare to celebrate the association's fifth anniversary (already!), we continue to stay focused on serving our member companies and the professionals that lead them. Now boasting over 225 members, GALA is focused on building member resources, building visibility for the industry and building regional value for members. Meanwhile, we also strive to grow GALA's infrastructure to support membership and program growth. We're always happy to see a new member company join the association, be we also recognize the importance of engaging veteran members in our activities and programs.
As this issue of GALAxy is based on the theme of careers in localization, I'm pleased to call attention to one of GALA's newest resources, an industry-specific career site: LocalizationCAREERS.net. Although numerous sites exist to serve the translator community, our goal in launching this site is to serve the many other essential job functions necessary to running a healthy localization business. Launched just two weeks ago, we're inviting industry professionals and students worldwide to register their CVs and resumes with the site. Please share this resource with your colleagues. Read more about this new resource here.
GALA will continue to focus on promoting our industry in 2007, with the goal of reinforcing the importance of language within global business strategies and increasing the visibility of both our member companies and GALA as an association. GALA is preparing for its first large-scale group exhibit at the AIIM Expo, a significant content management conference that will take place this April in Boston. A group of 12 member companies as well as GALA representatives will participate in the GALA-hosted Language Technology and Services Pavilion, sharing knowledge with visitors about adding the multilingual component to content management. You can read about this conference in Keri Dostie's article.
I am very pleased to introduce Rebecca Petras as GALA PR & Marketing Specialist. Rebecca is a Seattle-based public relations professional and journalist with a background in high-tech PR in the US and the UK. She worked previously for a large PR agency in the San Francisco Bay area with clients such as Visa International as well as technology start-up companies, and now runs her own PR agency. Rebecca will focus initially on development of GALA messaging and positioning, re-development of GALA's marketing materials and strategic development of GALA's media relations activities. Please join me in welcoming Rebecca to the GALA family.
As we move into our fifth year, I would like to extend a big thanks to outgoing GALA Board Chair Aki Ito for his extraordinary contributions to GALA and the industry, and welcome Kim Harris, Managing Director of text & form GmbH as GALA Board vice Chair. As 2007 kicks off, I see that we're all BUSY – still. Microsoft Vista™ has just launched – in more than 70 countries in 19 languages (with a target of 99 languages by the end of the year); Google reports that it continues to work on translating its core site into over 150 languages (OK, they count Elmer Fudd and Klingon as languages); and, GALA member companies Common Sense Advisory, Idiom and Lionbridge are mentioned in TIME magazine (yes, THAT TIME magazine).
I look forward to seeing you this year, and to your participation in a BUSY – and productive – year with GALA and the localization industry.
For the GALA Board,
Stephen Ryan
GALA Board Chair