A reflection on EX:CHANGE 2026

Three weeks have passed since EX:CHANGE 2026 and, to be honest, I’m still trying to digest and distil everything. Having been so closely involved with the conference programme for so many months, it’s hard to give a completely objective reflection of the event, so please bear with me if some of this is personal.

Anyway, some background for context:  let’s start with the aims and objectives we set when we first started planning what has traditionally been called the ‘ITI conference’…

This biennial event is a highlight in ITI’s calendar, and one eagerly anticipated by members. It takes an enormous amount of organising, and needs to deliver on many levels, balancing the commercial and academic ‘head’ with the heart of the ITI Community.

However, given the dramatic changes our profession has seen over recent years – and which have continued at a pace even during the time of planning this event – we knew that following the traditional format wasn’t an option. We needed to risk doing  something different.

The key objective was to highlight and interactively engage with the core values that distinguish us as practising language professionals: Ethics, Entrepreneurship and Client Engagement. The disruption we have faced in recent years has accentuated the need to effectively communicate our value and advocate for our profession beyond the translation and interpreting community, something that doesn’t always come naturally.

Hence why we wanted to invite professionals from outside our profession to come share their insights and experience, to create a balance between academic arguments, professional practice and commercial reality.  Delegates could therefore listen to different yet relevant perspectives, challenge them and, perhaps, challenge their own.

The other main objective was to create a safe space for delegates to share and discuss the difficult issues that many are facing. A refreshed format, less passive and more dynamic and interactive than on previous occasions was also a requirement, so that delegates could contribute to the discussions and leave empowered with relevant ideas and strategies to implement after the event.

With the brief agreed, the Conference Advisory Group (CAG) got to work, creating the programme content, deliberately devising it to be sequential, allowing a flow from the overarching topics to the nuts-and-bolts group discussions that followed. 

The months of hard work finally came to fruition as we all gathered in Milton Keynes. The number of delegates was significantly lower than in previous years, but the levels of energy, anticipation and engagement were high.

Some things don’t change: we kicked off with a wonderful drinks reception at the Unity Place Sky Lounge, where delegates gathered to meet and greet each other. It set the bar high, in every sense, as we sipped Aperol spritz or fruit punch in the glorious evening sunshine, looking out at the lush cityscape of Milton Keynes, the city I called home for nearly 20 years.

The following morning, I joined my co-hosts Fiona Gray and Lloyd Bingham to open the event. Looking around the auditorium, I was delighted to see familiar faces and new ones, experienced translators and interpreters and those in the early stages of their career, colleagues from the UK and beyond, all ready to get started.

To capture the spirit and messages of EX:CHANGE, our wonderful poet-in-residence Kate Fox used her magic to create poems throughout the event, entertaining us as she waxed lyrical with her thoughts and observations after each session.

As I watched the programme unfold, it was encouraging to notice that the safe space we’d hoped to create allowed for a refreshingly frank (but professional) exchange of views. For me, as part of the organising team and a freelance translator, this interaction between professionals from within and without our industry was key; it broadened and stimulated subsequent discussions, with fresh insights and perspectives, a stimulus that was central to the desired outcome of the event

Highlights included John Conroy’s amusing but oh-so-relatable ‘hat, haircut, tattoo’ analogy to explain his approach to risk-taking Christophe Fricker’s insights on the inherent mutuality of trust – and how this trust underpins the relationship with our clients in a way that is more meaningful than using AI – and Sonia Koller’s challenge to act, even when there is no clear path ahead.

Did the event fulfil its objectives? Judging by the overwhelmingly positive comments in person and on social media – ‘inspiring’, ‘energising,’ ‘dynamic’ – the format and content were very well received. So, yes.

But could we do better? For sure. As with all experiments, some aspects worked well, and others need improvement. But one of the fundamental messages from our keynote speakers and panellists at EX:CHANGE is that  learning is part of growth. The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same things while expecting different results, so we have already reflected on how to improve future events.

I hope that everyone left Milton Keynes with fresh clarity and confidence to successfully face and overcome the challenges ahead. I’m left with the feeling that this EX:CHANGE is just the start of something new and exciting; something we can build on and develop for the ITI community and beyond, to help shape a viable and fulfilling future for our profession.