Counting down to EX:CHANGE 2026: a summary of our warm-up webinar
With two weeks to go until EX:CHANGE 2026, we brought members together online for a warm-up session to set the scene for our 40th anniversary conference at Unity Place, Milton Keynes, on 1 and 2 July. The aim was simple: to help everyone get the most out of the two days, to give a first look at the three conference themes, and to start the conversations and connections early.
Colleagues joined from across the UK – from Brighton, London and Northumberland to Tring, Tunbridge Wells and Chiswick – alongside members and partners dialling in from Madrid, Finland, Norway and Crete.
Our three themes
Members of the Conference Advisory Group introduced each of the three themes that will shape the programme.
Ethical practice. Ethics has been a live topic for translators and interpreters for decades, and the conversation today is broader and more nuanced than ever. The session will look well beyond accuracy, neutrality and confidentiality to take in pay, working conditions, status, well-being, data ownership and sustainability. Guest speakers from a range of backgrounds – practitioners, academics and language service company owners – will open the session, before delegates move between smaller groups to explore particular questions in more depth.
Entrepreneurship and business development. This theme starts by acknowledging the real difficulties many in the profession are facing as the industry changes. It asks what it means to be a translator or interpreter today, and how each of us – whether a sole trader, a subcontractor or a larger language service provider – wants to shape the next one, three or five years. The emphasis is on practical, creative responses and on learning from one another’s experience, not on adopting corporate jargon. A keynote on business psychology will open the discussion.
Client engagement. Taking place on the Thursday morning, this session will open with a panel of people who buy translation and interpreting services, including a human rights charity, a Swiss language service provider and two companies of different sizes. A keynote speaker will represent the translation side, opening a dialogue between buyers and providers. The focus is on building relationships and mutual understanding – and while AI will feature in the discussion, the real subject is how clients and language professionals work together as partners.
A different, more participatory format
A clear message from the session was that EX:CHANGE is designed to be practical and interactive rather than a series of talks to sit and absorb. Each themed session opens with speakers and panellists, who will then stay for the discussion groups that follow – so delegates can work alongside them and pick up the conversation directly, rather than trying to catch them between sessions.
The intention is to create a supportive, non-judgemental space to talk honestly about a period of rapid change. None of us has all the answers about what the future holds, and the conference is not setting out to solve every challenge in two days. What it can do is give us a starting point: a chance to share experience, test ideas and leave Milton Keynes with some practical next steps and a more confident sense of where we are heading.
Keynote conversation and partnership working
At the end of the first day, ITI Chair Fiona Gray will be joined on stage by Andy Benzo, President of the American Translators Association, for a keynote conversation built around the conference’s three Cs: communication, collaboration and community. Two association leaders coming together to talk is itself an example of those principles in action, and the conversation is intended to draw together the threads running through all three themes.
It was also good to note the common ground with the Association of Translation Companies, which marks its 50th anniversary this year with its own conference in Glasgow in October. The overlap in themes and format says a good deal about where the profession finds itself, and about the value of working together across our community.
Keeping the conversation going after July
The discussions are not intended to end on 2 July. We are planning a series of follow-up webinars for conference attendees – six hours in total, with sessions on each of the three themes – after the summer, giving everyone time to reflect before we return to the threads we began in Milton Keynes. Outputs from the conference will also be shared on the ITI website in due course.
With thanks
Our thanks to everyone who joined the webinar, to the colleagues who hosted and organised it, and to the Conference Advisory Group for the many months of work behind the programme. If you are coming to EX:CHANGE 2026, we would love you to share what you are looking forward to on LinkedIn – and we look forward to seeing you in Milton Keynes on 1 and 2 July.
Note: This summary was produced using Claude.ai from a transcript of the webinar and the Chat notes.
