EX:CHANGE 2026: Nostalgia is not a strategy

You might have heard that 2026 is ITI’s 40th anniversary year. This is an impressive milestone and an opportunity to celebrate everything our professional home has achieved over the past four decades. Our well-respected Institute has become rightly known for upholding high professional standards, championing our profession and supporting our community of translators and interpreters.

Big birthdays like this one often prompt us to look back and reflect fondly on the good old days. We might even feel a temptation to cling to the past and hold on to the ways we’ve always done things, feeling comfort in everything that feels familiar to us.

But, to echo Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos: “Nostalgia is not a strategy.”

We have no choice but to admit that the world of translation and interpreting has changed beyond recognition during the last 40 years. In fact, that sentence possibly even still stands if you replace ‘40’ with ‘four’. The pace of change is staggering – and it doesn’t show any sign of stopping anytime soon. We’re feeling the impact of artificial intelligence, with client expectations evolving and market dynamics shifting.

Standing still is simply not an option.

Don’t get me wrong – I believe that there is value in reflecting on the past. We also need to understand and cherish the core values that continue to hold true no matter what. But the focus should be on learning lessons that can help us craft a better future.

The chances are you’ve been making changes in your own business – or perhaps starting to strategise about what you need to do differently to respond to shifts in your client base or workload. A couple of years ago, I put my all into rebranding my own business. You wouldn’t believe the number of times I almost talked myself out of implementing my extensive business plan. I didn’t want to let go of my beloved ‘Grayscale Translations’ brand, but my goal of finding a way to keep doing the work I love kept me on track.

And that’s the thing. The work is fundamentally the same. The value to the client is the same. But the way I present, pitch and position that value is different.

The good news is that we don’t have to feel alone when making big business decisions. We can turn to our #ITICommunity. We can support each other, learn from each other and find ways forward together, which is the key aim of this year’s conference taking place in Milton Keynes in July.

Forty years after it was established in 1986, ITI continues to evolve. As a Board, we’re committed to proactively responding to the changes and challenges facing the profession and to ensuring that ITI remains relevant to its members. We’ve also taken the opportunity to update ITI’s look and feel and to refresh our magazine. It is only by looking forward that we can support translators and interpreters as they adapt to the changing times.

Nostalgia is not a strategy. But communication, collaboration and community will always be at the heart of our professional home, and are the bedrock of our upcoming conference – EX:CHANGE 2026.