Recruiting new members was among the top priorities identified in the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ)’s 2020–2024 strategic plan, which is why OTTIAQ has been on a mission to get out there and meet people.
Everything could have been put on hold when the pandemic hit in 2020. ‘No way!’ said Bénédicte Assogba, Manager, Professional Affairs. ‘We’ll just do things differently.’ So, the team got to work giving webinars about OTTIAQ to universities, translation agencies, and businesses. The team has hosted many online events since 2020, including sessions to answer questions from people seeking certification and information sessions about mentoring, which have attracted nearly 400 attendees since February 2022.
In-person recruitment has resumed and has been the professional affairs team’s top priority since spring 2023.
OTTIAQ has had booths at major trade fairs, including the National Education Fair and the Salon de l’immigration et de l’intégration au Québec, a fair aimed at helping immigrants thrive in Quebec. These events were attended by more than 10,000 people and gave OTTIAQ a great deal of exposure.
In the past, OTTIAQ only gave presentations at universities to students in their final year. Now, it gives such presentations to students in every year, so they can benefit from being OTTIAQ-registered student members throughout their university programmes. OTTIAQ now gives both general presentations and, for the first time this year, course-specific presentations. These have been delivered at Université de Montréal, McGill University, and Université de Sherbrooke since April 2023.
OTTIAQ has also participated in student-organised career days and networking activities, such as Université Laval’s ‘Soirée carrière en traduction’ and Université de Montréal’s ‘Trouve ton match’ and ‘Porto-choco-réseau’ events. OTTIAQ also attended the latest Translation Games and will be the main sponsor for the 2024 edition.
The Order is still holding events online when in-person events aren’t possible, as was the case for its recent presentations to students at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
OTTIAQ also decided to increase its presence in secondary schools and institutes of higher education, giving presentations at Cégep de Saint-Laurent, Collège Français, and École internationale Lucille-Teasdale, among others. OTTIAQ ambassadors now take part in many of these visits.
To increase the number of member terminologists and interpreters, OTTIAQ organised a meet-and-greet with the students in the University of Ottawa’s Master in Conference Interpreting programme and an information session with the Office québécois de la langue française.
OTTIAQ also continues to give presentations to businesses and attend networking events, which never fails to bring new members into the fold.
This increased visibility has undoubtedly contributed to the significant growth in OTTIAQ’s membership since 2020: the Order went from 2,240 members on 31 March 2020, to 2,937 on 20 January 2024.
Hélène Gauthier, OTTIAQ