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President's Corner With Doug Strock 
 
Having more members means possessing a larger voice with any advocacy effort, achieving greater impact on future standards, and ensuring a stronger language industry overall. As the newly elected president of ALC, I would like to issue a "President's Challenge" to each member. That challenge is to recruit one additional member before the 2017 ALC Annual Conference.

If we continue to attain this goal each year, we could potentially double in size annually. So, rather than relying on the efforts of a few people to generate many new members, I would rather count on the collective efforts of many to each find just one new member. That's all, just one new member. We all know the other companies in our respective areas who are not ALC members, and, while you can hold CEO Roundtable events, many times you have a greater influence with a one-on-one conversation where you can explain how being an ALC member has helped you. Use the ALC membership benefits web page to show prospective members all of the great benefits they will receive.

Remember, we are looking for new members in all aspects of the language industry, so please help us reach our goal of doubling in size by the 2017 Annual Conference!
Welcome Our Newest Members!

Orion Assessment Services
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Drinking the ALC Kool-Aid 
Insight from 10 years of volunteering and 6 years on the board of ALC
By Giovanni Donatelli

Now that my tenure on the ALC board has drawn to a close, I feel this is an opportune time to chronicle my experiences.  

First, it's important to point out that ALC is run by a group of volunteer leaders. No one gets paid to do this. We are simply doing it because we feel that somehow, the cosmos will reward us. But what would this reward look like? Well, this is hard to quantify, but I'll try to do just that.

I was recruited by one of ALC's founders, our dear mentor, the late "Uncle" Bill Graeper, owner of Certified Languages of Portland, Oregon. He flew to Washington, D.C. (on his own dime) to host a CEO Roundtable in 2005. I attended and subsequently joined ALC. I started volunteering with the Marketing Committee the very next year. Subsequent years had me shifting duties to other committees and groups, such as the Membership Committee and the Conference Task Force. In 2010, I was nominated to the ALC board of directors. By 2012, I was nominated to the Executive Committee, on which I served as both treasurer and secretary during my last four years on the board.

So, what did I get in return for 10 years of volunteering?  Knowledge, friendships, and business. 
How Robots Could Help Children Pick Up
New Languages 
 
While caring for children seems a very human endeavor, there have nonetheless been a number of projects recently that have seen robots built for just such a task.

For instance, MIT's Huggable is a teddy bear robot that aims to provide support and comfort to children with chronic illnesses, all the while reporting various vital signs to their doctors.

2016 ALC Industry Survey Results
The survey allows ALC members to evaluate their own performance and seek new ways of conducting their business. The survey results will allow you to see:
  • A breakdown of revenue per service item
  • Profitability
  • The percentage of companies with facilities clearance
  • Other key industry survey data
See the complimentary Executive Summary of the Industry Survey findings, which provides a snapshot of the full results.
 

Successful CEO Roundtable in Argentina 

 
On Tuesday, June 14, Gabriele Lemoine hosted a CEO Roundtable in Córdoba, Argentina. Read her blog post about her experience and see the pictures on the ALC Facebook page.

Host a CEO Roundtable in Your City! 
ALC provides this professional networking opportunity for you to meet with other company presidents, owners, and CEOs to discuss topics impacting their businesses. The roundtables are structured to help business leaders address a variety of important issues and offer business solutions to help improve the language services industry. Contact Lynn Elfers for more information. 
Instagram Is Getting Instantaneous Text Translations in Its Apps  
By Digital Trends

Instagram has announced--via Instagram, of course--that it will soon implement on-the-fly translation of text in its mobile applications.

Much like its owner, Facebook, the half-a-billion-user-strong social network will soon let users instantaneously translate captions, comments, and user profile bios within its mobile apps. To do this, users will be prompted with a familiar "see translation" button, the same method utilized by Facebook in News Feeds and on profiles.

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