AALC Members, Colleagues and all Industry Partners,

The New Year is already in full swing here at the AALC and we hope all of you had a safe and gentle start into 2016.  We hope the New Year will be a successful and inspirational one for all of you and the AALC Board has been busy behind the scenes to get ready to tackle industry issues, service and motivate our members, bring new technology as well as legal and professional industry advice to our members through our PD Webinars and Roundtable discussions, forge partnerships with sister associations around the world and finalise 2 important AALC publications. Last but not least we have developed a new membership structure to be as inclusive as possible and make membership more accessible for smaller businesses.

First of all, we are pleased to welcome Mr. Daniel Muller, our new AALC Executive Officer on board.  Together with our Administration Officer Julie Barry, Daniel will look after AALC membership, publications, events and manage AALC operations.  Daniel is not a newcomer to the industry.  Educated and accredited in the fields of management (MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management), numbers (Bachelor of Economics from the University of Western Australia) and words (NAATI accredited professional translator), Daniel has enjoyed exposure to business and operations in many countries across four continents and a range of different industries, and he is able to draw on a wealth of knowledge on how progress can be achieved efficiently and effectively. Within the Australian language services industry, Daniel has worked as a translator for many years, and he is a former National President and Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of Translators and Interpreters (AUSIT). More info on Daniel and our Board Members: https://www.aalc.org.nz/about/board-members/

New Membership structure: Our new tiered membership structure highlights our efforts to be as inclusive as possible and make membership more accessible for smaller businesses.  Fees remain unchanged at $600 AUD/NZD for larger companies (7 or more staff) but a lower membership fee of $300 AUD/NZD applies for small companies (2 to 3 staff) and $450 AUD/NZD for medium companies (4 to 6 staff). There is no change to associate member pricing. Full membership includes exclusive access to industry information and reports, discounts to events, use of the AALC logo, access to the member list and members-only section of the AALC website, and a company listing in the AALC Marketplace.

AALC Code of Conduct: The AALC Board has been working on a draft of our AALC Code of Conduct. This draft is now ready for AALC member review and will be sent out shortly to our membership. Please take some time to review and submit any comments and feedback by Tuesday COB 2nd February 2016 so we can finalise the AALC Code of Conduct and publish it.

AALC Buyers Guide: The Board has also been working on a Buyers Guide for Translation & Interpreting Services. This is still work in progress and AALC members will also here have the opportunity to make a direct impact and have a chance for feedback once the draft is finalised. Watch this space.

GALA Partnership: AALC signed a partnership agreement with the Globalisation and Localisation Association (GALA), the world’s leading trade association for the language industry.  A key role of the AALC is to promote our Australasian industry globally and to help local language companies make connections at an international level.  GALA supports the international language industry by creating communities, championing standards, sharing knowledge and advancing technology worldwide.  These activities are directly aligned with the role of AALC in Australasia. Please check our website for more information and the list of benefits of the GALA partnership for AALC members: https://www.aalc.org.nz/aalc-news/aalc-signs-partnership-agreement-gala/

AALC RoundTable: Mark the date! The AALC PD Series “Round Table Online” kicks off on 10th February at 4pm AEST/5pm AEDT/7pm NZDT and the topic is a very pertinent one: “Client Complaints & Conflict Resolution in our industry”. You will receive an invitation shortly for this Webinar Event and we look forward to seeing many of you online to discuss with us!

AALC representatives will be attending many industry events across Australia and NZ as well as internationally throughout the year to raise awareness of AALC member companies and increase AALC exposure.  AALC President Tea Dietterich will be attending GALA2016 in NYC in March, ELIA (European Language Industry Association) Executive ND in Mallorca in April, CNET (French National Chamber of Translation Companies) and Localization World in June in Dublin.  AALC Vice President Dominic Carter will be representing AALC in Melbourne in March at a State Industry Forum, Vice President for NZ Hagen Issell attends NZ industry events and all board members look forward to meeting many of you throughout the year at the diverse academic, government and corporate industry events including our own AALC events.

Again, may the Year of the Monkey bring you all much wisdom and joy. We look forward to working with many of you towards developing our industry in Australia & NZ.

Warm regards,

AALC Board