Meetings of Minds Only

Recently I encountered a most unusual situation.

I was sitting in the park watching my son on the swing and enjoying a late afternoon breeze, when my cellphone rang. It was a woman from a non-profit organization in need of a translation of an important report to an international body. She received my number from another client and I had come recommended.

All was going smoothly until she asked if I could come into their offices for a meeting.

That question really threw me off guard...

"A meeting..." I stuttered. "I don't know..."

I can honestly say that the last time I had a meeting with a translation client was August 2004. And that was only a formality to get me some sort of security clearance at a government office.

My usually smooth professional manner deserted me as, while watching my son swinging higher and higher, I grasped at mental straws in the attempt to formulate a response to this strange question.

Eventually, I stuttered out a yes. Yes, I could come in for a meeting.

"What does that mean - would you stay for an eight-hour meeting? Would you come for more than one meeting?"

"No. Just one meeting, maximum two hours," I said, mentally calculating my dwindling profit margin as I took into account the commute. "You know what, before we have a meeting, why don't you send me a short translation to do? I think you'll find that we may not even need a meeting."

This put her off a bit and the conversation soon ended. I did not get the job.

Afterward, when I had time to reflect, I came to the conclusion that I was, in fact, not willing to go in for a meeting, unless they were going to pay me by the hour for my time spent with them.

Face-to-face meetings are not a normal part of a translator's role. I would probably go to a meeting to prepare for a large job that was already guaranteed to me, but only if I had determined that it was really essential.

Since translators are paid by the word, and not by the hour, time spent commuting and meeting is basically volunteer work. And I'm still not convinced that meetings are useful to either the translator or the client.

If the client needs reassurance of the translator's competence, let them ask for a sample and have it evaluated. If the translator needs more information in order to complete the job properly, let them go through the research process and ask the client specific questions by phone or email. A meeting will solve none of these problems.

But enough of my diatribe on the futility of meetings. I want to qualify all this by saying that we have to understand our client's perspective before we get all worked up at their unreasonable requests.

Besides knowing nothing about translation industry protocol and not understanding that we just don't do meetings, this client came from the non-profit world where nothing is planned, decided, or implemented without half a dozen meetings every step of the way. She probably could not conceive of anything so rash as my getting the job done without a meeting or two (perhaps even an eight-hour one???)

Having done a lot of work for non-profit organizations, I know this mind-set well. Business clients might also imagine at first that a meeting is in order, but when you explain that you can save them time and money and do the job just as well without one, they are quick to forgo. Not every non-profit is so focused on efficiency.

But don't lecture them about it. Simply tell them that it is not standard in the industry, as it does not help in the translation process. If they still want to see your face and you really want that job, you can offer to meet with them as a courtesy for a limited time-slot. (Just make sure that they actually plan to give you the job before you set out.) If it is not worth your while, then you should politely ask them to pay for your time and travel expenses.

Otherwise, you may unwittingly find yourself running a non-profit organization.