Powwow Report for Japan - Tokyo (Jul 26 2008)


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Report from  CalumR
Hi to everybody who attended the powwow on the 26th!

First let me say thank you very much for coming along and making the event a success.

For those of you who weren't able to come, here is a brief rundown on the proceedings:

Got to the venue, got settled down and was given a bedsheet to use instead of the projector screen we were promised. Undaunted, Mr. Julien Griffon booted up his laptop and prepared to fill us in on the ins and outs of using Wordfast. The soon-to-follow technical glitches were ironed out by Mr. Kurt Hammond, although unfortunately he could not produce an iron with which to banish the creases in the bedsheet/projector screen dangling from 3 pieces of sellotape affixed to the wall. There followed an introduction to the Wordfast software from Julien, who kindly showed us some of the proz and cons of the tool. Many thanks go to Mr. Griffon for his contribution.
An impromptu TRADOS introduction was given by Kurt, who appeared to rate the software pretty highly.
Following on from the technical aspects of changing one language into delightful equivalents in another, we had introductions, but with a novel twist. Thanks to the suggestion of introductions bandmaster Mr. Troy Fowler, we got to know of our companions through an interview/reporting system, whereby we would interview someone, asking
1. Name?
2. How long in Japan?
3. Languages spoken?
4. Place of residence?
5. The morning's breakfast content?
6. And sometimes, area of specialization.
then reporting back to the whole on what we had discovered.
This was a good way to get to know everyone better, and skilfully avoided the bake-under-the-spotlight affairs that are the norm when trying to give information about oneself. I am grateful to Krzysztof Łesyk, who now knows me better than I know myself, for relaying details about me - I only hope that I didn't inujure his Polish pride by poorly pronouncing his name (the "Ł" is a "w") :)
Drinks followed, though not too many, chatting and fun all round.
We did have to make quite an effort to compete with the DJ who was trying to drown out our sparkling conversation with his tunes played to a crowd of three, however Troy Fowler, realising attack to be the best form of defence (or perhaps if you can't beat 'em, join 'em?) moved in for the kill, putting all comers to shame with his John Travoltaesque manoeuvers on the dance floor. The man himself was actually en-route to play the guitar later that evening in a pub in Roppongi, an event that I regretted being unable to attend. Next time Troy!
The event ended nicely, with all people seeming to have had their fill of booze and the orgiastic buffet laid on by the Enjoy!House staff. Kurt and Krzysztof and perhaps others looked to be moving off to a cafe to continue their chatting into the wee hours. Nobody has seen them since.....






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ProZ.com users and members who attended
: organizer : photos : report : host
Troy Fowler
Kurt Hammond
Julien Griffon
komachi
CalumR
\"Reporter\"
hiroko765
Krzysztof Łesyk
Dina F. Nugroho
Timothy Miller
Vakil
Seikoh Hokama
       

Postings from ProZians who attended this event

Aug 4 '08  Krzysztof Łesyk: Had a great time.
A late comment, but here goes:
Thanks to Calum for organizing everything - I wouldn't mind if such informal meetings were a regular event - this one was both fun and educational! Oh, and no, my pride is definitely not injured - at any rate, you pronounced my name much better than I have yours :)

Julien - thanks for the Wordfast presentation! It made me look at it again and do some research, and thanks to this I'm now testing Metatexis, which seems to be similar to WF, while at the same time being even cheaper (what can I say - I'm a miser).

Kurt - likewise, thanks for the Trados presentation and many helpful hints - if anyone ever manages to bring me to the dark side, it will most certainly be you :P

Dina - thanks for the pictures! And since I hate having my photos taken, thanks for not having me in any of'em!

Troy - that introduction thing was a great idea - had lots of fun introducing Calum to everyone, even though I misheard "Thai" as "Italian" (how on earth did that happen? I'm still baffled).

Everyone - I would love to thank each and every one of you personally, but that'll have to wait until our next meeting - hopefully we can have a nice and relaxing 二次会 afterwards too!
Jul 29 '08  CalumR: Thanks for coming!
Just a quick note today to say thanks a lot to everybody who came to the powwow the other day.
I had a lot of fun, and I hope everybody else did too.
I am going to put a report about it up in the next few days.
Watch this space....
Calum
Jul 27 '08  Dina F. Nugroho: some photos
I\'ve uploaded some (only 4!) photos of this powwow to Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70483827@N00/Thank you Calum for organizing this powwow, Julien for the Wordfast presentation, and Kurt for the Trados presentation.Thanks everybody!