We kicked off 2023 with the latest edition of our consecutive interpreting workshop, which was organised jointly by the Committee for Education and Projects and the Committee for Admission of New Members and Mentorship System. The four-hour-long virtual workshop took place on Friday, January 13, and brought together around ten participants, giving them an opportunity to develop their consecutive interpreting skills by practicing with speeches prepared by members of the Croatian Society of Conference Interpreters. There were three practice groups, with English, German and Croatian as the main languages for interpretation. Feedback was given by the moderators, who were also members of HDKP. As the first reactions from participants were extremely positive, there is little doubt that a new workshop will be organised in the future and that we will once again have the chance to meet in a pleasant atmosphere and work together on honing our professional interpreting skills.

Although the circumstances were far from ideal, this year we managed to gather on September 30th to mark the International Translation Day. Unfortunately, the Zagreb Marathon was run on the same day and large parts of Zagreb were closed to traffic. As a result, many members were unable to join us in a café in the Upper Town. Those of us who managed to get there had a cup of coffee, some delicious cakes. We had a nice chat about the past, the present and the future. Hopefully more of us will be able to attend next year.

Semi-annual meetings of the Society are an opportunity for members to gather in a different format and discuss all current topics related to the profession and activities of the Society. This year’s meeting took place on 23 September 2022 via Zoom. The Steering Board presented an overview of the activities in the past six months, while the members had an opportunity to voice their opinions and proposals. Activities for the upcoming period were announced, and members were encouraged to get involved as much as possible. We were happy to see that the precandidates were just as eager to engage as were the members.

After two years, on 4 June 2022, we finally had an opportunity to get together – live! – and work on the aspects of speech that are extremely important for conference interpreters: speech skills, speech performance and voice care, under the expert guidance of our trainer, Diana. The workshop itself was tailored specifically to the needs of conference interpreters, in theory and practice. The participants learned about the skills that are the basis of good speech performance and were able to recognise and improve those skills through targeted exercises. They were also taught how to maintain good voice hygiene.

This year’s HDKP assembly was yet again held virtually, via Zoom, on 18 February 2022. The assembly began with a minute of silence in honour of our deceased colleagues Ivo Bićanić and Milivoj Telećan. The Steering Board went on to present its work report and the 2021 committee reports. All reports were unanimously adopted, as were the new Work Programme and the Financial Plan. The members voted to adopt an amendment to the Statute allowing virtual assemblies and adopted the guidelines for HDKP presence in the social media. As this was not an elective assembly, the members had an opportunity to discuss ideas for new activities. Watch this space!