Off-METM activities


Besides the main programme, we’re putting on some fringe activities to help you make new contacts and get to know Carcassonne and its cuisine better. There’s something for everyone. See this pinned map to find out what’s happening where.

Off-METM activities are for attendees only, unless otherwise specified.

Sign-up will open early July.

Sign-up now open via My METM.

Most activities that require sign-up are now full. After registering, go to My METM to grab last places and cancelled reservations.

Sign-up for all off-METM activities is now closed.

Taxi numbers: +xxxxxxx, +yyyyyyyy WhatsApp icon(Company Name)

Monday, 30 September

Location: online (we'll send a link in advance to all attendees)
No sign-up required

Keen to make contacts before Carcassonne? Meet council members and other volunteers online in September at this informal mixer. The session is open to all attendees but recommended for anyone new or newish to METMs.

Wednesday, 16 October

Location: Le Florian bistro and Le Longchamp brasserie (adjacent cafés)
Address: 20-21 Place Carnot, Carcassonne
Not included in conference fee. No sign-up required. Guests welcome.

Grab a drink with your fellow METM24 attendees before you head off for dinner. First time at METM? Fear not: our welcome team will be there to greet you and make introductions.

Thursday, 17 October

Meeting place: Porte Narbonnaise (main entrance to Citadel)
Max: 30 people per tour
Duration: 90 minutes (daytime); 60 minutes (evening)
Sign-up required

Join us for a spot of sightseeing on a guided tour run by sudfrance.fr for MET. Choose the time that suits you best. Night-time info below.

Meeting place: Salle 1
Max: 20 people per class
Duration: 1 hour
Sign-up required

Fancy learning some Occitan and delving into the region’s rich cultural heritage? Try a one-hour total immersion class organized by Institut d’Estudis Occitans-Aude to get you started. Sponsored by Cosnautas (9:45) and memoQ (11:15).

Location: Salle 1
Group leader: Francesca Matteoda
Sign-up required

Unwind with Francesca Matteoda's session of chair-based asanas (yoga postures) and pranayama (breathing exercises). Everyone is welcome, back-bending yogis and beginners alike. Wear comfortable clothing.

Location: Villa San Michele
Editors: Kelsey Brunasso, Maria Sherwood-Smith
Moderator: Maria Fernandez
No sign-up required

Kelsey Brunasso and Maria Sherwood-Smith will generously give us a glimpse into their editing process. Befitting our host city, the text in question is an article in medieval art history. Where will our editors find common ground? How will their approaches differ? How will they help the author elevate the text for submission? Moderator Maria Fernandez will lead the discussion. Find out more.

Share a table with like-minded colleagues at one of our themed meal groups. We book the restaurant, you split the bill.

  • All tables are for six people (unless otherwise specified)
  • Restaurants can provide vegan/vegetarian options with advance notice (unless omnivore is mentioned in the table description)
  • Remember to complete your dietary requirements on your My METM page
  • Sign-up required

A dog’s dinner. Let’s put aside editing and translating for a couple of hours and indulge our love for our (and/or other people's) pets. Bring all the photos – we’ll coo over your cats and guffaw at your galahs, no judgement here!
Group leader: Vicky Porter-Burns
Restaurant: Café de la Comédie
Address: 13 Rue Courtejaire

AI magic. Chatbots and AI-powered apps can simplify daily tasks at the wordface and at home. Share how you wave your wand to speed things up and give us a glimpse of the top AI tools on your phone and computer.
Group leader: Emma Goldsmith
Restaurant: Le 104
Address: 104 Rue de Verdun

First METM? We’d love to meet you! Join fellow first-timers and a MET council member to chat about what we do, what drew us to METM24 and much more. Who knows where the conversation will take us?
Table size: three tables for six people each
Table 1 led by Hayley Smith:
Restaurant: Le Cachotier
Address: 4 Pl. Marcou
Table 2 led by Jacqueline Lamb:
Restaurant: Le Chaudron
Address: 6 Rue Saint-Jean
Table 3 led by Louise Normandière:
Restaurant: Le Chaudron
Address: 6 Rue Saint-Jean

Food and wines of Languedoc. Curious about Corbières? Le Réservoir will be serving up a delicious French food-and-wine-pairing meal with a choice of fish- or meat-based mains. Omnivores and wine lovers, this one’s for you!
Group leader: Ruth Simpson
Table size: max. 16 people at several tables
Fixed price: €45
Restaurant: Le Réservoir
Address: 11 Rue Trivalle

Rubbish wildlife photography. Did you take a sub-par snap of a cute creature? Bring it along to this dinner to celebrate the wonders of the real world expressed through the medium of mediocrity in the age of camera phones. For nature lovers/happy snappers. Better efforts also reluctantly allowed.
Group leader: Kate Major Patience
Restaurant: Le Cachotier
Address: 4 Pl. Marcou

Traditional French cuisine. Calling all gastronomes! Join your fellow foodies for an evening of French fare and local dishes – a must for omnivore gourmets and translators specializing in French cuisine.
Group leader: Miranda Joubioux
Table size: max. 18 people at several tables
Fixed price: approx. €45, TBC
Restaurant: Chez Christine
Address: 4 rue de la Porte d’Aude

Travel memories. Reminisce about your first or favourite trips abroad. What did your childhood travels spark in you? Share your memories over dinner. After all, such adventures probably made you who you are today.
Group leader: Paul Appleyard
Restaurant: Le Chaudron
Address: 6 Rue Saint-Jean

Where is your home? Is it where you live or where you grew up? Let’s talk about what makes a country feel like home and how this can change over time. Come along to share your experiences with fellow country hoppers.
Group leader: Jackie Senior
Restaurant: Mr H
Address: 8 Rue de la République

Meeting place: Porte Narbonnaise (main entrance to Citadel)
Max: 30 people
Duration: 1 hour
Sign-up required

Soak up the medieval atmosphere of Carcassonne on an evening guided tour run by sudfrance.fr for MET.

Friday, 18 October

Friday rehearsal location: Villa San Michele
No sign-up required. Guests welcome.

Rising up to the challenge, Ruth Simpson is back to lead us through two numbers. We’ll be celebrating our host region with a four-part troubadour song Se Canto, sung in Occitan. And we’ll harness our fighting spirit to sing the 80s classic Eye of the Tiger.
For scores, audio and more info, go to Ruth's music folder.
Rehearsals: Friday lunchtime and Saturday before the closing dinner.

Share a table with like-minded colleagues at one of our themed meal groups. We book the restaurant, you split the bill.

  • See Thursday off-METM tables for full details
  • All tables are for six people
  • Sign-up required

Note that our lunch groups are at the same time as the Friday choir rehearsal.

Adventures in subtitling – all questions answered. Courtney, your host, has been working in audiovisual transcription, subtitling, timecoding and QA since 2013. Tap into her wealth of experience over lunch and find out everything you wanted to know about this specialist field. Newbies welcome.
Group leader: Courtney Keeling Greenlaw
Restaurant: Adélaïde
Address: 5 Rue Adélaïde de Toulouse

Celebrating cultural differences. Working between countries and cultures gives us a unique viewpoint. But even we come across the odd cultural quirk that would leave many puzzled. Come along to share your strange encounters.
Group leader: Dana Szabados
Restaurant: L’Annexe
Address: 60 Rue Trivalle

First METM? We’d love to meet you! Join fellow first-timers and a MET council member to chat about what we do, what drew us to METM24 and much more. Who knows where the conversation will take us?
Group leader: Heather Hamilton
Restaurant: Le Chaudron
Address: 6 Rue Saint-Jean

Is your work-life balance working for you? Are you just as fresh and creative on Friday afternoon as on Monday morning? Or do you suffer from the dreaded end-of-the-week slump? Let’s talk about what we do away from our desks to stay sharp when working.
Group leader: Jenny Zonneveld
Restaurant: Le Créneau
Address: 6 Pl. Saint-Jean

Lunchtime or crunch time? Are you often overloaded and caught in a deadline traffic jam? Skating on thin professional ice as a result? Join this safe space to share your stress-related woes – and solid tips on how to get back on track and leave bad-hair days and burnout behind you.
Group leader: Allison Wright
Restaurant: Le Créneau
Address: 6 Pl. Saint-Jean

Neurodiversity and word work. Is your brain “sparkly”? Share your experiences of how autism, AD(H)D, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia inform and impact your work. What’s easier? What’s harder? Join us to talk, take a break and swap the tricks and tools that work for you.
Group leader: Kate Mc Intyre
Restaurant: Le Cachotier
Address: 4 Pl. Marcou

Slump time. How do you fill your time when your inbox runs dry? Let’s mull over some ideas to make the most of a slow week and find ways to work on our language skills, fit in some extra CPD and marketing, and focus on our well-being.
Group leader: Kit Cree
Restaurant: Le Cachotier
Address: 4 Pl. Marcou

There once was a limerick table
Where poets toiled amid the babel
With the help of some wine,
To put wit into rhyme,
And found they could spin a fine fable.

BYOL* – prompts will be provided and chatbot help allowed.
*Bring your own limericks
Group leader: Francesca Matteoda
Restaurant: Casa Maria
Address: 38 Rue Trivalle

You cannot be serious! What is the most bizarre, outlandish or hilarious job you’ve ever been asked to do? Share your stories about the wonderfully weird jobs you’ve been offered. And tell us whether you actually did them.
Group leader: Alice Lehtinen
Restaurant: Le Chaudron
Address: 6 Rue Saint-Jean

Location: Conference centre
Event open to all conference attendees and pre-paid guests.

Toast the end of the first day of talks with apéritifs and canapés in the gardens of the Hôtel de la Cité and enjoy views of the Château Comtal and surrounding countryside, as far afield as the Pyrenees. There’ll be gazebo tents and heaters in case of inclement weather. See what food is available.

Saturday, 19 October

Location: Villa San Michele
No sign-up required. Guests welcome.

See Friday rehearsal for full details.

Location: Conference centre
Menu: see choices
Event open to all conference attendees (except those who have opted out) and pre-paid guests.

Enjoy the METM closing dinner with a menu by Michelin-starred chef Jérôme Ryon. Great food, excellent company, questionable dancing.

Sunday, 20 October

Meeting point: Le Jardin Maria et Pierre Sire (on the Citadel side of Pont Vieux)
Total distance: about 6 km, flat except for steps up to and down from Pont Garigliano
No sign-up required. Guests welcome.

Join Sheena Currie and METM24 desk helper Hiromi Nishihara for a walk along the banks of the River Aude. We’ll stroll between Pont Vieux and Pont Garigliano, along the wild, verdant bank, via the Île de la Cité, following the stream known as La Rigole. Our route back to Pont Vieux, along the other bank, takes in leisure gardens and the Bellevue terraces. We'll arrive back just in time for an apéritif in the Citadel, the Trivalle or the Bastide, whatever takes your fancy.

Notes:

  • The path along La Rigole is beautiful but narrow (single file in parts).
  • The steps up Pont Garigliano are relatively steep but wide – there is also a handrail. The steps down are shallow.
  • Enjoy the super views of the Citadel across the river at Bellevue: great spot for a group photo. Everyone say ouistiti!