MET workshops
Writing effective proposals for METMs and MET workshops: abstracts, peer review and the MET(M) audience
MET’s banner events are its annual conference – the METM – and its slate of peer-facilitated CPD workshops. Yet many language professionals who have hard-won knowledge and tried-and-tested practices to share don’t feel prepared for the task of writing and submitting a proposal, and others feel they have nothing to present or they simply lack the time to put a proposal together. This workshop will help participants to overcome these barriers and encourage them to take the step of sharing their knowledge and practices with MET members and the wider language-professional community.
Facilitators: Wendy Baldwin, Emma Goldsmith and Mary Savage
Purpose: This workshop will highlight the benefits of speaking at a METM or facilitating a MET workshop, familiarize participants with the two submission processes and, through hands-on work and group discussion, help them to clarify how they can contribute to peer development.
Description: We’ll start by discussing the benefits of sharing our professional expertise and experience by speaking at a METM or facilitating a MET workshop and address some of the barriers that keep people from submitting proposals. Tackling METM presentations first and MET workshops second, we’ll talk about the presentation and workshop formats, the type of content considered suitable for each event, how the submission and peer-review processes work, and what makes for an effective proposal. Participants will split into smaller groups to brainstorm and clarify their topic ideas and, in a subsequent exercise, analyse existing abstracts to identify robust structure and compelling style.
Who should attend? This workshop is for anyone who is interested in presenting at a METM or facilitating a MET workshop. First-time presenters and seasoned speakers/facilitators are equally welcome, as are non-members.
Outcome: By the end of the workshop, participants will have a fuller understanding of what goes into an effective METM or workshop proposal and clearer ideas about how they can contribute to quality peer training at METM24 and beyond.
Preparation: Participants should think about their area(s) of expertise and topic(s) that could benefit other language professionals, as well as whether that content is more suited to a short conference presentation or panel discussion (approximately 35-45 minutes, delivered in person) or a hands-on workshop (usually three hours, delivered online or in person). No matter how well or vaguely defined, bring your ideas and questions to the workshop!
About the facilitators: Wendy Baldwin is MET’s vice-chair. She has served on the CPD content team and the METM23 content team and has peer-reviewed various METM abstracts. Based in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain, she is an authors’ editor and translator of academic texts in the humanities and social sciences, a structured writing retreat facilitator and an academic writing instructor.
Emma Goldsmith is chair of MET. She has been a member of the workshop and METM content teams in the past. Having given various METM presentations and two workshops (one on Trados and the other on medical regulatory affairs), she has been on both ends of proposals – writing them on the one hand and reviewing them on the other. Emma lives in a small village outside Madrid, in Spain.
Mary Savage is currently MET’s CPD chair; she coordinated content for METM22 after several stints on the content team. She is a translator and authors’ editor working mainly in the humanities and social sciences, and lives in the province of Castellón, Spain.
