Repetitive Motion Injury Prevention
Sure, you can work 10 hours a day! Can’t you? Well, you can, but you shouldn’t. This workshop focuses on the physical impact that signing has on the interpreter. Participants will learn how to prevent Repetitive Motion Injury, and how to get treatment if it does occur.

Code of Ethics: The Missing Ethic
Awwww, you mean we have to be nice to our fellow interpreters, too? Yes, we do. Seldom do interpreters consider the treatment of their co-workers something that should fall under the Code of Ethics. This workshop explores the reasons it SHOULD, and encourages working together with other interpreters to form professional bonds that foster respect.

How to Shed a Bad Day
Ever yell at the kids, your spouse, the dog, or the clerk at the grocery store because you had the most dreadful interpreting day? Yes you have! This workshop looks at the serious effects bad days can have on your personal life if you don’t debrief with someone at the end of the day. Exploring the humorous and the grave, participants will learn coping skills to help them “flush”.

The Care and Feeding of Your Team Interpreter
Care? Feeding? Of my teammate? Yes! When a team of interpreters is not gelling, the message suffers. This workshop explores the nuances of teaming, the process of giving and receiving feedback and gives pointers for taking care of each other. After all, there is no “I” in team!

Corporate Interpreting: It’s Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile
Deaf people? In the Corporate World? You bet! The numbers of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals entering the Corporate Arena are staggering. Thus, the need for interpreters who know how to fit into this exciting field is increasing rapidly. Participants will learn how to adjust to the special situation that is Corporate Interpreting.

Knowing Your Skill Level
Sure, you have no idea how to interpret the subject matter, but you’ll just wing it, right? WRONG! Number four of the RID Code of Ethics is “Interpreters/transliterators shall accept assignments using discretion with regard to skill, setting, and the consumers involved”. This means YOU. This workshop offers a candid look at what it means to know your skill level. Everything from turning down jobs while saving face to mentoring options for improvements will be discusses.

10 Things I Wish I’d Learned In an ITP/IPP
What do you mean I’m not going to get a lunch break? All D/deaf people don’t sign the same as my teachers? How come I’m not rich, yet? Like all professionals, interpreters often have that “Thrown to the Wolves” feeling when they graduate and start working. These and other things will be considered during this lively workshop presented with experiences of the “Seasoned”.

Caring for Yourself
No, a candy bar and a soda are NOT a well-balanced breakfast, especially when you are eating them before a 10-hour day and after four and a half hours of sleep. This workshop takes a look at the physical and mental effects the interpreting career has on us, and teaches interpreters how to take charge of their own well-being.

Voicing Out of the Gloss Box
Well, that’s what they signed, isn’t it? Yes…..sort of. Remember interpretation is not a word for word translation. Some things can get lost in the process. This workshop teaches the interpreter how to voice what the consumer meant, not just what they signed.

Voice Presence: How to Sound Professional When You Don’t Feel It
We all have lost our composure at one time or another. Yes, you have! This workshop teaches interpreters how to lose it and fake it at the same time. Participants will learn the art of keeping it together so that their voicing remains fluent while processing is lagging more than they’d like. Participants will also learn how to voice to sound polished in your production of the message.

Building an English Vocabulary
Word choices make all the difference in the world sometimes. This workshop teaches the interpreter how to expand their personal vocabulary using various tools and make better word choices when voicing to have a truly polished product.

Analyzing English Idioms
Counting your chickens before they hatch. Well, I know what that means (sort of) because I learned it by osmosis…..but don’t ask me to interpret it! Why not? English speakers LOVE idioms! This workshop takes a deeper look at what many common idioms mean, and discusses some ways to interpret them effectively.

Gender Matching in Voicing
Did you know that women and men make different language choices when conversing? Women tend to use more passive and helping language and therefore sound “weaker”. When you are a woman voicing for a D/deaf man, this can be detrimental to his message. Learn to avoid overuse of such phrases as: really, very, starting sentences with “And…” and other foibles of feminine speech patterns. This workshop will teach the interpreter voicing skills that will allow them to match gender language usage as much as possible and to use their diaphragm to voice with power.

Interpreting in a Diverse Environment
Surprise, everyone is not just like you! They have a different frame of reference, a different dialect or culture than yours. They are older, or a different race, they are Deaf and you are not. The United States is not a melting pot where everyone is the same, but rather we are a salad. We are different parts that make a wonderful whole. This workshop explores some of the various diverse situations and individuals that we are privileged to work with on a daily basis and how to maneuver effectively.

Mentorship: Reaching for the Stars
Do I need a mentor? What is a mentor? Can I be a mentor? Mentoring is not just for the beginner. It can help an experienced interpreter focus on a specific area of their work. Come learn what mentoring is and isn't, learn how to set goals, build rapport and give feedback! We will also compare mentoring and tutoring--yes, they are different!

Ethical Decision Making
Interpreting requires a very strong sense of ethics from its practitioners. We work, often in isolation and therefore are expected to know what to do for any given situation. Interpreters do have the RID Code of Ethics, plus the Missouri Code of Conduct to guide them. However, it is impossible for those documents to cover all possible circumstances. Interpreters must have a strong sense of ethics. This workshop will address the Code of Ethics, as promulgated by both the RID and MCDHH. We will examine how they relate to the real world. The participants will walk through some real life scenarios and discuss the ethical ramifications of decisions that were made. A method of problem solving and decision-making will be introduced and explored. The elements of critical thinking and decision-making will be discussed.

Sign What They Meant – NOT What They Said
What do these words have in common: TAKE, RUN, HAVE, and ADDRESS? They are all English words with a plethora of meanings each. And yet, we hear these words and try to cram all of these meanings into a one-sign-fits-all gesture. ASL is a concise, conceptual language. English is much more verbose. How do you know if you are using the right conceptual gloss, or just a sign that you learned for the word and use every time you hear it, regardless of the word’s meaning in that particular context? It is important to make sure you are signing with conceptual accuracy. This workshop explores the nuances of how to interpret English words that have multiple meanings. The goal is to give you a better way of analyzing the source message in order to produce a more accurate target message. “This word=This sign” is not the purpose. Rather, it is learning the process of breaking down the possibilities of meaning for English words that have multiple definitions. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a list of common English words with multiple meanings and corresponding sign choice possibilities for those concepts.

Legal Protocol and Procedures in the Courtroom A Team Approach
Advancing Interpreting & More, LLC announces an exciting collaborative workshop opportunity for the St. Louis metro area. AIM, in collaboration with a practicing attorney, presents a workshop focused on protocol and procedures in a courtroom. If you have a Comprehensive or Advanced Certification, but feel unprepared to go into this setting, this is the workshop for you! We will discuss the rules and expectations from the court personnel in regards to interpreters and their role, as well as address some of the common vocabulary found in the Family Court setting.

Managing the Generations
is a workshop geared for managers who have employees that are members of various generations.  The new multi-generation workplace is a complex and dynamic one that requires flexibility and skill to navigate.  Managers especially have unique challenges to making it run smoothly.  People of all ages can work side by side and draw from a rich mixture of skill and experience.  Managing them all and retaining them long term is a challenge for the best of managers.  Come find out how people who work in companies large and small have succeeded in this new aspect of diversity in the workplace.

Rosetta Stone: Interpreting Accents
At last! A second stone filled with information for translating languages has been unearthed!! It was discovered not in the ruins of Rosetta, Egypt, but outside Rosie Etta’s Bar and Grill in Missouri. This new stone focuses on spoken languages, rather than hieroglyphics and written languages!
OK, not really, but the concept is the same.
We’ve all been there…not sure what our hearing consumers are saying because they have very thick foreign accents. If we don’t understand, then our deaf clients don’t understand. This workshop will give interpreters the tools they need to “decipher” the messages they are to interpret. Based on theory and supported by research, the presentation will help interpreters develop better processing skills, better listening skills and increase their comfort levels when faced with having to interpret a foreign born English speaker.

Generational Differences In Interpreting
What Do Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation X-ers and Generation Nexters Bring to the Profession? Raggedy Ann, Chatty Cathy, Strawberry Shortcake or Beanie Babies? Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, Prince or the Backstreet Boys? Your answers to these questions are telling. They can identify which generation you identify with: The Veterans, The Baby Boomers, Generation X or Generation Next. How do generational differences effect the interpreting profession? This fun, candid discussion will help interpreters understand and embrace the value that each generation brings to the field of interpreting.