I wish to thank you for your continued support of AILIA this past, very active year.

AILIA has a couple of exciting announcements:

• AILIA and ALC (The Association of Language Companies) have signed a partnership agreement, which will give AILIA members registration discount for ALC events and conversely ALC members registration discount to AILIA events. There will also be cross-promotional opportunities.

• Our membership management software is almost ready to be launched, which will include a new website with more functionality and automation of processes. Members will receive an invite to log in, create their new profiles, upload logos and then renew their memberships.

We have been involved in many important initiatives in 2018 including:

• Expanded our Rendez-vous series from 3 cities to 4 cities (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau). All events had speakers and expanded content.

• AILIA entered into an agreement to host the ISO TC 37 Annual Conference in Ottawa this June. The conference will take place at University of Ottawa. AILIA is canvasing members for contributions.

• Increased AILIA membership by approximately 20%.

• Established a new Partnership Program. Current sponsors include: SDL (Platinum); Terminotix (Platinum); Consoltec (Gold); MemoQ (Gold) and Plunet (Gold)

• Increased our social media footprint with more frequent postings and larger reach with an increase in followers.

• Increased the number of direct emails to our membership.

• Launched a webinar series with information talks relevant to the language industry.

• Hosted Holiday gatherings in 5 cities (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver)

• Negotiated AILIA Member discounts to TAUS Annual Conference held in Vancouver (October 2018).

• AILIA was represented by Board Members at Terminology sector meetings and at OCCI (Ontario Council on Community Interpreting)

Members also benefit from:

• significant costs savings on errors & omission insurance;

• substantial CGSB certification discounts for corporate members;

• acquiring new clients who value language companies who are members of a Canadian professional association;

• registration discounts at ALC events;

• website promotion & traffic (AILIA's website is highly rated by Google which is back- linked to your website from the member’s page); and

• increased global reach by participating on AILIA’s active social media initiatives;

• increased knowledge and networking during monthly teleconference

• All members can proudly display and link their AILIA Members Logo on their websites home page, as potential clients are now looking for companies that are members of their Industry Associations!

AILIA went through a major transformation at the end of 2013 by becoming a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization, and your support is fundamental to making it possible. We have continued to grow, offering more and larger events and activities, which is a tribute to our dedicated and hardworking Executive Committee and Board Members. We are very excited to be hosting the 2019 ISO TC 37 Annual Conference in June 2019, a major undertaking for AILIA. We are proud to be representing Canada’s Language industry on the international stage.

As an organization, our activities have grown to the point that we need to have resources beyond what is practical strictly through the work of volunteers. We have been taking tentative steps, including hiring a firm to assist us with our social media activities, but we need to have more paid assistance to ensure that we can continue to build on our success.

We trust you will appreciate that renewing your AILIA membership is a good business decision and a wise investment in our industry and future. If you are not already a member, hopefully you will make the decision to join.

Sharon Steinberg

President