ALCA Annual Conference 2026

ALCA Annual Conference 2026

Theme: Turning Change into Growth in the Age of Automation

Join industry leaders from across Africa and beyond to explore how automation is reshaping language services and how it can be turned into measurable business value. The specific metrics of business value that the conference would focus on are as follows:

● Revenue/Turnover for LSPs: How the adoption of automation strategies leads to a larger, more regular turnover, enabling business stability, securing loans, attracting investors, and affording the best teams and resources.

● Client Benefit: How automation enables the client to save money/time, increase their profit/output, solving a key pain point in their global communication, or achieving specific language-related goals.

● Brand Recognition: How strategic use of automation can enhance the reputation or brand association of LSPs, making services easier to sell and securing clients through perceived value.

● Language Professional Value: How automation and company growth translates into tangible benefits for language professionals (economic worth, career growth and resource provision).

● NLP and LLMs for African languages: How can the integration of African languages in large language models contribute to increasing market size and opportunities?

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Ticket Section Introduction

Secure your place at Africa’s leading language industry event

Whether you are an LSP owner, language professional, technology provider, or client-side company, this conference is designed to deliver clear, practical value. You will leave with actionable strategies to grow revenue, strengthen your offering, and position your business for the future of automation.

Spaces are limited across selected session formats and workshops.

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TICKETS (ALL PRICES IN USD)

· $150 for early-bird registrations (until 30 April 2026)

· $200 for standard registration (May to August 2026).

· $50 for Students – Student verification required.

· $50 for Networking Dinner (Thursday 27 August 2026, from 19:30 to 22:30)

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Call for Proposals: Subthemes for the 2026 Annual Conference (opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)

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The Association of Language Companies in Africa invites applications for presentations, panels, and workshops under the theme: Turning Change into Growth in the Age of Automation. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

We seek submissions that offer actionable strategies, case studies, and quantitative insights into how African Language Service Providers (LSPs) can leverage automation to achieve measurable business growth.

Subtheme 1

Scaling Revenue and Market Share through Automation

This subtheme focuses on the commercial and transactional impact of automation. We are looking for proposals that demonstrate how technology can be used to dramatically increase output and competitiveness in both local and international trade.

We invite submissions addressing:

● Revenue and Turnover Growth: Demonstrating how automation leads to a larger, more regular Turnover (TO), signaling business stability and the capacity to attract investors required for scaling business operations.

● Market Share Expansion: Presenting clear methods where automation enables LSPs to offer globally competitive pricing and speed, resulting in capturing a larger client base and achieving performance better than competitors.

● Quantifiable Customer Savings: Providing proof points that directly address client benefit, showing exactly how automated workflows translate into measurable savings for the customer, thereby accelerating their own business objectives.

Subtheme 2

Securing Stability and Investment in the Automated Future

This subtheme explores the regulatory, governance, and internal policy frameworks required to harness automation responsibly and safely, thereby protecting a company's value.

We invite submissions addressing:

● Regulatory Adaptation: Analyzing how African LSPs can navigate global and national regulations regarding data privacy and AI deployment, ensuring compliance while still achieving the agility and speed that automation promises.

● Attracting and Retaining Resources: Developing HR and Vendor Management policies and training programs that prepare teams to work with automation, ensuring the company can afford the best teams and resources in this new landscape.

● Driving Policy Advocacy: Proposals addressing the required governmental frameworks (e.g., local content quotas, tax incentives for tech adoption) that enable African LSPs to afford the best teams and resources and compete fairly with international entities.

● Protecting Business Worth: Focusing on data residency, IP protection, and contracting policies that safeguard the company’s assets and client data in a challenging regulatory environment, thereby protecting the company’s long-term worth.

Subtheme 3

Building Brand Trust and Perceived Value with Responsible Automation

This subtheme addresses the moral dimensions of automation and its direct link to brand reputation, client trust, and long-term company value.

We invite submissions addressing:

● Ethics in the African Context: Exploring the specific ethical considerations for deploying automation tools that handle Africa’s diverse languages and cultures, ensuring the technology reflects and respects local nuances.

● Building Brand Association and Trust: Strategies for establishing high ethical standards (e.g., data security, fair pricing) that foster a strong Brand Association with reliability, making the services easy to sell even when clients are new to outsourcing or automation.

● Responsible AI Use and Value Perception: Showcasing methods for transparently and ethically deploying MT/AI to ensure client needs are met without compromising quality, thereby maintaining high client perceived value and ensuring the solution truly solves the pain point.

● Mitigating Societal Risk: Addressing the ethics of using AI in politically sensitive or low-resource language contexts, protecting the company and its clients from reputational harm and contributing to community trust.

Subtheme 4

Professional Value: Empowering the Language Workforce through Automation

This subtheme centers on the direct impact of automation and associated business growth on the language professional’s career, well-being, and economic status. We seek proposals detailing how LSPs can successfully transform their business model to benefit their core talent pool.

We invite submissions addressing:

● Skill Advancement and Net Worth: Strategies for integrating language professionals into roles like AI training, quality assurance oversight, or prompt engineering. Focus on how the company’s growth directly adds to the language professionals’ net worth through valuable, future-proof skills acquisition, rather than just displacement.

● Attracting Top Talent: How a company's commitment to professional value—providing the best resources and career pathways—becomes a competitive advantage in attracting the best teams in a tight labor market.

● Interpretation Service Innovation: Showcasing how African LSPs can leverage Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) platforms to create new jobs, expand their service reach, and increase Turnover, while maintaining quality and ethical standards for the interpreters.

● Future-Proofing Local Talent: Detailing training and mentorship programs that equip local LPs with high-demand skills (e.g., MT customization, AI data annotation), ensuring their career development adds to their personal value and helps the company attract the best teams.

Session formats

● Panel Discussion (60 minutes): A moderator leads 3-4 experts in a discussion on a single subtheme.

● Individual Presentation (30 minutes): A traditional, single-speaker presentation

● Fireside Chat (45 minutes): An informal, seated conversation between a moderator and a high-profile expert

● Hands-on Workshops (60-90 minutes): Intensive, small-group sessions where attendees use their laptops to practice a specific skill.

● Demonstrations/Tech Showcase (20-30 minutes): A facilitator or vendor shows a specific tool or solution.

Apply here: https://forms.gle/5fgnpVMYqD37koY1A (opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab)