NOTIS has a new website this year, and with it, a new online directory that is much easier to maintain than the clunky old database of the past. All corporate and individual members are entitled to one directory entry as a benefit of membership.

The directory has two purposes: to help NOTIS manage our membership better (send you customized email messages, keep a record of your dues paid and events attended, monitor our numbers, and so on) and to help our members be found by potential local customers for their T&I services.

Here are some points to remember in considering how the directory currently works.

• At present the NOTIS directory contains profiles for over 300 individual members and 7 corporate members. If you’re a paid member (other than a student member), you’re in the directory!
• Directory search results are always listed in a random (rather than alphabetical) order, so every search yields results in a different order. This means that an agency called AAA Translation, for example, will not have an undue advantage in search results, and that YOU will be the top result as often as anyone else when the information in your profile matches a search by a potential customer.
• Your profile will come up in search results based on the information you’ve entered in it. You can be as precise or as vague as you like, but we advise you to at least make sure your languages and credentials are up to date. As a matter of professional ethics, please be honest.
• You can customize which information in your profile is visible to other members and to the public, so it’s easy to protect your personal information.
• Corporate members (mainly agencies) show up differently from individuals in search results, in several ways: They're labeled with their type of membership, and their company names appear in their profiles. This way, potential customers can easily see which of their search results are agencies and which are individuals, and can choose whom to contact based on their own needs and preferences for each particular assignment.

We’re also working to advertise our directory more actively this year. Look for information about the directory in the next version of the official NOTIS brochure, which we pass out wherever potential T&I buyers gather. Starting in September 2016, we’ll also be running advertisements online, including both Google ads (which appear based on Google search results) and LinkedIn ads (which are shown to targeted categories of professionals when they use LinkedIn).

Do you have questions or advice about the directory (or anything else NOTIS does)? Please get in touch! We’re working hard to become an even more valuable resource for professionals in translation and interpretation across the Pacific Northwest. Your ideas can help make that happen. And since we are volunteer-run, we’d especially love to hear from members who can donate their time and energy to help with our directory (or any other project). You can email any board member directly from this page.