THRIVE 2025 – How to Become a Sales-First Business
ATC Unconference THRIVE 2025 focuses on sales, account growth, marketing and lead generation. Bring your sales team, senior PMs and account managers, and spend two days putting together the building blocks for a compelling, sales-first business. THRIVE 2025 will connect you with industry peers, and give you the tools and confidence to manage a business underpinned by solid financial, technological and commercial foundations – ready for whatever comes next.
Join the ATC, business experts, and language services industry peers for two days of tight-knit networking and learning on 22-23 October 2025 in Manchester for THRIVE 2025 – ATC Unconference and ATC Language Industry Awards celebrations!
Programme highlights
- Onboarding and growing client accounts: setting up for success
- Building growth through human relationships: panel discussion
- The case for MT/AI for client growth & retention: taking an AI-led approach
- Open mic – strategies for ROI in 2025: share your insights
- Transition to becoming a sales-first business: engaging the whole team
- Sales-first project managers: don’t talk about sales
- Marketing-led sales & success stories: keynote and case studies
- Lead generation through social media: drive growth where it happens
Speakers & Panelists
Keynote Speaker
Richard Michie
CEO, The Marketing Optimist
Richard Michie is the CEO and founder of The Marketing Optimist, a Leeds-based digital marketing consultancy established in 2016. With over 25 years of experience in the marketing industry, Richard has worked with various big-name brands and agencies, honing his expertise in direct marketing and customer retention. His approach emphasises strategic planning and creativity to achieve sales targets.
Richard has had several stints in the LSP industry as Marketing Director of Applied Language Solutions and Global Lingo, his agency now works with Leeds based LSP Andiamo!
The inspiration behind The Marketing Optimist stemmed from Richard’s observation of the challenges small businesses face in accessing high-quality, flexible, and affordable marketing support. He identified a gap in the market for an agile agency model that offers external services tailored to deliver results without the constraints of traditional in-house resources.
Under Richard’s leadership, The Marketing Optimist has worked with companies across the UK and the USA with a range of digital marketing and PR services. Richard’s leadership philosophy centres on trust and empowerment. He believes in supporting his team, comprising full-time staff and freelancers, to make decisions and be creative, fostering a culture of innovation.
Corinne Saynor Smith
ATC Chair & Director, International Translations Limited
James Brown
ATC Vice-Chair & Head of Commercial, Comtec Translations
Roy Allkin
Founder, Wolfestone Group
Steve Higgins
Former CEO, Mondia Technologies
Ruth Partington
CEO at Empower Translate & outgoing ATC Chair
Bernadette Byrne
Managing Partner, Six Worldwide
Rian Bailey-Weir
Director, The Nice Exchange
James Halstead
ATC Council Member
Helen Provart
Managing Director, Peak Translations
Gabriela Lemoine
Director, Accentus Language Services
Shrushti Chhapia
CEO, eLanguageWorld
Sophie Howe
CEO, Comtec Translations
Raisa McNab
CEO, Association of Translation Companies
Sponsors & Partners
Get in touch with ceo@atc.org.uk for sponsorship opportunities at THRIVE 2025 – ATC Unconference!
