About Focus on PM 2026
ELIA’s 11th Focus on Project Management brings project and production managers from across the language industry to Barcelona for three days designed to challenge your thinking, strengthen your skills and expand the value you bring to your organisation.
As the industry evolves, so does the role of the project manager. Today’s PMs are expected to go beyond successful delivery by making informed business decisions, embracing technology responsibly and creating greater value across their organisations.
Through two conference tracks, interactive workshops and expert-led sessions, you’ll build the commercial awareness, strategic thinking and practical confidence to make a greater impact from day one.
To kick things off, join us for Focus on Technology Day on 25 November 2026,
a full day of hands-on tool training and applied learning.
PROGRAMME
Inspired by Barcelona’s architectural legacy, this year’s theme, “The Architecture of Project Management: Creating Foundations that Stand the Test of Change,” explores what it takes to build a project management practice that remains resilient in an industry defined by constant transformation.
Like the city’s most iconic buildings, exceptional project management combines creativity with structure, innovation with purpose, and careful planning with the flexibility to evolve. As AI reshapes workflows and client expectations continue to grow, project managers have an opportunity to become trusted business partners who help shape better outcomes for their teams, clients, and organisations.
Throughout the programme, we’ll explore how to strengthen business understanding, build lasting client relationships, communicate with greater impact, make confident decisions, and use AI responsibly to enhance human expertise.
Whether you’re looking to increase your strategic contribution, strengthen your commercial awareness, or simply become more effective in your current role, Focus PM 2026 will provide practical ideas, valuable conversations, and a supportive community of peers facing the same opportunities and challenges.
Join us in Barcelona to build the foundations that won’t just support your next project—but your next chapter as a project manager.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll reveal the speakers and sessions that will bring this year’s theme to life and equip you with the ideas, skills and connections to build stronger foundations for the future. Stay tuned!
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25 Nov
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26 Nov
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27 Nov
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Pre-conference Day
AI Act Compliance Meets AI Productivity: A Practical Playbook for LSPs
AI is already reshaping how language service providers manage Show more...projects, but most PMs are stuck between two anxieties: how to actually use AI productively, and what the new EU AI Act requires of them. This hands-on session closes both gaps. Attendees leave with a practical toolkit of AI habits, including effective prompting, reusable Skills, and workflow automation, built specifically for LSP project management, alongside a clear, jargon-free breakdown of AI Act obligations under the new Digital Omnibus, including timelines and what actually applies to language services. Designed for project managers who want fewer AI headlines and more AI habits that stick.
Lunch Break
Not provided. Attendees can have lunch at the venue's restaurant but a reservation is required.
From Curiosity to Creation Through Vibe Coding with Cursor
What if the only technical skill you needed to start building Show more...a useful digital tool was curiosity?
In this two-hour hands-on workshop, you’ll use Cursor (one of the world’s leading AI-powered code editors) to turn ideas into working features for an application designed around the everyday needs of project managers in language service companies.
You’ll start from a fully prepared project, so there is no need to set up an application or understand code before the session. Working with Cursor’s AI Agent, you’ll learn how to describe a requirement, assess the result, respond when something does not work and refine the application through focused iterations. Along the way, you’ll explore what vibe coding can realistically do, where human judgement remains essential and how to approach AI-assisted development with confidence.
No coding experience is required. Bring your curiosity and leave with a repeatable method you can apply to your own PM challenges.
Participant preparation
Please bring your own laptop with Cursor installed and a free Cursor Hobby account created in advance.
Please resist the temptation to experiment before the event. Save your Cursor requests and tokens for Barcelona, you’ll need them!
Coffee Break
From Fluent to Reliable: Smarter Quality Control for Project Managers
Join our practical session on how LanguageCheck.ai can help project Show more...managers reduce review effort, control quality risks, and protect project margins.
As machine translation becomes increasingly fluent, serious meaning errors can be harder to spot, making traditional full-text review both costly and inefficient. During the session, we will show how AI-powered quality triage can identify the segments that genuinely require human attention, helping PMs allocate resources more effectively, meet tight deadlines, and deliver more consistent quality without increasing costs.
Welcome Drinks
at Novotel Rooftop Bar (venue)
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Day 1
Event Opening & Sessions
Networking Dinner
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Day 2
Sessions
Who should attend?
This event is for Project and Production Managers who are ready to evolve with their role and lead with purpose in a fast-changing industry. Whether you’re stepping into new responsibilities, navigating complex workflows, or driving innovation within your team, Focus on PM is designed to help you grow strategically and practically.
You’ll join a community of peers who are as committed as you are to learning, sharing, and shaping the future of project management in the language industry—through honest conversation, hands-on practice, and meaningful collaboration.
Benefits of the programme
For you
- Gain insights from experienced PMs and forward-thinking leaders
- Stay ahead of industry shifts with hands-on, trend-aware content
- Break through role ambiguity and lead with greater purpose
- Improve communication, prioritisation, and decision-making under pressure
- Strengthen both your technical know-how and your human leadership toolkit
For your company
- Boost efficiency with smarter project workflows and tools
- Cultivate PMs who think strategically, not just operationally
- Bring fresh thinking and actionable ideas into your 2027 planning
- Strengthen client relationships through better delivery and insight
- Align your company with industry best practices and forward-thinking peers
REGISTER
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€595ELIA Member
- Valid until 22 October 2026
- Applicable to ELIA & ALC members
- Registration includes access to all Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, welcome drinks, lunches, and coffee breaks during the event
- For group registrations, contact us.
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€705ELIA Member
- Valid from 23 October 2026
- Applicable to ELIA & ALC members
- Registration includes access to all Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, welcome drinks, lunches, and coffee breaks during the event
- For group registrations, contact us.
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€735Non-member
- Valid until 22 October 2026
- A 10% discount to members of ELIA Association Partners: AALC, AATC, AFIT, ALIA, Aneti, Apit, ATC, Bliss, CLIA, Federlingue, Juntos, Polot, QSD and VViN
- Registration includes access to all Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, welcome drinks, lunches, and coffee breaks during the event
- For group registrations, contact us.
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€845Non-member
- Valid from 23 October 2026
- A 10% discount to members of ELIA Association Partners: AALC, AATC, AFIT, ALIA, Aneti, Apit, ATC, Bliss, CLIA, Federlingue, Juntos, Polot, QSD and VViN
- Registration includes access to all Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, welcome drinks, lunches, and coffee breaks during the event
- For group registrations, contact us.
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Pre-conference Focus on Technology
If you would like to participate in the Technology Day on Wednesday, 25 November you can reserve your spot in the event registration form. The first two workshops cost €50 each, while the LanguageCheck.ai presentation is free of charge.
Event Cancellation Policy
All requests for cancellation and refunds must be received in writing; this also applies to registration substitutions. Please contact us via email. To view the full cancellation policy and for more information about ELIA’s Event Terms & Conditions, please click here.
Committee
Venue
Novotel Barcelona City Hotel welcomes you to the most innovative area of Barcelona, where avant-garde architecture, design and creativity is all around. Around green areas, retail and near the beach, Sagrada Familia and the metro, it is ideal for discovering the city.
To book your room at Novotel Barcelona City, please use the following BOOKING LINK.
Room rates: €159, single use, €189, double use
Rates include breakfast, VAT and touristic tax (rates subject to changes on the current regulations). To ensure availability, we recommend booking your room by 23 October. Bookings can be cancelled up until 1 month prior to arrival without charge, and the hotel needs to be notified. After that period the rate would be non-refundable.
Images: Copyright Novotel Barcelona City
Social Events
Don’t miss our networking events at PM 2026, where you can mix & mingle with fellow attendees, in inimitable ELIA style. Sign up during registration to secure your spot!
Welcome Drinks Reception
Wednesday, 25 November/ 18:00-20:00
Novotel Rooftop Bar (venue)
ELIA will offer unlimited wine, beer and soft drinks during the first hour of the reception. Any drinks ordered after this time will be at attendees’ own expense.
See you there!
Networking Dinner
Thursday, 26 November / 19:30-23:30
Marina Bay Restaurant
The cost for the dinner is €65 per person and you can sign up during registration. One way bus transfer to the restaurant is included.
Click here for the menu.
SPONSORS
Interested in sponsoring Focus on Project Management 2026?
Click here or contact us!
