Whilst undertaking her post-graduate studies, Yvonne began also working as a Mandarin simultaneous interpreter in Australia. After the completion of her Ph.D studies in 1993, Yvonne was appointed Manager of Conference Interpreter Services, a division of arinex Pty Limited, the largest professional Conference and Exhibition Management Company in Australia. In 2003, Yvonne also assumed the position as Manager of China/Asia Relations & Business Development for the parent company – arinex Pty Limited. Other relevant industry experience included the appointment in 2002 as IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organisers) ambassador to Asia, positions she still holds. Yvonne is also an official Invited Member of IAPCO. Yvonne is now the owner and managing director of Conference Interpreter Services, an independent business servicing the convention and business events industry at large.

Yvonne is a regular speaker at industry conferences, forums and guest lectures at universities in Australia, China and Taiwan. Over the years, Yvonne has been invited by ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) and IAPCO and IMEX to present at various training seminars held in Bangkok, Pattaya in Thailand, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, and other cities in mainland China, in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu, Taiwan and other destinations on a wide range of topics relating to the meetings profession, tourism and hospitality industries which have been designed to raise the standard of excellence in meetings, events and exhibitions management.

Pictured with Mikhail Gorbachev and his personal interpreter for 28 years Pavel Palazhchenko during the Earth Diaologue Conference held in Brisbane for whom Yvonne provided a team of Russian conference interpreters.

Yvonne is also sought after as a premium and highly experienced professional translator from Chinese into English and vice versa and has been awarded the professional accreditation from Australia’s National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI). Many of Yvonne’s earlier translations of Australian literary works have also been published in Chinese journals and magazines. Yvonne’s business translation areas have covered a wide range of areas from IT, technical, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, medical, healthcare to legal, the arts, performing arts and the film industry and others.In Australia, a language professional is usually a generalist rather than a specialist who excels through his/her ability at doing research for each and every assignment and building a wide-ranging knowledge base in the process.

She is also a cross-cultural consultant and resource person providing talks and consultancy to multinational corporations in the areas of finance, resources, energy, IT, and tourism looking to expand their businesses and/or relocate their staff overseas in countries like China and the Asia Pacific. In the same way, Yvonne’s expertise is applied in cultural orientation seminars or one-on-one coaching sessions run to assist companies introducing or importing staff from China and other regions to settle in and ease foreign staff into an Australian business environment, allowing them to adapt more quickly to and thrive in the new environment.

On a day to day basis, Yvonne runs the business of Conference Interpreter Services, and oversees the provision of professional conference language services for international conferences covering a vast range of specialist areas and language combinations and has been involved with well over 750 international conferences. A good barometer of meetings movement, Yvonne has her finger on the pulse when it comes to understanding the international meetings market as well as that of the cultural and language issues associated with the profession.