Whether your event is virtual, in-person, or hybrid, you and your attendees can benefit from event interpretation and event translation. These services aren’t just nice-to-haves. Strong event interpretation services can enhance your event and brand identity. Choosing interpretation services ensures all participants can fully understand and engage with content. You'll achieve:

• Broader audience reach
• Maximized attendance
• Better audience understanding (especially for complex topics, technical discussions, and nuanced messages)
• Enhanced inclusivity (everyone can equally contribute, ask questions, network)
• A more professional image
• Stronger global brand identity
• Increased ethically-conscious brand identity, with commitment to accessibility and diversity
• Reduced risk of social and cultural gaffes
• Upgraded attendee experience

Using interpreting services for events offers significant advantages, and you can optimally reap them when applying four key planning tips.

#1 If Possible, Plan Months Ahead for Event Interpretation

If you’ll be using event interpretation, try adding it to your early planning stages instead of scrambling in the weeks before the occasion. It’s ideal to book your interpreting solutions at least a few months out. Consider booking them as much as three to six months out if your event:

• Topic is particularly technical or niche
• Participants speak rare or indigenous languages
• Has multiple rooms/sessions or breakout groups
• Is multi-day or platform

Depending on the time of year or location, booking event interpreters can be challenging, especially for these needs. Booking early is the best way to address this potential issue.

#2 Budget for Event Interpretation from the Beginning

When event interpretation is needed, it’s important to budget for it from the beginning. Depending on the event and its demographics, ensuring multilingual access for participants might necessitate a more complex, multifaceted solution. Events may require:

• At least two interpreters for every language (they often work in pairs and switch off to take breaks)
• Training for the interpreters, especially if material is complex or technical
• Travel, food, and lodging expenses for the interpreters
• Rental of various kinds of equipment, which may include booths, video screens, and/or headsets
• Translation for event materials

Waiting until only a few weeks or months before the event may leave insufficient funds in your budget to implement the optimal solution. Notably, some companies may hope to use AI interpreting instead of human interpreters to save on costs. AI can assist with some phone-based scenarios and captioning. For more verbal scenarios, though, AI is not currently ready for the nuances of conference interpreting.

#3 Aggregate Materials for Interpreters So They Can Prepare

For an optimal performance from interpreters, it helps to gather materials they can use to prepare. These are a few examples:

• Glossaries of industry jargon or terminology
• Background materials on the conference topic
• Company style guides and brand voice information
• Presenter’s speeches and presentations

When interpreters can review some of these items before the scheduled event, they’ll be more prepared and understand the content they’re interpreting on a deeper level. Providers like Lionbridge have the expertise to train their interpreters before the event. While we run basic training on event interpretation to keep our professionals sharp, additional event-specific training can help them perform at an even higher level.

#4 Create and Share Your Event Interpretation NDA Early in the Process

If it’s important to have interpreters sign an NDA, handle this step early in your planning process. Create and share the NDA with your event interpretation providers when they’re sourcing for interpreters. It’s ideal to include the NDA in the recruitment and onboarding process to avoid issues close to the event. If your language services provider (LSP) is training your interpreters, they can review the NDA and answer any questions.

Get in touch

Will you need event interpreting for your next conference, webinar, online training, meeting, town hall, or trade show? Need help assessing whether you’ll need conference interpreting services, simultaneous interpreting, booths, headsets, or training for your interpreters? How much will you need to budget to ensure language access for all participants? Lionbridge can help advise you on the best event interpretation solutions for your unique project. We cover 380+ languages and every business vertical. Let’s get in touch.