Learning Area

Good sound quality has a direct impact on the success of any meeting and event, and yet it is too often overlooked. Being able to hear the speaker loud and clear, is not just a matter of comfort for listeners but also a prerequisite for interpretation. So one of the key tools that you should consider using to improve your sound quality is a quality headset.

Language is the basis of communication and the means through which we communicate ourselves to others. Communication might be difficult when we encounter someone who speaks a different language. This is where translation and interpretation come in useful.

Both translation and interpretation are methods that enable individuals to communicate across language obstacles. While the two names are sometimes used interchangeably, they have major differences.

In this post, we'll look at the distinctions between translation and interpretation.

When it comes to virtual or hybrid meetings, Microsoft Teams stands out as a top choice for many. Its user-friendly interface and versatility make it an everyday tool for both impromptu and scheduled discussions among peers.

Breaking down language barriers in Teams meetings has never been easier. Microsoft has introduced a new built-in feature that makes it possible for people of multiple languages to collaborate seamlessly in Teams. But that's just the beginning. There are several other ways to enhance your Teams meetings and make them more inclusive. Keep reading to find out more.

In today's globalized world, communication across different languages is more important than ever before. As businesses expand their operations to new markets, there is a growing need for interpreters to bridge language barriers and facilitate communication.

Zoom and Teams both have an appealing feature that allows meeting attendees to activate closed captioning. This tool provides users with valuable visual assistance for following the sessions by automatically creating a live transcription of what is being said.

Both Teams and Zoom use automated speech recognition algorithms to transcribe the speech in real-time. These are completely automated, with little to no preparation required from the meeting host.

The issue of language rights has been divisive in Quebec, Canada, for many years. Only 8.9% of Quebec residents identify as native English speakers, while 79% of residents are native French speakers, official numbers show.

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

Find out how Daniel turned into an interpreter from a craftsman, whether Interprefy has people onsite, the challenges of covering various time zones, and what happens behind the scenes regarding event planning and preparation. 
Hit that play button to hear this and many more exciting topics they covered in this episode.

Adding language interpretation to on-site events has traditionally been a logistical challenge. It often involved finding interpreters and then organizing their travel, food, and accommodation — to say nothing of sourcing and setting up interpretation equipment.

Fortunately, since 2014, Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) technology has made interpretation faster, easier, and more cost-effective to organize than ever before. In this article, we’ll explore how RSI works for on-site events, the benefits of RSI, and what event planners should look for in an ideal RSI solution.

It's beginning to look a lot like... Yeah, you've guessed it, it's that time of the year already! And to celebrate the upcoming festive season we've asked our colleagues from around the world to share their favourite tunes and the meaning they hold for them with us. 

As we are busy tackling end-of-the-year planning, many teams are brainstorming how we approach year-end get-togethers and celebrate the holidays, even if we can't be physically in the same place or even the same time zone.

Unless you haven’t heard, there’s a pretty big sustainability conference taking place in Egypt this month, aiming to once again highlight the action (or lack of) on climate change over the past year.

Managers in the events industry will be keeping a keen eye on progressions, as the conference couldn’t come at a more perfect time. In-person events are back in full swing, but with plenty of appetite for sustainable events from attendees, many are looking for help in delivering eco-friendly events that go beyond simply hosting them online.

As we’re venturing into the new year, many companies are finalising the preparation of their sales kick-off meetings. These meetings are a fantastic opportunity for sales, marketing, product, and customer support teams to meet, celebrate, get motivated and strategize for the future, but they require a ton of work.

Going into the new year, hosting a sales kickoff (SKO) is a great opportunity to rally your sales and marketing organization around your latest company strategies, plans, and best practices. 

Remember the times when suggesting working from home was seen as an absurdity? “There’s no way you can be productive at home”, and other worries long presented a barrier to what today is a driver for productivity. As with any innovation, similarly, the rise of Remote Simultaneous Interpretation has left many with a few basic questions and concerns.

Are you speaking at an upcoming meeting or event with simultaneous interpretation? Make sure you follow the tips below to make your intervention shine.

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

Portuguese(BR) interpreter and founder of King Tradução, Arthur Dias connects with Interprefy's Senior Training Specialist, Jelena Markovic. In this episode, we talk about the difference between onsite and online meetings and events for interpreters, the significance of training and preparation of all parties involved, as well as the remote support's role at Interprefy.

This article was originally published on AIJourn.com

This article was originally published on Exhibitionworld.co.uk

You're hosting a business meeting, town hall, or webinar on Zoom, but not everyone joining speaks the same language. Know the feeling? That's where live translation solutions like remote simultaneous interpretation, captions, and subtitles can make the impossible possible.

Zoom offers some built-in language capability but, as many have found out, not the serious capability needed for serious events. Interprefy offers the same high-function multi-lingual support for Zoom as it does for other meeting and conferencing platforms.

Language interpretation, Zoom integration, and managed interpretation services ensure a seamless experience for all parties, to even the most complex set-ups, like for example The White House Summit on Climate Change.

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago most events were not fully capable of reaching large multinational audiences. Now, web conferencing and video broadcasting platforms, like ON24, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, have removed physical limitations from virtual events. Event planners and marketing teams are now able to attract audiences from across the globe, as long as they have a strong internet connection. However, inefficient language translation remains a stark barrier of access to events and creates extra friction. Without a common language or translation tool, many people feel excluded and will not attend the event.

With the rise of online video conferencing technology, it has become easier for brands to create events that can reach large, multi-national audiences. But reaching new listeners isn’t the same as getting through to them. For that, you need to be able to speak their language.

Language is a major barrier when organising an inclusive virtual event. There are many types of translation services available, including: real-time AI translation, interpreting technology, and written translation such as captions and subtitles. However, it can be difficult to choose a service that best fits the needs of your event. This article explores why adding web conferencing with language translation to events is key to driving meaningful brand engagement.

How does remote simultaneous interpretation work<” is a question we’re often asked.

Interpretation is the art of transforming a message from one language to another, either through speaking or signing. Unlike translation, which involves written communication, interpretation is done verbally or through sign language. This crucial distinction between the two is what sets them apart.

A hybrid event combines in-person and online elements. In other words, an in-person event that has speakers, attendees or interpreters connecting and participating remotely, is a hybrid event.

We have uploaded this article to our Interprefied podcast and is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

Sound quality is something that accompanies us all day. From putting on the radio in the morning to binge-watching that new tv series late at night, good audio is something we often take for granted. Whilst it's usually quite easy to spot bad audio, good audio quality is in fact quite a complex matter. A good example is a decade-old discussion between vinyl-lovers and other audiophiles over which format provides superior sound quality: CD or vinyl.

In remote interpreting, being able to both receive and send quality audio is key. To ensure information is accurately processed and secure an enjoyable audio experience while protecting people's hearing.

The widespread adoption of digital technology has made simultaneous interpretation more accessible than ever before. While in-person interpretation has witnessed a post-pandemic renaissance for professional, large-scale events, the advent of remote simultaneous interpretation (RSI) options has enabled effective international conversations to take place without the need for an on-site interpreter. Ultimately making the delivery of simultaneous translation more simple, reliable, and cost-effective than ever before.

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

French interpreter and influencer Mike Lemay connects with Interprefy's Head of People and Culture, Comfort Macauley. This episode discusses the importance of creating, nurturing, and increasing your network, including non-conventional platforms.

With the shift from physical to online conferencing, technology has become a strong enabler in bridging language gaps between organizations and individuals. That's why we continue to reinforce strict guidelines for the hardware used to deliver remote simultaneous interpretation on the Interprefy platform. Three key elements are essential in order for all events participants - from speakers to interpreters - to speak, hear and be heard clearly and without any interruption.

Even though remote working has provided greater flexibility, it’s still almost impossible to gather all staff in one place at the same time.

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

French interpreter Philippe Dunkel, with close to 200 interprefied events under his mic, meets CRM Marketing Manager, Susi Lovati, in our latest episode of Interprefiers Take the Floor. In this episode, we address the hot topic of sustainability in the multilingual events space and how remote interpretation has given opportunities to interpreters.

What is the connection between Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, and YouTube? Without a doubt, they are among the top video consumption platforms today. But they all have one thing in common: all of these video platforms include captions or subtitles for video uploads as part of their core features. Why? Let's dive into some of the key benefits of live captioning:

Whether you are a content creator, event manager, meeting organiser, or busy professional, adding subtitles or closed captions to your live content and videos is a game-changer.

A recent study by UK charity Stagetext reports that four out of five young people use subtitles when they watch TV. The charity's research further suggested an average of 31% of people would go to more live events if more had captions on a screen in the venue.

Subtitling and captioning have begun to shape a new norm of how people consume videos and live content. But as soon as words start appearing on video screens, many people tend to use the terms captions and subtitles interchangeably.

Let's look at subtitles and captions in-depth: What are they, and how do they differ?

In this article, we’re going to look at the differences between subtitles, and captioning, and what their best use case is.

In this article:

1. Captioning

1.1. What is captioning?

1.2. The benefits of captions

1.3. Where captions can be used

1.4. How people access captions

1.5. Types of captions

1.6. How captions are generated

2. Subtitles

2.1. What are subtitles?

2.2. Types of subtitles

2.3. The benefits of subtitles

2.4. Where subtitles can be used

2.5 How subtitles are generated

3. The differences between captions and subtitles

4. Blurring the lines

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

In this special edition, Spanish interpreter and Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Marina Gaiteri, meets Remote Support team leader, Ana Brkan, in our latest episode of Interprefiers Take The Floor. We unpack the importance of language sensitivity and how to deal with event stress during multilingual conferences.

For nearly two years now event and meeting organisers worldwide have been trying out new and creative ways to take their gatherings online and embraced change and adaptation like never before.

Most events are, at their core, about connecting people with a shared, valuable experience. From roaring fans at a sold-out stadium to an intimate poetry reading, to an industry-shaping business conference — all attendees are sharing in an experience that’s meaningful for them.

As technology develops, it gives us new ways to create, shape and access these shared experiences. After all, technology has been an integral part of events from the very beginning. Microphones amplified speakers and performers; video broadcasts allowed people around the world to watch events; the internet took accessibility even further and allowed for new degrees of communication and interactivity from attendees.

The "metaverse” is the next technological advancement making waves in the events sphere.

Thanks to modern technologies, it’s easier than ever for businesses to deliver meetings, webinars, and events via the internet. While the move toward virtual and hybrid events meetings was accelerated due to COVID-19 lockdowns and safety concerns, businesses have embraced the opportunity to reach larger and more distant audiences online.

But businesses need to balance these benefits with new risks and threats. This is especially true today, when virtual and hybrid events are reaching maturity and the initial novelty around the format has given way to clearer measures for performance. As organisations are responsible for safeguarding a huge amount of attendee and speaker data, cybersecurity is a crucial concern for online event managers. Depending on their objectives, hackers may attempt to steal your business data, attendee personal and payment data, or they may seek to spread malware to attendee devices.

Robust cybersecurity is key to minimising these risks and protecting your reputation, along with your audience’s data. For organisations, another concern is complying with strict data privacy regulations like GDPR in the EU or American state-specific laws like the CCPA in California. Failure to meet GDPR compliance, for instance, can cost €20 million or up to 4% of annual global turnover.

While Interprefy isn’t a data security company, we are ISO 27001 certified and our Information Security Management Systems is aligned with standards in the area of data security and recommended best practices. Drawing from our expertise and experience with online and hybrid events, we’ve put together a checklist for organisations looking to improve their event cybersecurity. Let’s dive in.

Many consider Cleopatra to be the first recorded event planner in history. She knew the value of bringing people together for celebrations, announcements, and other occasions. Famously, she turned meeting Roman general Mark Antony into a fabulous event. Cleopatra entered the meeting floating down the Nile on the ancient equivalent of a luxury yacht — while dressed as the goddess Venus. Talk about making an entrance.

Cleopatra’s goal for meeting Mark Antony was clear: she wanted to form a close connection with him. The result of her event? Her dynasty got to live on for another day. From seasonal festivals to the modern New Year’s party, events have retained the same underlying goal: to build connections and bring people together for a shared experience.

While the goal of events hasn’t changed, the significant investment required to create modern business events means that there is more at stake. This is especially the case today, with a vast array of technological tools facilitating many parts of event management.

Hybrid and virtual events take this that much farther, as many (if not all) attendees experience the event through their devices. Along with being accessed via devices, online events can be joined from nearly anywhere on the globe. This presents businesses with the opportunity to reach audiences at scale. But is reaching the largest possible audience a sign of a successful event? Some businesses certainly benefit from hosting smaller events that lead to deeper connections and more meaningful networking experiences.

With so many changing factors and business models at play, let’s consider how event “success” has evolved to meet the contemporary business environment.

The appetite for virtual events does not seem to slow down. According to marketwatch.com the year-over-year growth rate for the global virtual events market for 2021 is estimated at 40.37%" by the end of 2025.

And even as in-person events slowly begin to return, offering two entry points - a virtual experience and a on-site experience - is increasingly becoming an added value many event organisers don't want to miss out on. The undisputed, yet largely untapped potential of hybrid events means organisers will continue to look for best-of-breed cloud-based event technology to deliver stunning event experiences to remote attendees beyond the pandemic.

When holding meetings with partners, customers, suppliers, or peers across multiple countries, language can often pose a big barrier to successful communication.

In the tech world, women are still a minority. According to a European report, only 17% of professionals in the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) sector are women. US numbers don't paint a better picture, with women representing only 28.8% of the tech workforce.

According to research by PwC, "females aren’t considering technology careers as they aren’t given enough information on what working in the sector involves and also because no one is putting it forward as an option to them."

For International Women's Day 2022 we want to #BreakTheBias for women in tech. To celebrate IWD 2022 we've caught up with some of the amazing women who work in tech at Interprefy and break the bias on Women's Day and beyond.

Ema, Viola, Merlyn, Anna, and Dorotea hold technical positions at Interprefy and love what they do. We talked to them about their experience working in a traditionally male-dominated field, how they got into tech and how they think Interprefy can help #BreakTheBias. 

• Viola Lin, Product Manager, Taiwan
• Merlyn Prosianos, Senior Technician, Philippines
• Anna Ritchie, Senior Product Manager, The Netherlands
• Ema Vuckovic, Senior QA Engineer, Serbia
• Dorotea Lazarevic, QA Engineer, Serbia

The International Organization for Standarization (ISO) defines interpreting as "rendering of spoken or signed information from a source language to a target language in oral or signed form, conveying both the register and meaning of the source language content". Add "remote" to this definition and it then seems obvious that we are referring to the act of interpreting in the distance but, is there only one way of doing it? and, where is it used?

What does it mean to lead global business? Typically you’ll be facing challenges that companies with a smaller footprint don’t even know exist. Thankfully, you’re also in line to reap the benefits that accompany solving these challenges.

So, what must global companies overcome to achieve consistent success? Let’s examine 4 common challenges of managing a multinational workforce and client base, along with their solutions.

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

In this special edition we take you to the Expo 2020, where we met with Amarou Farkouh, the interpreter who brought outer space to Interprefy, and project manager Danijel Dragutinovic who oversaw the project. 

Conferences and events are integral parts of doing business in today's world. Even with the rise of technologies that make virtual gatherings possible, we all feel a longing for a good, old-fashioned face-to-face get-together where we can connect with our peers, enjoy great content.

While Zoom offers some built-in language interpretation capabilities, Interprefy's expertise, support, and cutting-edge Remote Simultaneous Interpreting (RSI) software with a dedicated interpreter interface can help take multilingual Zoom meetings to the next level.

Conference interpreting hasn't changed much since 1945 - but it has definitely undergone a seismic shift since 2020. With the majority of events being canceled or moved online because of social distancing, interpreters had to adapt quickly to not miss out on interpreting opportunities. Fortunately, Remote Simultaneous Interpretation technology already existed and those who adopted the technology could resume work successfully.

Sourcing an accurate and clear language interpretation solution is essential to delivering high-quality multilingual hybrid events. But finding the right solution can be a challenge, especially as interpretation needs to be provided for both on-site and virtual attendees. This logistical hurdle is multiplied by the number of languages that require interpretation.

Many hybrid event organisers have turned to Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) technology to solve this problem. But is RSI a good fit for your hybrid event? Let’s compare RSI with traditional interpretation before exploring how RSI fits into the hybrid event landscape.

The shift toward digital experiences and virtual events has created an opportunity for businesses to expand into new markets and reach audiences at scale. While expansion is key to business growth, it’s a challenging process that requires localising your content to fit with different multinational audiences.

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

In this edition of our Interprefiers Take the Floor series, conference interpreter Tifani Hutagalung meets Interprefy Sales Manager Jelena Korac to discuss the excitement around their roles and their experience working with Interprefy.

Want to watch more? Make sure to check out our official YouTube channel

If you work in a multinational, you’ll get a taste for the experiences only larger, multilingual companies can offer — like the opportunity to learn about new cultures and ways of doing business. However, unlocking these benefits requires proactively solving communication challenges that typically occur in multicultural, and multilingual environments.

Let’s examine 4 of the most common friction points and how interpreting services can help overcome them.

Hybrid events blend the best qualities of virtual event platforms with traditional venue-based events — literally offering the best of both worlds. They’re increasingly popular, and work well when you’re programming topics and activities that can be communicated to both physical and online audiences.

One of the greatest benefits of hybrid events is how much easier it is for organisers to ensure their event is inclusive and accessible. Here’s why you can no longer afford to ignore event inclusivity, and how you can lower barriers to access with your next hybrid event.

Consumers have recently undergone a dramatic shift in expectations. Now more and more consumers expect top digital experiences. Organisations are scrambling to update their offerings and the events industry is no different. But as McKinsey research shows, companies only have a short transition period before we settle into the “new normal.”

So what will online events look like under the “new normal?” In his new book, Reinventing Live, entrepreneur and events expert Marco Giberti predicts that online events will become significantly more sophisticated. He writes that “Post-Covid virtual events and webinars will be unrecognizable. It will be like comparing traditional TV with streaming.”

Soon, planners will no longer be able to get away with unprofessional events that “look like a bad video call.” Along with these shifts in customer expectations, event planners face another challenge that impacts event success: Zoom fatigue.

With the rise of remote working, viewers are spending more and more time in online meetings. This can be exhausting and can impact your audience’s drive to attend virtual events. After a long day at work, who wants to spend more time in front of their laptop?

To adapt to the new normal and overcome Zoom fatigue, event planners need to create engaging virtual experiences that win viewer attention. Drawing on some of the best recent online events, we’ve put together six key steps to improving your online events. Let’s dive in.

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

In this edition of our Interprefiers Take the Floor series, conference interpreter Jose Luis Villanueva meets Interprefy Project Manager Zorica Erdeljan to talk about the importance of a well-oiled supply chain in any Interprefied event.

In March of 2020, we published a blog post offering advice on how to improve the diversity and inclusion of your online events. While it was still early days in the pandemic and the true impact of regional lockdowns was yet to be seen, it was already clear that there was a dramatic change in how events were planned, hosted, and attended.

Webinars have been around for decades and, just like almost anything that’s been around this long, they have evolved. Over the past years, webinars have seen a huge uptick and continue to gain popularity.

The new norm of global web conferencing has made it as easy as never before to connect with global peers and audiences. But when it comes to hosting multilingual conferences online, there are a few common rookie mistakes, that can stand in the way of your success.

More and more events are being taken online to ensure we can stay connected, keep learning and continue communicating. For businesses, this means finding the most practical and efficient solutions to meet their needs. But with so many options available, what should they choose?

While the rush to digital was hastened by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the benefits of web conferencing will likely keep many online even after lockdown measures have relaxed. And as businesses scale and grow a global team and client portfolio, there’ll be an increasing demand for real-time translation when the lingua franca fails.

In an era of globalization, business communication is reaching across international borders, geographic locations and time zones, and getting closer to barrier-free communication than ever.

As more events leverage digital technologies and hybrid formats, it’s increasingly easy for interested parties to participate in seminars, conferences, meetings, and the like — all in their chosen language. Ultimately ensuring multilingual communication doesn't get interrupted by language barriers.

And it’s all thanks to talents and technologies that allow for translation, interpretation (both simultaneous and consecutive), captioning, and subtitling to take place virtually and manifest locally.

Across the globe, these technologies are transforming how content is delivered and bridging communication gaps. They are enabling greater collaboration, supporting more opportunities to spread knowledge, helping people to pursue new business opportunities, and allowing us all to embrace other cultures.

It’s important to note that these processes all operate independently and are not interchangeable — so getting the most out of them means understanding how each one works and their best use-case scenarios.

In this article, we’re going to look at the differences between translation, interpretation, subtitles, and captioning, and where their best use case is.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns during 2020 and 2021 forced event managers to rethink how they host conferences, seminars, workshops, and other meetings. 

Interprefiers Take the Floor is now available on your preferred podcast directory.

Listen and download the podcast below:

Available for download on:

Maha El-Metwally is a highly experienced interpreter who has been working as a conference interpreter for Arabic and English for over 15 years. She is also an RSI trainer. 

The beauty of language diversity is also the source of many challenges, especially when interpreters are faced with words and expressions that are difficult to translate, do not have a direct correspondence or take three times longer to convey into another language. During simultaneous interpretation, the immediacy of the delivery adds to the complication. We have asked a few interpreters to share their stories with us and how they manage this incredibly taxing decision-making process.

"Hybrid event" may well be the word of the year within the event industry. Having become the talk of town, the concept of hybrid events has been sending seismic waves across the events industry, sparking event planners' creativity and imagination beyond the constraints of physical venues.

In March 2020 most events had to pivot toward a virtual-only model. And despite event planners having to accommodate the unexpected, many experienced great success and started to embrace the benefits that the virtual world brought to their events.

In just months, the global landscape has changed dramatically, with almost every sector having to pivot to digital technology. For now, in-person meetings, lectures, events and conferences are off-the-table (or restricted to fewer numbers), leaving companies to rely on virtual meeting and webinar platforms such as GoToWebinar, Microsoft Teams and Zoom to continue operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the events industry status quo. And for companies to survive and thrive in our ‘new normal’, they need to rise to the challenge of hosting smooth, engaging events in virtual environments.

The events industry is in uncharted territory. With many conferences having to pivot to the virtual environment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, what does the future hold for international conferences, and how will the global events industry — worth $1.5 trillion* — recover? 

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a key driver in the rapid adoption of virtual environments. 

This is not to say that their rise in popularity was unforeseen — the format has carved a niche in the events landscape and will continue to alter the DNA of physical events in the future. Hybrid events are expected to continue to gain relevance, catering to both on-site and remote attendees.

Up until recently, online events were considered a last resort for event professionals. Mainstream digital experiences lagged behind their on-location counterparts and were largely the preserve of art exhibitions and the “the really risqué” (or borderline gimmicky). 

With more events move online, event organisers and managers of traditionally “offline” events are coming to realise that the landscape is much different.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world irrevocably, forcing almost every industry to rapidly adopt online technology to continue operations.

And it’s no different for the translation and interpretation market.

In light of the challenges presented by COVID-19, more and more events are taking place online.

When it comes to assessing the success of an event, a key variable to consider is audience engagement. Opinions, discussions, questions – these are all signs of audience engagement and, more importantly, proof your event is interesting.

As a result of COVID-19, events and conferences across the globe are being cancelled en masses to help mitigate the virus’ spread.

For many event organisers, the solution has been to move events online – delivering smaller, more intimate sessions for delegates. The results have been overwhelmingly positive so far.

As an industry that relies upon travel and thrives on face-to-face interactions (conferences, seminars and talks), the coronavirus is a pressing concern for many event management professionals and delegates alike.

I was on a flight from Barcelona to London recently and found myself contemplating the predicament event organisers face today when it comes to the use of technology.

In this interpreter profile, Patrick Lehner discusses his experiences, how remote simultaneous interpreting has helped win new, smaller clients, before expanding on his career challenges and thoughts on where the interpreting industry is heading. 

When it comes to services like remote simultaneous interpretation there are a number of common misconceptions. 

Whether it’s the cost, technology available or anything else, these misconceptions can cause many people to overlook interpreting services altogether. 

Everywhere you look, there is change across the events industry. Against a backdrop of technological disruption, a shift in the dynamics that define the relationships between brands, agencies and consumers is taking place. It can be overwhelming to navigate through this change and to identify what conference delegates find valuable, what is just hype, and what you now need to make an event successful. 

We attended IBTM World in Barcelona. Here are a few quick thoughts from Greg McEwan, head of communications, on several emerging trends. 

UK companies cannot afford to rely on Anglophone export markets alone. Technology provides the agility they require to overcome language barriers as they expand into new markets.

Perhaps in no other area is this change as evident as in technology. As the global economy slipped into the most profound recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, century-old financial institutions and industrial hegemons that harvested immeasurable power and wealth were lost into a seemingly bottomless credit sinkhole. 

What is the future of interpretation? Will interpreters be replaced by technology? These are all increasingly common questions in an industry experiencing a flow of technology-based platforms. 

Interpreters live exciting lives. No two days are the same. They are always on the go and they are their own masters with a lot of freedom – and how about their life-work balance.