Step-by-step checklist: organising a conference or event with simultaneous interpretation (or without!)

There is something satisfying about calling your event or conference international. It gives it a much more serious and grown up feel, right?

But the events and conference organisers out there will relate : organising a large event in your own language is challenging enough, and adding a multilingual layer comes with several additional hurdles, such as booking the interpreters, translating the invitations and the marketing material or ensuring your venue is suitably equipped for simultaneous interpreting.

Panic not, and just go through the list.

Conference organiser and simultaneous interpretation — Organising a multilingual event is no mean feat

Multilingual conference checklist

I have aimed to create an easy to read check-list of what you need to think about for a normal event, with all the additional layers you'll need to consider to make your event truly multilingual.

In a hurry? you can jump straight to the sections of your choice:

Strategic planning

Goals and target audience

Team and responsibilities

Budgeting

Shared planning

Venue

Date

Programme

Preparing your event

Marketing

Equipment and accessibility

Delegates packs

Catering

Event run-up

Rehearsal

Contingency

On the day

Post event gloat

Budget

Debrief

Insights and statistics

Next year...

Organising a conference : strategic planning

Define your goals and your target audience

What do you want to achieve with this event? It might include:

Presenting some new research to industry specialists
Offering training on a specific topic
Creating a showcase for your brand, products or services
Briefing the press during or after an event
Creating a collaborative and networking opportunity for your industry
Meet the "final conference" condition in a funding agreement

Appoint your planning team

Appoint each task to the best person for the job, and make sure everyone knows their role, their deliverables and deadlines, from promoting the event to organising the speakers, the venue and the travel, or managing the budget.

Multilingual event: do you really need a Language Service Provider?

Will you recruit your interpreting team in-house, or will you use a Language Service Provider? They both have a pros and cons:

If you have the budget, using a competent LSP might make your life easier.

If you have the capacity, let your team take care of recruiting the interpreters and organising the equipment to keep the budget down and retain some control over the organisation.

(If you need a French conference interpreter, I'll be delighted to help).

Budgeting your event

Depending on the topic, the type of event and the goals you defined earlier, there may be more than one way to fund it. Will your budget be relying on ticket sales? Sponsorship? Marketing budget? National or international grants or subventions? Create a spreadsheet to take into account all costs (estimated and real) and funding. By doing this early, you can make sure your event is viable.

Multilingual event: Simultaneous interpreting costs and revenue

On the credit side, you can add in all the additional revenue or sponsorship opportunities that will come from the international audience.

On the cost side, take into account the simultaneous interpreters' day rate (about £550/£600 per day, per interpreter, if you are recruiting directly). Because of the heavy cognitive load, they need to work in pairs for anything lasting 1 hour or more so unless you're organising a short online webinar, it's likely you'll need 2 interpreters for each language.

You might also need to cover the cost of hiring in sound equipment or portable booths.

Shared planning

Start an easy to share agenda (Google Drive or similar) which includes the detailed schedule, names and contact details of speakers and eventually Zoom links for online events.

This can then become the go-to document throughout both the planning phase and on the day.

Multilingual event: Plan your booth teams

In the same document, start including the names, language and contact details of all interpreters and any details relating to their schedule, booth location or Zoom interpreter's links.

It's a good idea to also include anyone involved in providing equipment such as portable booths or sound systems.

Find a venue (or an online platform)

Identify possible venues and enquire about their capacity and availability. If possible, visit them in person. A few questions to ask yourself:

is it easily accessible from public transport and is there car parking on site?
Is it big enough, yet within budget?
Is it likely to host other, competing events at the same time?
Is there room outside the auditorium for a small exhibition, if required?
Are you planning an evening function, and is there room to accommodate a dinner and caterers?
Do your speakers have specific requirements?
Do you need to take into account any specific accessibility needs?

Create a shortlist of venues, then start looking at dates.

Multilingual event version: interpreting channels or booths

Is your venue equipped with interpreting booths or a sound system which can accommodate multiple language channels? For hybrid events, you can also use Zoom as your main interpreting system.

Risk assessment and first aid

Any in-person event will require a documented risk assessment. For large events, it is also compulsory to have first aid trained staff and first aid material on site. you may even to outsource a first aid service if you're expecting large crowds. Finally, remember that the employer is responsible for meeting all legal requirements inherent to the site which is considered a workplace during the event.

Decide on the date(s)

Identify potentially suitable dates which give you enough time to plan, making sure they don't clash with other big industry event or with notoriously quiet periods such as Christmas or the summer break. If you're planning a hybrid event, discuss potential ways to link the sound system to a laptop so you can stream it on Zoom.

Are some of your speakers, guests or workers considered absolutely essential to the event? Make sure they are available and book their time as early as possible.

Multilingual event version: Book your interpreters early

As soon as the date is finalised, share it with your language service provider or with your interpreting team. The sooner you book it, the more choice you'll have in terms of skills, prior knowledge and cost.

Discuss the programme

Take into account your target audience and your speakers' offering. Aim for a varied yet on-point agenda. A few things to take into account:

Time of the day. Keep the heavy stuff for the early mornings, prefer something interactive or fun straight after lunch, and the networking opportunities for the coffee break or the late afternoons.
Prior knowledge. Will your audience have any existing skills or training? Is there anything you can share ahead of the event or display in the venue to prepare the delegates?
Interactions. if you're planning interventions from the audience, you'll need a roaming microphone.
Request for speakers. Do you need to publish a request for proposals in order to attract speakers of interest?
Prize giving. Do you need to order any specific or personalised prizes ahead of the event.

Multilingual event version: Share the materials with your interpreters asap

Share the programme and any slides or additional resources with your interpreting team so they can prepare any technical vocabulary. It's ok to share something that's not totally complete, it'll still be helfpful for them to know what you're hoping to talk about.

Prepare your speakers. Talking through an interpreter requires a certain awareness. Find out more in my 6 tips for a positive interpreting experience, or download and share the guide on how to talk through an interpreter.

If your speakers need to address the audience in a different language, make sure your interpreting team has the right combination or that they are happy to work in relay mode (where interpreters translate from another interpreter).

If you plan on using a roaming microphone, make sure the input also goes through your interpreting booths or Zoom.

Preparing your event

Marketing activities

There are many ways of promoting your event, and they may not all apply. This list is a starting point:

Networking resource - create a simple flyer summarising the most exciting moments of your conference (famous or specialist speakers, product launches, special date anniversary or big sporting moment...).
Web presence - create a landing page on your event's domain, and prepare ready-made copy to share on other websites such as events listings, sponsors' or industry stakeholders' websites.
Social networks - share your landing page across social networks. You should also create an event's page on each network and share it widely to encourage people to sign up for updates.
Brand identity - prepare some small visuals for people to share and give your event a # hastag to help promote it before, during and even after the event.

Multilingual event version: ask your interpreting team to work on the translations

Ideally, the same linguists will translate the copy for your printed and online material as the ones you have booked to interpret the event. This will help them become familiar with your topic and it will provide consistency across your resources and tone of voice.

No need to break the bank here, but providing some promotional information in their target language will encourage take-up from overseas delegates and will give your event a truly international feel.

Don't forget to boast about the fact that your conference will be broadcasted in several languages! And yes, you can truly use the word "international" in your event's name.

Slide deck

Be it online or in person, it's a good idea to have one person in charge of sharing whatever is appearing on the screen. It will spare your speaker the hardship of not finding the right "share your screen" button. On stage, you can normally give them a clicker to move to the next slide.

Multilingual event version: include a slide on how to choose a language

Online, you can sign post to the interpretation buttons on the first slide. Feel free to use my Zoom French interpretation slide template as an example.

On stage, you can include a multilingual slide to remind your delegates to pick up a headset and to explain how to operate it.

Press management

If your event is likely to attract attention, it is a good idea to be prepared for that. You can start with booking a few press conferences at key moments and invite the main press representatives.

Multilingual event version: will your press conference require interpreting?

Interpreters may need a different equipment to interpret a press conference. In the absence of simultaneous interpreting equipment, they can opt for a whispered mode or to interpret consecutively. Read more about the main ways to work with interpreters.

Equipment and accessibility needs

Do your presenter have specific needs, and can your venue meet them? These could include:

Projector and screen
Any specific props
Exhibition elements (banners etc) to showcase their work

Multilingual event version: what interpreting equipment will you need?

Interpreters normally take care of their own headset, but they'll either need a soundproof booth for each language (in person), or an online platform such as Zoom, Discuss or Kudo (for hybrid or online events).

All your attendees will need to be provided with headsets with the ability to connect them to the language channel of their choice. They can normally be hired in and will need to be fully charged at the beginning of the day.

Attendees and delegate packs

Once your ticket sales are closed, you'll need to produce a list of all attendees along with their details and role (delegates, speakers, staff...). You can share this through your shared planning document.

For in-person events, it is customary to provide all delegates with a welcome pack including items such as:

Conference program with information about each speakers' presentations
Name badges, showing company name and languages spoken
Details about logistics such as menu choices or wifi login and password
Freebies from related brands or sponsors
Information about the venue and its surroundings, including fire exits and first aiders

Multilingual event version: to translate or not to translate

Whilst you could get away with not translating all the resources in the delegates pack, remember to add some information in the program about accessing the interpretation and about which languages will be available.

Catering

There are 2 ways of dealing with the catering:

Include lunch and/or dinner in the ticket price or in your budget, source a caterer and offer 1 or 2 menu choices (taking into account any dietary requirements).
Offer external catering providers the chance to set-up a street-food stand and sell directly to your delegates

Option 1 requires a little more logistics, but it's a good way to add value to your ticket. Option 2 simplifies things for you, but you may have to come to an arrangement whereby they bill you for feeding your guests, such as speakers or staff.

Multilingual event version:

It's common practice to pay for the food and drinks for your interpreting and technical teams.

Awards, prizes and thank yous

If your event involves some form of award ceremony, allocate a team member to sourcing prizes and managing the award criteria and presentation.

Even if your conference doesn't involve any prizes, it is a nice touch to offer small thank you gifts to the key stake-holders and organisers, so be sure to include these in your budget and your planning (flowers, chocolates, souvenir merchandise...).

Create a shopping list and include it in your budget and on your shared planning document.

Multilingual event version: thank yous

It's a nice touch to publicly thank the interpreting team at the end of an event.

Event run-up phase

Rehearsal

If budget allows, it's a good idea to plan a whole-team rehearsal a few days before the event. In person or online, this is the opportunity to test your sound systems, to answer any questions from the speakers, to check your timings and to familiarise everyone with the planning.

For in-person events, you can book the venue a day earlier to allow for a rehearsal. For online events, simply book a testing session a few days before.

Failing that, be sure to book a call with all parties involved to go through the entire programme from A to Z and to make sure all questions are answered and everyone knows what is expected of them.

Multilingual event version: invite your interpreting to the rehearsal

It will give them and your team a chance to test the booth or to make sure the Zoom channels are all working as they should.

Contingency planning

Try and anticipate what might go wrong, so everyone knows what to do. You might want to ask yourself questions such as:

What will you do with late comers to minimise disruption to the event?
Who would be your back-up speaker in case one of the planned one faces an unexpected problem or illness?
Who is the technical contact during the event?
What spare documents and supply should you have on site?
What phone number should anyone call in case of a first aid incident, and is everyone aware of it?

This is also a good opportunity to consider fire drills or external challenges such as train strikes.

On the day

All hands on deck and ahead of the game

The organiser's team should be on site early - better to face a little wait than to miss an opportunity to prevent a problem. Hopefully, all the planning work you have done will mean that everyone knows what's happening and what they're doing to ensure a smooth day. Still, it's always a good idea to have a few unallocated people on hand to deal with any unexpected situations.

Post event gloat

Debrief and thank yous

Hopefully, everyone will walk out with their head held high. The chances are, there will also be lessons to learn. Be sure to plan a debrief meeting involving all parties involved. It's an opportunity to share and to start talking about next year. It's also a chance to thank your team for their hard work!

Multilingual event version: get feedback from the interpreters

Be sure to include your interpreters in the debrief. They may have useful insights on how to make your multilingual event even better.

Feedback

It is good practice to contact all attendees to ask for their feedback. This can either be used to promote your next event or to learn from your mistakes and to put things right, if you still can.

Multilingual event version: get feedback from the overseas delegates

Were they pleased with the interpretation? Was there any cultural elements that you missed? it will all come in handy next year.

Budget and insights

Finalise your budget by including all costs, settling bills and comparing any real costs to the provisional estimates. It's also a good time to publish useful statistics such as the number of delegates, awards etc. Don't hesitate to share the good news on your website and social media channels!

Multilingual event version: internationalise your statistics

For a conference that claims to be international, it looks great to share statistics such as the number of nationalities attending or the list of countries people travelled from to take part.

Next year...

There are several things you could/should do whilst the event buzz is still fresh in your delegates' minds:

Chose a date and venue for next year
Communicate and encourage your delegates to sign up to your newsletter or any other means of taking part next year
Start thinking of what you'll need to do better
Review the team's performance