Multilingual Meetings Planner

Planning for a meeting involving simultaneous interpretation can be a daunting prospect. We have put together this guide, which covers the key areas of preparation to ensure the simultaneous interpretation element of your event is a success.

To help you with your planning, we recommend you consider the following:

Venue details

Please supply venue location

Room Size & layout

You need to ensure that there is ample space for the number of delegates to be seated, as well as space for the simultaneous interpretation equipment. For example, one booth occupies almost 2mx2m, so if five languages were needed then a space of 10mx2m is required to locate the booths, and we recommend a 2m gap between the booths and the nearest delegate.

Where possible, if considered necessary, Eurosis will conduct a site visit to the proposed venue to ensure room suitability.

Alternatively a floor plan with dimensions could be supplied by the venue to enable one of our qualified technicians to prepare a suggested room layout.

Event Dates

Please advise the dates that the interpretation is required for your event. Please allow time when booking your venue and making your arrangements for installation and de-rig.

Installation typically takes between 1 and 4 hours, depending on the size of the meeting and venue access. If the event is to begin in the morning, e.g. 9am, we recommend if possible installation the evening before to have enough time to set-up and test the equipment fully.

Language combinations required

We need to know exactly which language combinations you will require at your event in order to supply the correct interpreters. We are often asked about:

Interpreter co-ordination

For teams of eight interpreters or more, Eurosis offers an interpreter co-ordinator to act as a contact point between you and the interpreters. This is a free service – the only costs are expenses to cover accommodation, meals and travel.

Interpreter expenses

We have a large pool of interpreters based across Europe, and our bookings are based on:

• Location – where possible we will book interpreters who are as local to your venue as possible
• Interpreter familiarity with your subject

There will often be expenses incurred for accommodation, travel and subsistence. We always look to minimise this through effective selection of the interpreters as practical. The level of expenses will also be affected by the timings of your event, for example very early or late finishes, multiple day bookings, and whether or not you require interpretation at evening social events such as dinners.

Number of delegates

To assist our planning, please inform us of delegate numbers.

Conference subject

Where possible we select interpreters with familiarity with your subject, so as much information as possible in advance is always helpful. In particular we ask for:

Interpretation documents

It is extremely helpful to the interpreters if we can provide briefing information before the meeting to help them prepare, and request where possible:

• Agenda
• Presentations/slides to be used at the event
• Glossary of specific company and/or topic terminology – some companies produce an internal glossary and a copy of this is very helpful

Confirmation

The earlier the better!

This ensures that we have the largest pool of interpreters as possible to choose from, which is especially pertinent if the location of your event means that local interpreters for certain language combinations are more limited.

Confirming earlier also ensures that site visits and client planning meetings are required, so that they can be carried out in good time.

Presentation Equipment

For the presentation of information some further equipment may be required such as a screen, data projector or laptop computer. Eurosis can supply these items if required.