Organising an event that requires interpreting raises a series of needs that ought to be taken into consideration well in advance.
AICE offers Professional Conference Organisers (PCOs) and event organisers in general ten golden rules in order to properly organise interpreting services:
Before the event
Some of the consultant interpreter’s main duties are:
Success in international communication largely depends on the interpreters being able to prepare beforehand. Therefore, event organisers must provide their consultant interpreter or the hired interpreters with all the available documentation.
Examples of useful documents:
If your event requires simultaneous interpreting in a booth, the room where the meeting is to be held must have specialised technical equipment and its quality is of the essence in order to guarantee successful multilingual communication.
Basically, it will consist of a soundproof booth with ad hoc sound equipment and the assistance of a sound technician.
Proper visibility provides the interpreters with the necessary elements in order to efficiently convey the speaker’s message. Please make sure that the booth is positioned in such a way that the interpreters may have:
This will prevent disturbing participants situated close to the booth, as well as sparing the interpreters from hearing other sounds than the sound input received through their headphones.
Please check the relevant AENOR and ISO standards regarding technical requirements for the design and/or use of built-in and mobile interpreting booths.
A table/counter wide enough for the interpreters to place a laptop computer, the necessary working documents as well as the interpreting consoles, and a chair for each interpreter.
Television or CCTV screens should preferably be installed in front of the booth ensuring that the location allows a proper view from inside the booth.
During the event:
If anyone from the organisation needs to enter the booth in the middle of a session, this should be done in total silence and addressing the interpreter who is not working at the time.
In order to guarantee efficient sound transmission, please give clear instructions on how to attach lapel microphones on the speakers. Poorly positioned lapel microphones may make it difficult or even impossible for the interpreter/listener to hear without interferences.
Avoid placing them too far away from the mouth, or in such a way that they may rub against the body or clothing. Both the above will interfere with the sound transmission and hence hinder the interpreter’s understanding of the message.
Interpreters receive the sound from every microphone that is on. If more than one microphone is on at the time, listening clearly to the question or comment being made may be impaired.
The microphone must be kept at the same distance while in use and returned to the auxiliary staff afterwards.
A desk should be placed at the entrance to the room from which the auxiliary staff will hand out the receivers tuned to the channel for each working language.
Do not forget to also provide speakers with receivers as they may need them in case there are questions or comments from the participants.
In this day and age of technological progress, most interpreters make online terminology consultations during working sessions.
The Internet has become an important ally for on-the-go queries to clarify concepts. Therefore, it is important to provide Internet access to the interpreters.
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