When planning multilingual events and international conferences, event planners find themselves up against many different challenges on top of the usual headaches of planning a large, hi-tech event.
By far the largest hurdle, however, is the language barrier.
Simultaneous interpreting using a dedicated, wireless interpreting system is likely to be the best solution for many events.
But buying an interpreting system can be a great long-term investment, and full of tricky — and expensive — pitfalls. How can renting an interpreting system help make your event a hit?
Here are 6 reasons renting an interpreting system could be ideal for your multilingual event.
1. For one-time-only events, you don’t need to buy an interpreting system.
If your organization is only planning one event — for instance a conference with multilingual European colleagues — and doesn’t have any more on the agenda, why invest time researching your ideal interpreting system, and why blow your budget buying it?
Keep in mind that you’re not just buying interpreting equipment: you’re committing to upkeep, training, and making sure your interpreting system is up-to-date (or at least compatible with any new gear you might purchase in the future).
2. A professional interpreting service can help you get exactly the system you need.
When you rent a system from a professional interpreting service or conference audio specialist, you’re renting from experts in the technology. They’ve done the legwork for you, and you could save a significant amount of time and energy by deferring to the pros.
They can answer the difficult questions: how many channels will you need to accommodate all the languages spoken at multilingual events? What interference or reception issues are you likely to encounter with a wireless system?
What’s more, consulting with professionals insures that the ins and outs of your conference needs will all be considered: including the unexpected ones.
In this way, renting an interpreting system assures that you’ll get all the features that are relevant to your event, and that you won’t pay a penny more for features you don’t need.
3. Many interpreting services will set up and operate a rented system.
No matter how many technical wizards you think you have in your organization, you may find that there are few that can oversee a complex conference interpreting system.
Qualified interpreting services specialize in conference audio and interpreting systems, and as such, they usually supply their own technicians.
4. You might not have to hire your own interpreters.
Just as interpreting services often supply technicians and engineers, they will often supply interpreters — or partner with an organization that does.
This is especially important if your multilingual event includes a wide variety of languages that fall outside of the capabilities of your organization, or if localization (differences in dialect, slang, or customs within language groups) is likely to be an issue.
5. A rented interpreting system won’t become obsolete.
If you buy an interpreting system you’re also signing up for expenditures in the future. You may find you want to expand it, and that the latest equipment is no longer compatible with the old system.
With the advent of digital wireless systems and wireless tour guide interpreting systems, the tech landscape has only become more volatile.
Rental companies thrive if and only if they have the latest gear on hand. Rent an interpreting system and you’re likely to get state-of-the-art gear — and likely to spare yourself headaches in the future.
6. Renting leaves more money in your pocket right now.
Buying an interpreting system now will save you the repeated expense of renting equipment for future multilingual events, but the reality is that renting a system now could save you thousands of dollars in your budget right now.
Consider carefully how much your organization is willing to invest in future events, and how much money you have on hand in your current budget.
Bottom line: a rented interpreting system could save you time and money.
Renting an interpreting system for your multilingual event is a cost-effective solution for many organizations. What’s more, it leaves money in your budget to take care of everything else on your event planning checklist!
Are you planning a multilingual event? Do you have questions or suggestions? Let us know in the comments!