Real-Time Interpretation at Your Next Multilingual Virtual Event with EventMobi & Kudo

Now, speakers at your virtual event can present in their mother tongue while attendees listen in their preferred language.

With the rise of virtual events, many planners have experienced firsthand how an online format offers an incredible opportunity to scale and extend their event’s reach. With travel and cost limitations removed, it is now possible to invite speakers and engage attendees from anywhere in the world. A significant barrier, however, remains: language. Empowering your speakers to present and attendees to listen in their mother tongue means you can create truly inclusive and engaging global event experiences. For this reason, we are incredibly excited to now offer real-time interpretation for livestream broadcasts and online meetings, powered by Kudo.

While English is still the business language of choice at many events, expressing ideas, thoughts and strategies is always easier in your native language. When attendees are able to listen to presentations in their mother tongue, they will be better engaged than when trying to follow along with closed captions. Furthermore, at events hosted by associations with international members, or at global all-hands meetings, multilingual interpretation isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ – it’s a requirement.

Until now, event organizers planning a global annual meeting or association conference with international members had to source independent interpreters and manage the cost and complexity of additional software, hardware, and support on their own. EventMobi’s new partnership with Kudo means you can easily and affordably host multilingual online meetings and conferences right inside the EventMobi Virtual Space. 

Learn more about the EventMobi Virtual Events Platform

Interpretation 101: What is it, and how does it work?

First off, many people confuse interpretation with translation. Translation is for written text – think Google Translate. Interpretation, on the other hand, is the translation of spoken words. In a courtroom setting, this process is called consecutive interpretation. These professionals translate one thought or paragraph at a time, and this process increases the duration of a session by about 40%.

Conference interpreters, however, are required to manage the simultaneous translation of speaker presentations, and only 10% of interpreters have this skill. Simultaneous interpreters have an A language and a B language – the A language is what they interpret to, and B is what they interpret from. Simultaneous interpreting also allows for audience to speaker interpretation, which is necessary for sessions with Q&A.

What about AI?

AI and language translation is called machine translation (MT). In a general context, this is when a computer takes written text and translates it automatically into another language using computer algorithms. For machine translation to work with spoken language, additional technology is required. Automatic speech recognition (ASR) starts the process by converting speech to text, which is then fed into a machine translation engine. In order to listen to the result rather than read it, text to speech (TTS) or speech synthesis is added at the end of the process – and the end result is what we hear when engaging with Alexa or Siri.

The problem with this is that the computer is not able to know if what it produces makes sense in context, and it won’t always understand different inflections or slang. Because data is processed based on rules to produce the result, it’s up to the reader or listener to decide if it makes sense or not. Another limitation of AI is that it cannot facilitate sign language – an essential for accessibility. Working with professional human interpreters also means the original speaker’s subtle nuances and inflections can be integrated into the interpretation, which is critical for keeping attendees engaged.

How Does Kudo Work With EventMobi?

Kudo is the world’s leading provider of web-based interpretation services, and EventMobi customers are able to choose from 70 languages including sign language. EventMobi’s deep integration with the platform means that livestream multilingual sessions are broadcast via the embedded video player within the EventMobi Virtual Space, and planners can integrate up to ten languages into their livestream sessions. Attendees will be able to select their preferred language via a simple dropdown menu right below the video player, and the original speaker’s audio will be muted and the selected real-time interpretation audio will be broadcast instead. For those that wish to integrate sign language, the interpreter will appear live in a video window at alongside your livestream broadcast. 

Simple Set Up & Sign In

Your multilingual livestream session can be added as a module to the EventMobi Virtual Space, and will be accessible via a link in the left navigation bar on the home screen.

Attendees will be able to login into the session with their name and email.

Language Selection

A simple dropdown menu at the bottom left video player allows attendees to easily select their preferred language – whether that’s the Floor language, or the live interpretation in their mother tongue. The Floor language can either be the language the speaker is presenting in, or can be set to the language spoken by the majority of your attendees. 

Attendee Interactivity

Depending on the desired level of interactivity, planners have the option to run view only or open mic sessions, where up to 15 active participants appear in the front stage. Open mic sessions can either be set to an open format, where no permission is required to speak, or you can require participants to request permission before they are given the floor.

If you are planning a panel discussion, for example, you could run an open mic session where the panelists can engage in a conversation, but any additional attendees will join the session as viewers.

Accessible Pricing

Before, the cost of premium live interpretation was prohibitively expensive as interpreters would require per day compensation regardless of whether they were needed for the full day or not. Add to this the cost of specialist hardware, software and support – not to mention having to source and manage the interpreters yourself!

Integrating live interpretation at your next virtual event couldn’t be easier with EventMobi and Kudo. You won’t need to look for interpreters, or handle any of the complexity of additional technology. Pricing with two languages for a half day starts at $3,000, and we’ll take care of every aspect of the deployment for you. For multiple sessions, full day, or additional language please get in touch with EventMobi Sales Team at sales@eventmobi.com for a custom quote.

Create Truly Inclusive Virtual Event Experiences

Virtual events allow us to break geographical, social and cultural boundaries, but language is the last barrier to entry. Our new real-time livestream interpretation powered by Kudo means you can create truly international and inclusive, multilingual online events and meetings.