Checklist with 10 practical tips to make sure simultaneous translation at your event does not fail. From choosing the interpreter to the audio test.
In more than 20 years and hundreds of events, the same mistakes appear again and again. This list brings together the ten actions that separate an event with flawless interpretation from one with avoidable problems.
lingo takes care of everything — quote in 60s →For standard languages such as English, Spanish and French, 1 week is technically possible. For rare languages — Mandarin, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean — the availability of interpreters with sector specialization is limited. Confirming 3 weeks ahead guarantees the right interpreter, not the available one. For M&A and legal events, the earlier the better: the NDA must be signed before any briefing.
The presentation deck, the participant manual, the detailed agenda with times and the list of the sector's technical terms transform the quality of the interpretation. An interpreter who received the material for a medical conference in advance arrives at the event knowing the main drugs, protocols and abbreviations that will appear. Without that briefing, the same interpreter, fluent in English, improvises pharmacological vocabulary in real time — with unpredictable results.
The booth position, the visibility of the stage and the integration with the venue's sound system must be checked before the day of the event. lingo does this inspection at no additional cost. Problems such as 'the venue's sound system has no line out' or 'the ISO booth does not fit in the available space' are solved days in advance — not on the morning of the event.
The number of participants is rarely exact on the day. Extra guests, advisors who came along, last-minute accredited journalists — all of them may need a receiver. The cost of 10% additional receivers is insignificant; the impact of leaving a participant without access to interpretation is not.
Not 30 minutes before — 2 hours. A full test includes: checking all receivers at different points in the room (the signal may have blind spots depending on the architecture), calibrating the booth volume, integration with the speaker's microphone and with the PA system. Technical problems discovered 2 hours ahead have a solution. With 15 minutes, they usually do not.
This means: at least 10% additional receivers and a spare transmitter. Electronic equipment fails — the question is when, not if. The difference between an incident and a catastrophe at an event of 500 people is having the backup available for intervention in under 2 minutes. lingo includes backup in every kit by default.
Simultaneous interpretation is cognitively exhausting. After 20 to 30 minutes of continuous interpretation, accuracy starts to drop — especially with specialized technical vocabulary. That is why every quality service works with a pair of interpreters in rotation. Before the event, confirm that both interpreters know exactly when to switch and that there is comfortable space for both in the booth during the transition.
lingo does not ask speakers to adjust their pace — they should feel completely at ease. Instead, we send the event materials in advance (slides, script, previous videos of the speaker) so that lingo's human interpreters prepare specifically for each presenter's style.
lingo's technician takes care of everything related to the interpretation system. But when there is a problem with the speaker's microphone, the presentation projection or the venue's sound system, he needs a contact who can make decisions quickly. Name someone from the production team who knows the space and has the authority to resolve technical issues in real time.
A 2-question form sent to participants 24 hours after the event ('How do you rate the quality of the interpretation?' and 'Was there any moment when the interpretation made it hard for you to understand?') delivers actionable data to improve future events. lingo provides a standard template and can analyze the results together with the organizer.
In more than 20 years of events, the most recurring problem is not technical. It is the assumption that the interpreter "will manage" with the sector's technical vocabulary because he is fluent in the language.
Linguistic fluency and technical specialization are different skills. An English interpreter without M&A experience will translate "earn-out" as "future gain" and "representations and warranties" as "representations and guarantees" — losing the legal precision that separates a valid clause from a contestable one. A healthcare interpreter without a pharmacological briefing will pause when faced with "ANVISA RDC 204/2017" or "randomized double-blind phase III trial".
Specialized vocabulary is the difference between interpretation and technical translation. And it comes from the briefing — not from fluency alone.
Fill in the form with languages, duration and number of participants. lingo's system generates the quote instantly and delivers the PDF to your email and WhatsApp — lightning-fast service.
For events where technical vocabulary is a challenge — especially sectors such as Finance, Healthcare, Legal and Technology — lingo's AI comes pre-trained with glossaries of 24 sectors and 222 sub-sectors developed over 20 years of live interpretation. No need for an extensive briefing, no risk of imprecision in key terms. lingo's AI is trained on 20 years of live simultaneous interpretation — with vocabulary from 24 sectors and 222 sub-sectors. Credits that do not expire, activation in 24h and automatic quote generated in 60 seconds.
Simulate lingo AI quote →Not all ten tips weigh the same at every event. At an M&A conference or a legal event, the greatest weight lies in hiring early and in the NDA, which must be signed before any briefing. At a medical congress, what matters most is the technical material sent 7 to 10 days in advance, because drugs, protocols and abbreviations only reach the booth if the interpreter has studied them beforehand.
At large events, with hundreds of participants, the technical inspection, the full audio test and on-site backup equipment gain importance. At small meetings, of ten or twenty people, the priority is the briefing and the speaker's pace. The guide on how to prepare your event for simultaneous interpretation details each step, and the list of most common mistakes shows what happens when they are skipped.
Three weeks before: define the languages and confirm the interpreter, especially for rare languages such as Mandarin, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese and Korean. Between ten and seven days before: send the deck, the participant manual, the agenda with times and the list of technical terms. A few days before: carry out the technical inspection of the space, check the booth position, the visibility of the stage and the line out of the sound system, and confirm the organizer's technical contact.
On the day of the event: full audio test two hours before the start, with receivers checked at different points in the room and backup equipment on site. During the event: interpreters rotating and an organizer contact available for quick decisions. The day after: a two-question form to participants, to find out how the quality of the interpretation was. Following this sequence eliminates most of the problems that appear on the morning of the event.
lingo takes care of the interpreter, the equipment and the technical operator. The technical inspection is done at no additional cost, the kit includes backup by default and, for medium and large events, the team takes part in the technical planning. The organizer is responsible for sending the material on time, naming a production contact with authority to decide and telling lingo about changes to the program. See how much simultaneous interpretation costs in SP and the equipment rental page to see what is included.
Yes. For medium and large events, the lingo team takes part in technical planning — space inspection, guidance for speakers and definition of the backup protocol.
lingo keeps backup interpreters for confirmed events. In an emergency, the backup is activated within 2 hours. For M&A events and high-level congresses, the backup is confirmed together with the main team.
For M&A and sensitive events, all interpreters sign an NDA before receiving any briefing. The contract includes specific confidentiality clauses with a defined term.
With Wordly, KUDO and DeepL Voice on the market, more events are testing interpretation AI. Before hiring any tool, do these three checks:
An interpretation AI that knows your sector can show the technical terms mapped before the event. If the vendor does not have that glossary, it has no sector vocabulary — it has generic vocabulary.
Wordly and DeepL Voice do not offer human backup. For events with critical technical vocabulary or high legal risk, require that the contract include an on-call lingo Human Interpreter.
KUDO, Wordly and Interprefy are software — they do not include transmitters, receivers or on-site technical support. For in-person events, confirm who supplies and operates the physical equipment.
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