Do you often and routinely host critical business meetings online as a result of the pandemic? Have you been facing challenges when it comes to ensuring participants clearly understand company objectives, especially amongst your new stakeholders or investors who are from different countries around the world? Have you been using standard mobile translation applications to help you prepare for your meetings but are concerned that you will not be able to effectively and efficiently answer questions during the meeting due to the lack of multilingual skills? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then here are four things to include in your meeting when speaking to a multilingual audience online.
Subtitles
As you may or may not be aware, subtitles are texts that appear on digital media. These texts can appear at the bottom or top of the screen. They are typically used to translate or interpret words to an audience that does not speak the same language as presented in the meeting. You may still, however, need to use a form of translation or interpretation application or service to help you convert English into a different language or vice versa.
Captions
You may begin to wonder about the difference between subtitles and captions. Captions are the transcription of dialogue while subtitles are a form of translation. This means that captions capture non-speech elements that include breathing noises, laughter, and other similar noises. There are two types of captions, open and closed. Closed captioning is used to provide your audience with an option to turn off this feature. The open caption option cannot be turned off and is part or embedded in the video or presentation.
World Clock
Subtle but effective, displaying a world clock will provide your multilingual audience with sentiments of inclusion. It will also help them acclimate themselves to meetings that are held in different time zones as their own, providing a seamless way for you to help them attend meetings on time.
Professional Translation Services
Utilizing the services of a company that offers professional translation and interpretation services will be advantageous to help you answer any and all questions your audience may have during the meeting. Conference translation services are one of the top things you should include in addition to the ones mentioned above. A professional service provider should offer remote simultaneous interpretation or RSI services. These types of services will provide on-demand translation and interpretation of your words directly into a target language or languages.
The Bottom Line
These are only to mention the top four things you should consider including when hosting a meeting and speaking to a multilingual audience. Utilizing a combination or all of these elements together will ensure participants, no matter where they are located and what language they speak, will feel included and catered upon. Using expert RSI or conference translation services will help your multilingual audience understand the true and accurate meaning of your words during your presentation while exhibiting prestige and professionalism.