Browsing Tag

Multilingual content

Delivering multilingual content and engaging multilingual audiences at events

When planning events, do you take into consideration the languages that your attendees speak? When you host events in English, do you consider the possibility that attendees may not be native speakers? English is spoken by many people, but do we all speak it equally? We travel and conduct business internationally, but to what extent do we pay attention to the language proficiency of our delegates, and even trying to accommodate for a second or third language? 

Deciding to explore this topic further, I hosted the #eventprofstalk Twitter chat. We discussed how to deliver multilingual content and engage multilingual audiences at events. 

Determining the language(s) of your event

First things first, before deciding whether there is a need for multilingual content, we have to determine who our audience is. How can that be done? Either by asking our audience during the registration process or taking a decision based on where our event takes place. If it is held in Germany for example, and even being an international event, it is fair to expect that a high percentage of the audience will speak German. Johnny Martinez, Business Development Manager at Shocklogic, suggested that “Location obviously plays a big part. Especially at international events, you may need to accommodate for English speakers (the global language) and the local language”. If you want to go the extra mile, create a bilingual website and registration forms.