Confidential conference with a global audience
Capita Translation and Interpreting (Capita TI) are proud to be a long-standing language services partner for the Cabinet Office – the highest government department in the UK. Our work together includes e-Learning training courses and materials delivered to employees across governments both here in the UK and globally.
The Event
In the Autumn of 2021, we were called upon to urgently support a highly confidential, invite-only live event, delivered online to a global audience of over 80 senior government officials hosted by the Cabinet Office.
The day-long symposium, consisting of keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshops and pre-recorded pieces, required a wide range of language services including translation and proofreading of support material, Post-Edited Machine Translation (PEMT), live remote conference interpreting and instant chatbot Machine Translation (MT) for Q&A support.
The Services
Pre-event:
– High volume, short lead time translation and proofreading of presentations and symposium programme into Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish.
During the event:
– Simultaneous remote conference interpreting for the duration of the day from English into Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish across time zones ranging from Africa to South America.
– Live chatbot MT technology for Q&A sessions.
Post-event:
– MT for follow-up Q&As after the conference.
The Challenges
Interpreting: The extremely tight deadline meant that we had less than a week to find multiple interpreters who were appropriately skilled and experienced, security compliant, and available at very short notice. Each language required two interpreters because of the concentrated nature of the event and style of interpreting.
Technical: Our Client Solutions Manager carried out the test call on Monday afternoon with 4 interpreters and the customer, ensuring that everyone could hear each other, switch channels accordingly and ultimately confirm that technology was successful for all involved. Our Client Solutions Manager was also present for the full duration on the day of the conference, ensuring that everything ran smoothly from a technical perspective.
Translation: We had less than 1 week to provide Brazilian Portuguese translation of the presentation materials – a challenge in itself. We were also able to take on extra Latin American Spanish content and incorporate it into the workflow at the last minute after the Cabinet Office hit unexpected challenges internally. With the customers agreement, our solution to guarantee on time delivery of the last-minute content involved PEMT which proved successful, was delivered on time and to the standard expected of such an event.
What the client said
“I wanted to send you a personal note of huge thanks for your work today and over the past two weeks to support this event. It really has been something special – with the calibre of attendees from across Latin America and the Caribbean, and the quality of the discussion on such a vital topic.
You have made such a difference today towards building a stronger global network. Thank you for being part of this inaugural event. ”
Fee Cameron, Flex Team Head of Communications, Prime Minister’s Office & Cabinet Office
