The Current State of Translation for Virtual Events in the Corporate Space

Events have always been – and will continue to be – a staple for countless organizations, who use events to raise awareness of their brand, meet and interact with new prospects, and increase sales. However, due to the influx of online interactions brought on by COVID-19, the number of virtual events being held has increased 1000%. 

But even after the world returns to normal, it’s not unreasonable to assume a virtual setting will take up a larger piece of the event location pie, due to lower costs of event production, a decrease in travel and lodging fees, and a potentially lower registration fee for those who attend the event. For example: while HubSpot’s popular INBOUND conference in Boston typically costs hundreds or thousands of dollars to attend, there’s an option to attend the 2020 virtual INBOUND for free. 

As a result, even enterprise organizations with a strong enough influence to bring tens of thousands of attendees into one room are choosing to do so virtually for the foreseeable future – and with this change comes opportunity. With content from these events having the potential to live online indefinitely, event organizers have a unique opportunity to widen their appeal and create a positive brand image by offering translation services for these event sessions after they have taken place (or during the event if sessions are pre-recorded). 

In this article, we’ll be highlighting the benefits of translating event videos and walking through the must-have features of translation services for enterprise virtual event videos. 

The Benefits of Translation for Virtual Events

A Move Towards Globalization

Localization of content is a benefit for all organizations – whether it’s for companies that have a few dozen customers or a few million. As barriers between locations are continuing to break down thanks to webinar and video conferencing software, so too are barriers to communication. By making your event content global-friendly, you maintain the exclusivity of your events, but widen the appeal of your brand and name recognition. 

This sets your company up for long-term success outside of your country, which is an enormous customer acquisition and retention play if any of your customers or prospects reside in a part of the world that doesn’t speak the same language as those in your company.

Reaching a Wider Audience

Even if you operate a domestic business with no intentions to go global, translation for your video content can still help you reach a wider audience. 22% of Americans do not speak English at home, meaning nearly one out of every four potential clients may feel more comfortable speaking – and reading – in a language other than English. With translated video content, you can appeal to these millions of Americans and reach a wider domestic audience with your events. 

Reusing and Repurposing Content

While in-person events offer many benefits for the companies hosting and organizing them, longevity is not one of those benefits. 

On their own, virtual events leave your team with a slew of content that can be repurposed in other channels, such as video embeds on your blog or uploads to your YouTube channel. By investing time and resources into translating this video content, it gives organizations the incentive to ensure event content sees a longer life online. 

This recorded video content can also live in perpetuity in companies’ content libraries and be referenced later for quotes and inclusions in other videos. As your team globalizes, having this option opens doors for reaching new contacts without creating video content from scratch.

Increasing Future Event Registration

Whether events stay virtual or return to being predominantly in-person, companies won’t host them unless they can drive a huge crowd of registrants. As we’ve covered, taking your events virtual can result in more attendees due to lower travel costs and registration fees – and translating your event content helps the content live on long after the event has concluded by helping the content find its way in front of more eyes. This means any future events have the potential to become increasingly popular due to their low barriers to attending, creating lasting benefits for your events team – more sponsors, more attendees, and bigger venues when the world returns to normal, to name a few. 

Important Features of Translation for Enterprise Virtual Events

Once you’ve decided your event videos need to be translated, make sure you choose a video translation service that meets the following criteria.  

1. Fast Turnaround Times

To capitalize on the timeliness of your events, the sooner you can get your translated video content out – the better. Consider using a service that can commit to turning around most translations in a timely manner. This need is especially true if your event videos are not pre-recorded and you want translation to be available as soon as possible.

2. Accuracy and Expertise in Diverse Topics

Languages have subtle differences – anyone who has spent the day playing around with Google Translate can tell you that. Even the same language – when used in different locations – has regional details that cannot be overlooked. Therefore, you’ll want to ensure your translations are not being done by a simple machine that turns your inputs into outputs. Your translation service should be handled by professional linguists with area-specific and industry-specific expertise so that no details are lost and that no translation turns out to be inaccurate, nonsensical, or accidentally offensive.

3. Robust Language Options

To truly make your translation make an impact, your translations might want to cover more than just Spanish. For example, did you know that Vietnamese, Arabic, Portugese, Chinese, and German are each among the third-most popularly spoken languages in multiple states? With that said, make sure your translation service supports more than just one or two language options.

4. Scalability

With virtual and video content gaining popularity, companies are seeing the ROI that comes alongside engagement with video content. 

The service translating your event videos should see that as well. 

Scalability is a crucial factor in a translation provider. The service should be able to support your needs as the number of videos (and the views they receive) grows. This includes supporting your translation needs with multiple translators and providing a variety of subtitle and transcript formats. 

Extending the Life and Reach of Your Virtual Events

Equipping your event videos with translations can help your organization reach a wider and more diverse audience and get more use out of your event content – but only if your translations are accurate, region-specific, industry-sensitive, and available in multiple languages and formats. Translating content on your own can lead to a myriad of unnecessary and unforeseen costs and problems, so make sure you’re using a professional video translation solution to meet your translation needs.

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