Detailed information is provided here which is mainly intended for Professional Conference Organisers (PCOs), but may also be of use to anyone else organising a meeting.

WORKING WITH PCOs

When a company or institution needs to organise a conference or congress, it often turns to a Professional Conference Organiser (PCO) to handle logistical aspects, which in the event of a multilingual conference may include interpretation.

For the best management of interpretation matters, AIB offers the following advice:

Freelance conference interpreters are self-employed professionals, like lawyers, dentists, architects or accountants. Each interpreter has a different language combination, cultural background and professional experience. Finding the best interpreters for each occasion, understanding how their language combinations operate, and negotiating the details with each of them is a complex, meticulous task.

AIB can save you a lot of trouble. Just call us or fill in the online form with information on the conference or congress that you are organising and one of our consultant interpreters will work with you to take care of all aspects of the interpretation service.

This is the information we need in order to organise a team of interpreters and send you an estimate:

· Precise dates when interpretation will be required (sometimes it is not needed for the duration of the conference).

· Languages to be spoken in the meeting room and those to which interpretation will be required. The two may differ: for example, English, French and Spanish spoken, but interpretation to Spanish and English only.

· What proportion of the speakers will be using each language: this can have a bearing on the selection of the team.

· Conference subject (some interpreters are especially proficient in certain highly technical fields).

· Conference venue.

· Provisional programme, so that we can have an idea as to how the work is distributed and identify days on which interpretation is potentially not needed (e.g. a field trip or visit).

· Conference format (presentations from a rostrum, round-table debates, discussions among all delegates, etc.).

· Number of meetings in parallel sessions (this may entail having several teams of interpreters).

On the basis of the information you have provided, we will draw up an estimate of the cost and propose a team of interpreters to meet your needs.

To safeguard our arrangements for your meeting, we will draw up a master contract and prepare the interpreters´ individual contracts. We use standard contracts approved by AIIC.

We will, furthermore, ensure that all relevant conference materials are sent out to the interpreters in good time for them to be able to study them.

We will continue to be the link between you, the conference organiser, and the team of interpreters. We will make sure that the documents are duly distributed, that the interpreters' booths and sound equipment are correctly installed and operational, and that every aspect of the interpretation service runs smoothly during the conference.

Please phone us for an estimate, or complete our form.