What to Send Interpreters Before Your Conference

An interpreter preparing for a technical panel needs to understand the discussion, not just collect its presentation files. Start with a short note explaining the session's purpose, audience and likely decisions. Identify the languages speakers will use and the languages participants need to hear, including during questions.

Share the working agenda and available material before everything is final. Mark unfinished sections and say what is still expected. Agree the preparation timetable with the provider; subject complexity and the amount of material matter more than a universal deadline.

Create a short list of the expressions specific to this meeting: programme names, acronyms, product names, institutional titles and technical phrases. Add a plain-language explanation and any terminology already approved for the event. A link to the relevant passage in a report is more useful than a long, unrelated reading list.

If an Arabic or English equivalent is unsettled, mark it as a question for discussion. Do not label a machine-generated glossary as approved without checking it. Where names have an official Arabic and English spelling, provide both; where pronunciation could be unclear, offer a pronunciation note.

Keep terminology preparation separate from translation approval. Giving interpreters a presentation for preparation does not automatically commission a translated slide deck for the audience.

Choose one working folder and one person to manage its contents. Use a simple naming pattern such as session-02-speaker-slides-v03, and mark whether the file is a draft or the version to be shown. Keep superseded copies out of the active folder.

When a replacement arrives, send a change note rather than another unexplained attachment: which session, which file replaces which, and which slides or passages changed. Highlight altered figures, names and conclusions. Ask the interpretation contact to acknowledge the update; a successful upload alone does not establish that the team has seen it.

The presentation operator and interpretation team need the same current content. If the speakers' desk receives a newer version, the update route should reach both teams before it appears on screen.

List the clips to be played, their spoken languages and when they appear in the programme. Supply the available script or transcript for preparation and arrange playback checks with the technical team. Sending a video file is not confirmation that its audio will reach the interpreters.

If a clip introduces a language outside the agreed interpretation scope, raise that before the event. Do not assume it is covered because the rest of the session uses Arabic and English.

For questions, tell the moderator which languages are supported and arrange a microphone for contributions from the floor. A useful content brief cannot compensate for a question that never reaches the interpretation audio feed.

This is an illustrative planning scenario, not a Linguative project report. A workshop in Amman, Jordan starts at 09:00. At 08:40, a speaker replaces the presentation and changes the reporting year on slide 12.

An actionable update identifies the replacement file and says that slide 12 now refers to the new reporting year. The organiser sends the same revision to the presentation operator and the interpretation contact, removes the old file from the active pack and asks both to confirm receipt.

If the team has not acknowledged the change before the session starts, the moderator needs to know. The speaker can make the correction explicit instead of assuming everyone has received the new deck. The point is a clear handover, not a promise that twenty minutes is enough preparation.

For restricted material, agree the authorised recipients and sharing method with the provider before sending it. Label the restricted files and clarify any access, return or deletion requirements. Do not assume that the interpretation team can prepare from documents it has not been permitted to see.

Before the first session, confirm who has the latest pack, who can answer a terminology question and how urgent changes will be signalled. For concurrent sessions, make the responsible contact clear for each room.

Linguative can coordinate interpreters with conference technology, AV and event support in one agreed scope. When requesting a proposal, include both the language brief and the handover responsibilities. Having one provider helps only when the written plan makes those responsibilities clear.