Making Convention Centers More Language Inclusive and Accessible with The Power of AI

There are many items that go into making a great conference, including selecting the right convention center, scheduling a wide range of sessions on popular topics with engaging speakers, and planning fun and interactive networking activities.

But even if you have all of those items, attendees whose first language is different from the default conference language will often have a less inclusive experience, leading to reduced participation and satisfaction.

While inclusivity and accessibility take a variety of forms, language inclusivity is amongst the most significant. For example, only about 6% of the global population speaks English as their first language. While many more speak English as their second or third language, they often prefer to learn in their native language since it is easier to listen to long presentations and process all of the information. Since most conferences have a large focus on educational sessions, many attendees would benefit from having a choice of languages to participate in.

In addition to language barriers, many people prefer to read same-language subtitles whether they are streaming their favorite shows or attending online training classes. Offering live captions at conferences will make their experience more productive and enjoyable.

Language barriers can also limit your selection of presenters and exclude international experts from your panels. Enabling presenters to speak in their preferred language can expand the breadth and diversity of the sessions at your conferences.

AI Translation and Captioning Solutions

You might be thinking, “But isn’t interpretation costly, a logistical headache, and limited in supply?”

Not any more. AI-powered tools make providing real-time translation into dozens of languages at once easy and affordable. Presenters can speak in dozens of languages – and attendees can listen to translated audio or read captions in dozens of languages.

AI solutions are fast and easy to set up. You connect the sound mixer directly to a laptop which logs into the AI cloud based solution which provides high quality audio input to the translation software. Each attendee then selects their own language and uses their phone or computer as their personal translator.

AI solutions are very affordable. For example, a human interpreter might charge $150 per hour – and if you need 4 languages that would cost $600 per hour. With AI, you typically pay a flat fee (for example $150 per hour) for access to dozens of languages – providing a cost savings of 75% or more!

About Wordly

Wordly provides next-generation real-time AI-powered translation and captioning. Wordly enables convention center’s to expand their global reach by removing language barriers at conferences. Wordly is used by over 1,000 businesses, associations, organizations, and government entities around the world. Let us show you how to remove language barriers and expand your business to a larger global audience. For more information, visit www.wordly.ai.

Dave Deasy
CMO, Wordly
www.wordly.ai

Wordly provided live translation and captions for over 2,000 attendees at the 2023 MPI WEC Conference in Mexico.