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How Should You Source Interpreters For Your Events?
How Should You Source Interpreters For Your Events?
|By |04 June 2015
Agency Or Go Direct?
For event managers, time is money. It can be tempting then to just go with the quickest route when finding suppliers. A quick phone call to a local sound tech company, a short email to a caterer and then you can get on with other things, right? But we all know it isn’t that simple. Good event managers know that finding the right supplier is rarely just a matter of lifting the phone to the first company you see online. When it comes to interpreting, while it is always tempting to call a local agency and get them to put together a team for you, there are sometimes good reasons why hiring directly is a better option.
So here is a quick lowdown of the factors you need to consider when looking to source interpreters.
1) The more languages you need, the more value an agency can add.
Let’s be honest, no event manager wants to spend days hunting down a qualified Polish to Serbian interpreter for a single seminar. For agencies, that kind of work is second nature. They have, or should have, copious records of experienced professionals and the feedback they have gained from clients. In short, they know who can be relied upon to deliver a great job in the languages you need.
With interpreting, the more languages you need, the bigger the team. Where a good agency will earn their keep is not only in selecting the team but ensuring that communication is spot on and that everyone is briefed, prepped and ready to go. They can also act as a filter, passing you questions that need answered while dealing with anything run of the mill.
2) The more complex the event, the more value going direct can add.
In some ways, this is the flip-side of the “more languages” issue. As we all know, some events are fairly simple to run. A big conference, with everyone in the same building and meals at set times is much less demanding to get right than a complex event with product demos, test drives, press conferences and interviews.
Complex events rely on clear communication and, for that reason, the less layers in-between you and your suppliers, the better. You simply have to know who said what to whom so that you can be sure that everyone will be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.
In such cases, hiring interpreters directly not only shortens chains of communication but creates an atmosphere of collaboration. In that kind of atmosphere, interpreters can become real allies, pointing out possible problems before they occur. Collaboration also increases flexibility as interpreters work with you to tailor their services to your needs.
3) Working with agencies reduces your admin.
Of all the benefits of working with an agency, perhaps the clearest is the reduction in admin time. You send one email and they make sure the information gets to everyone. They send you one invoice and handle paying supplies themselves. You deal with one person; they deal with the whole team. The time you save by getting someone else to do the admin can be invested in other areas of the event.4) But agencies are usually more expensive than direct hires.
The trade-off of the time you save with agencies is their inevitable mark-up. How else will they make their money but adding a percentage, sometimes a rather large one, to the actual fees of the interpreters? Sometimes, there is very little room for negotiation on these rates, or if there is, it will be at the expense of the interpreters. Now, while that might seem to be no business of yours, it can have a real effect on quality. Many excellent interpreters have minimum fees and just say a firm ‘no’ to anything less than that, leaving you with someone whose skills might not be as sharp.
When you hire direct, you have much more room for negotiation both of rates and terms. You know exactly who you are getting and the value they will add. Since there are no middle-people taking a cut, even the first rate you are offered will be likely to be a significant saving on anything an agency could possibly offer.
5) For one-offs, agencies make more sense.
If you aren’t planning on working permanently in the internal events scene, there really is no sense in spending the time it takes to locate and build relationships with an interpreting team. Despite the extra expense, using an agency for that one event where you need interpreters is likely to make your job easier and let you go back to the rest of your work with a minimum of fuss.
6) For long-term collaboration, build your own team.
For those event managers who work on international events on a regular basis, the benefits of having a known team available outweigh the time that it takes to build the team in the first place. It reduces the ever-present risk that someone on the team won’t be up to the job. Remember, the quality of interpreting at an event reflects heavily on the organising team. You simply can’t afford to carry anyone, nor do you want to be working with a sea of new faces on every job.
The only way to guarantee that you get the same interpreters every time is to hire them yourself. With agencies, the exact team you get is outwith your control. Between events, agencies can change who they work with, adjust their rates, and alter their business model, meaning that you have no clue whom they might choose this time. In addition, some agencies forbid direct communication between the organisers and interpreters until the event, even to the point hiding names and email addresses. If you want to build long-term relationships with your interpreting team, that isn’t exactly a good start!
The message of all this is clear. The next time you need interpreters, read through this list and make the decision that is right for you and your event. Next up, I will deal with the tricky issue of how to get the right interpreters when hiring directly.
Jonathan Downie MSc BA(Hons) AITI is a speaker, conference interpreter, and writer trading under the name Integrity Languages. His columns in the ITI Bulletinand VKD Kurier examine how translators and interpreters can use the latest research to add greater value to their clients. He loves working with clients to build them an interpreting dream team, whatever the event.