Case Study | WBA: Professional Conference Interpreting Service

Overview

A fully-virtual global event

Just two months before the event, it appeared as if the 99th Convention of the World Boxing Association (WBA), might fall through the ropes. But demonstrating their pioneering spirit, WBA adopted cutting-edge technology to bring together the great boxing family spread across the planet from July 1st to 4th, 2020.

The Approach

Remote RSI support & Translation project management

Marking the 99th anniversary of the world's oldest boxing organization, the 99th Convention of the World Boxing Association (WBA) was planned to set the stage for the WBA General Assembly, Officials Seminars as well as Championship and Ratings reviews. With surprise appearances from important figures like Bob Arum, Don King and Eddie Hearn, the convention aimed to picture the perfect prelude to the hundredth anniversary of the pioneer organization.

But in the midst of the tough times in the world due to Covid-19, WBA was once again challenged to live up to their role as pioneers. Cancelling the physical event, WBA undertook the challenge to overcome all obstacles and move forward with creative solutions that reinforced their motto to be pioneers.

Interprefy is an effective and practical ally at the service of companies. In our experience, it allowed us to hold fluid meetings, solving communication problems that an organization like ours needs to solve in order to interact with our audience and make decisions in real time, without the language barrier being an impeding factor. Thanks to Interprefy, we ensured the success of Directorate meetings and our annual convention

- Luis Vargas, Communications Committee Director, World Boxing Association

The Outcome

Choosing the webinar provider GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting to host the conference program virtually, the boxing world was given a platform to discuss the past, present and future of the boxing sport and tackle issues such as equality and gender, nutrition and veganism and the fight against doping.

Bringing a globally dispersed family together, the World Boxing Association needed to find a solution to offer equal opportunities to join the conversation for attendees from different backgrounds. That's why Interprefy was brought onboard and help plan and execute a multilingual events experience.

Having worked with WBA before, Interprefy's project manager sourced the same Interpreters that helped with real-time interpretation for WBA events in the past, adding a wealth of industry experience and terminology to translation work.

Using Interprefy Gateway, a team of interpreters delivered Spanish translation via the Interprefy interpreter platform into the GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting sessions. Participants simply selected their preferred language to listen to the event audio in English or Spanish.

Leading up to the event, the association held a series of press conferences to promote the convention and offer a glimpse into its content. Pioneering a digital boxing convention, many unplanned obstacles needed to be overcome, even during the event. Taking on the role as a sparring partner, Interprefy offered extensive project and technical support, and helped allocate additional interpretation resources, as sessions went into extra time.

"In the absence of the physical presence, technology allowed us to bring together the great boxing family spread across the planet. With them we shared all the topics and debates, and we raised a prayer for the thousands of victims caused by the Covid-19, with a heartfelt and special memory for the members of our sport who have died during this year", says president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza in an official statement.

With a successful start into the 99th anniversary, the world's oldest boxing organization will continue to hold a series of various activities and prepare for their big anniversary: The hundredth convention, to be held in Russia in July 2021.

Interprefy has been a great tool for us at the WBA. Its staff is exceptionally helpful, kind, and always ready to help us find a perfect solution in a very fast manner. We thank Interprefy for the success of our 99th Convention and other events

- Zailuby Sofía Cuba, Executive Assistant to the WBA President, World Boxing Association