Blog Articles

Thanks to modern technologies, it’s easier than ever for businesses to deliver meetings, webinars, and events via the internet. While the move toward virtual and hybrid events meetings was accelerated due to COVID-19 lockdowns and safety concerns, businesses have embraced the opportunity to reach larger and more distant audiences online.

But businesses need to balance these benefits with new risks and threats. This is especially true today, when virtual and hybrid events are reaching maturity and the initial novelty around the format has given way to clearer measures for performance. As organisations are responsible for safeguarding a huge amount of attendee and speaker data, cybersecurity is a crucial concern for online event managers. Depending on their objectives, hackers may attempt to steal your business data, attendee personal and payment data, or they may seek to spread malware to attendee devices.

Robust cybersecurity is key to minimising these risks and protecting your reputation, along with your audience’s data. For organisations, another concern is complying with strict data privacy regulations like GDPR in the EU or American state-specific laws like the CCPA in California. Failure to meet GDPR compliance, for instance, can cost €20 million or up to 4% of annual global turnover.

While Interprefy isn’t a data security company, we are ISO 27001 certified and our Information Security Management Systems is aligned with standards in the area of data security and recommended best practices. Drawing from our expertise and experience with online and hybrid events, we’ve put together a checklist for organisations looking to improve their event cybersecurity. Let’s dive in.

When holding meetings with partners, customers, suppliers, or peers across multiple countries, language can often pose a big barrier to successful communication.

The International Organization for Standarization (ISO) defines interpreting as "rendering of spoken or signed information from a source language to a target language in oral or signed form, conveying both the register and meaning of the source language content". Add "remote" to this definition and it then seems obvious that we are referring to the act of interpreting in the distance but, is there only one way of doing it? and, where is it used?

While Zoom offers some built-in language interpretation capabilities, Interprefy's expertise, support, and cutting-edge Remote Simultaneous Interpreting (RSI) software with a dedicated interpreter interface can help take multilingual Zoom meetings to the next level.

Conference interpreting hasn't changed much since 1945 - but it has definitely undergone a seismic shift since 2020. With the majority of events being canceled or moved online because of social distancing, interpreters had to adapt quickly to not miss out on interpreting opportunities. Fortunately, Remote Simultaneous Interpretation technology already existed and those who adopted the technology could resume work successfully.

Sourcing an accurate and clear language interpretation solution is essential to delivering high-quality multilingual hybrid events. But finding the right solution can be a challenge, especially as interpretation needs to be provided for both on-site and virtual attendees. This logistical hurdle is multiplied by the number of languages that require interpretation.

Many hybrid event organisers have turned to Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) technology to solve this problem. But is RSI a good fit for your hybrid event? Let’s compare RSI with traditional interpretation before exploring how RSI fits into the hybrid event landscape.

The shift toward digital experiences and virtual events has created an opportunity for businesses to expand into new markets and reach audiences at scale. While expansion is key to business growth, it’s a challenging process that requires localising your content to fit with different multinational audiences.

Consumers have recently undergone a dramatic shift in expectations. Now more and more consumers expect top digital experiences. Organisations are scrambling to update their offerings and the events industry is no different. But as McKinsey research shows, companies only have a short transition period before we settle into the “new normal.”

So what will online events look like under the “new normal?” In his new book, Reinventing Live, entrepreneur and events expert Marco Giberti predicts that online events will become significantly more sophisticated. He writes that “Post-Covid virtual events and webinars will be unrecognizable. It will be like comparing traditional TV with streaming.”

Soon, planners will no longer be able to get away with unprofessional events that “look like a bad video call.” Along with these shifts in customer expectations, event planners face another challenge that impacts event success: Zoom fatigue.

With the rise of remote working, viewers are spending more and more time in online meetings. This can be exhausting and can impact your audience’s drive to attend virtual events. After a long day at work, who wants to spend more time in front of their laptop?

To adapt to the new normal and overcome Zoom fatigue, event planners need to create engaging virtual experiences that win viewer attention. Drawing on some of the best recent online events, we’ve put together six key steps to improving your online events. Let’s dive in.