Interpreter positioning in a large setting...

NitroHonda

NitroHonda

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I'm at a business convention. One of the sessions is a difficult one. Let me try my best to describe the scenario... There is a large ballroom with about 400-500 people in it. This is a "roundtable" which means that it's an open discussion. I will be an active participant in it as I will answer questions as well as ask some. This is basically industry-related professionals throwing ideas/suggestions/etc at each other. It is VERY fast paced. It will last only one hour but it's a heckuva frenzied hour.

I will have two interpreters. Normally, they take 20 minute turns but for this particular session, I was thinking about asking one interpreter to stand on the opposite side of the room to "carry on" the conversations back there and having the other interpreter to basically interpret the whole thing. Would this be a reasonable request or would I be asking too much of the one interpreter to sign most of it (75% or so). Seems a little unfair to ask that much out of one while giving the easy part of the job to the other but I believe it would work best for ME. This is an important session for me so understanding everybody is critical. I am not experienced with interpreters in large settings like this...

So... advice would be really welcomed. Do any of YOU have any other suggestions?
 
Contact the interpreters, explain to them the scenario, and work it out amongst you. It may be necessary to bring in another interpreter. Regardless, it's best to work things out ahead of time with them rather than springing it on them last minute.
 
What about a captionist?
Court reporters also work as captionists (I've had a couple who did those) and are very handy for multi-participant conversations.

You could have a transcript of everything going on from the captionist and use the interpreter(s) for whatever else you need to converse about.
 
Reba said:
Contact the interpreters, explain to them the scenario, and work it out amongst you. It may be necessary to bring in another interpreter. Regardless, it's best to work things out ahead of time with them rather than springing it on them last minute.
Click to expand...

I'm aware of working it out with them but I'm asking fellow Deaffies who have experience in larger settings like this for advice or suggestions. Interpreters can respond too but sometimes they are just inanimate tools who are useless when it comes to making suggestions. Please be experienced with this setting if responding though. One of the interpreters that I had the other day just did not want to be there and it showed in his behavior and lack of apathy although he was certainly qualified (RID).

I wish I could work it out with them in advance but that can't really be helped in this case. This was my first experience at this particular convention. I had my first roundtable discussion today and now know what to expect for tomorrow. Oh yeah... it's tomorrow at 4:30. Heh. I had just one interpreter today but I didn't participate in the discussions. It's the one tomorrow where it applies more to me so I requested two for this one. I'm not willing to pay for a third interpreter so working with these two will have to suffice.
 
naisho said:
What about a captionist?
Court reporters also work as captionists (I've had a couple who did those) and are very handy for multi-participant conversations.

You could have a transcript of everything going on from the captionist and use the interpreter(s) for whatever else you need to converse about.
Click to expand...

That's a nice thought but I prefer ASL. It takes me a few minutes to process written text in my head. I respond much quicker using ASL.
 
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