Technical Support for Virtual Events: Why SyncWords is a Cut Above the Rest

Let's face it. We converge online now more than not. Since in-person meetings have taken a backseat during the pandemic, virtual meetings have become the de facto mode of carrying out business conversations. In the last two years, several online platforms have come up to offer robust solutions to meet this market demand. Platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Adobe Connect, et al. have joined the ranks of Zoom, Skype, and Cisco WebEx to enable online communication. Also, SyncWords is proud to partner with two new exciting Virtual Events Platforms - PheedLoop and Balloon. Check them out!

But where does technical support come in? Most platforms will have help pages and tutorials to help you become familiar with using those platforms to host your virtual events. But how many offer live technical support for virtual events? SyncWords is one of the virtual event support platforms that do. Live, real-time, 24/7, whatever the scope or duration of the event.

Think Captions. Think Translation. Think Technical Support. Think SyncWords

While many such platforms rose to the challenge, there was also the need to integrate with caption providers. And where there are live captions, there ought to be translation capabilities as well. And SyncWords, one of the world's leading caption service providers, geared up to offer these solutions. SyncWords' AI and machine learning technologies were quick to respond to this need. Our on-demand and live captioning services also offer translation capabilities in 100+ languages.

There is a growing need for captions at meetings and events. Providing real-time captions is at the core of our business. Captions make virtual meetings accessible to those who are hard of hearing, and translations encourage worldwide participation, particularly non-English speakers. Companies are increasingly using virtual and hybrid events for business operations. This means there is a higher demand for translations for their international employees and audiences to be more involved.

This has broadened the scope of virtual boardroom conversations. Now, participants from all over the world can join meetings in real-time. Not only this, with downloadable transcripts of the meeting captions, they can now also record and archive salient points of each meeting for follow-up conversations. And because of live translation capabilities, global participation became easier than ever before. If the primary event is hosted in English, translations make a world of difference to non-English speakers and clients.

Virtual Events: How Real-Time Tech Support Can Help

Given the expectations and complexities of virtual events, it is essential to ensure smooth live streaming, and live captioning and simultaneous translations. This is a crucial juncture where Syncwords’ technical support team comes in. They guarantee the sessions run smoothly and without technical issues. Tech support is crucial in ensuring the success of captioning at every virtual event, a need that SyncWords recognized well ahead of time.  Our technical support team has varied and deep experience and is passionate about helping our customers achieve success with every event. Further, with the responsibility of captioning and translations managed by SyncWords, the event organizers can focus on other aspects of the event such as the live streaming video, speaker and panel management, and audience interaction.   

Virtual captioning platforms have the ability to schedule and manage multiple events for both standalone and enterprise customers. The live-streaming workflow is often the trickiest. Preparation and advance planning are key to ensure things don't fall through the cracks. The event has to be streamed to different gadgets: laptops, desktops, phones, tablets, each of which has different screen sizes and resolutions. Design is another key component. Live captions to any event have to compliment the look and feel of the event platform as also the gadget it is being streamed on. There is the syncing of the audio and the video as well, the most crucial aspect of such events.

Our technical support team also helps with live event coordination and monitoring. They coordinate with the human captioners, ensuring that they are equipped with all details and agenda of the event beforehand including any special instructions and materials from the event hosts such as PowerPoints, acronyms which can help elevate the accuracy of captioning. Like with any stage event, our support team logs in well in advance to test out key tech aspects of the event. Providing accurate captions in the source language (language for the main event) is crucial as any AI & ML-driven translations are derived from the source language. The accuracy of the source captions then reflects in the translations in the language of your choice.

What Team Tech Support at SyncWords Does

Depending on where the online event is taking place or the platform on which the event is being hosted, captions could be delayed and appear out of sync with the audio. The tech support team is constantly monitoring this and correcting this latency on the platform so that the end viewer can have a seamless experience. 

Wherever in the world your virtual event may be, whatever be the time or duration of your event, you can rest assured that SyncWords will partner with you every minute, every step of the way. Our captions are provided by a huge, global human captioning task force that works 24/7. Captions are rendered with 99% accuracy by our global human captioning workforce.

All these specs, like testing, set-up, coordination, and integration into delivery platforms, are checked and double-checked well ahead of time. This requires experienced technicians who can think on their feet and address any issues that may arise during the event. Few companies in the world currently have capabilities to manage this. And SyncWords is one of the leading service providers to provide real-time, live, 24/7 technical support. Our multi-lingual tech support team has decades of experience in client support and customer support, with thorough knowledge of the various technologies at play in the industry. These include, but are not limited to, captioning, subtitling, broadcast, cinema, and OTT.

Jeetu Rao from our tech support team, has over 18 years of experience in fast-paced environments in the Media & Entertainment industry. He has this to say: "One critical element that often gets overlooked is 'being there.' As a part of the SyncWords tech and monitoring team, I ensure our customers have the best experience. Being able to talk to us during the event gives them the confidence that there is a human element there to hand-hold them, if necessary. And glitches, if any, are acted upon and resolved immediately by our team. I love interacting with customers so I can assist them throughout the project life cycle. I am delighted that my expertise and experience are part of our customers' success".

To learn more about SyncWords Live captioning and translation for virtual events, come Sync with us!