Introduce Your Interpreters First: The One-Line Fix Most Events Miss

AI Speech Translation Gets a Disclaimer. Human Interpreters Get Silence.

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In the lunch queue at the forum, someone hurried over to me.⁣⁣"

Are you the interpreter?"⁣⁣

I said yes.⁣⁣

A thumbs-up. 👍 No other words.⁣⁣

That gesture said everything. The seed was planted earlier, from the stage.⁣⁣

At last week's 17th FutureChina Global Forum in Singapore, emcee Danny Yeo did something for the first time in the forum's history: at the start of the programme, he introduced the interpreters.⁣⁣

The same year #FCGF gave AI a full afternoon of its own, its human interpreters got their first introduction.⁣⁣

Afterwards, Danny wrote about the people you rarely see upfront, including "the interpreters in the booths (I pride myself being effectively bilingual but I can't do what THEY did so amazingly well!)"⁣⁣

From one of Singapore's best-known bilingual hosts: being bilingual is not the same as interpreting.⁣⁣

He wished events had a credit roll at the end, like a movie. He'd already given us something better: an introduction at the beginning.⁣⁣

Danny has hosted FCGF, Business China's flagship forum, since 2018. I've been in the booth just as long, missing only 2023. In 2024 and 2025 I returned as the plenary's main interpreter, not the team leader. This year I was trusted to lead again: my 5th time as chief interpreter, with the whole team by my side. I'm proud of that.⁣⁣

But what moved me most was that one introduction. It exposed a blind spot I've watched for 20+ years.⁣⁣

When organisers use AI speech translation, they manage expectations carefully. A line on screen: machine-generated, may contain errors. Expectations set, everyone protected.⁣⁣

Human interpreters get no framing at all.⁣We're expected to be perfect and invisible at the same time.⁣⁣

Good organisers know materials, rehearsals and speaker briefings matter. What's missing at 95% of my events is the simplest step: telling the room, upfront, that there are people in the booth.⁣⁣

One sentence from the stage, and:⁣

→ Speakers notice us. They slow down, articulate, look up from the script.⁣

→ Delegates recalibrate. They know they're hearing a person making split-second judgments, not a machine.⁣

→ Interpreters feel seen. And people who feel seen perform differently.⁣⁣

This year's theme was "Strengthening Resilience, Rebuilding Trust." In his keynote, DPM Gan Kim Yong reminded us that trust is built through people.⁣⁣

In a room of 1,400+ delegates, when many assume a machine is doing the work, one introduction told everyone: a human is doing this for you.⁣⁣

The thumbs-up in the lunch queue was that seed, already growing.

⁣⁣If you organise multilingual events, add one line to your emcee script. At the beginning.⁣⁣

Thank you, Danny Yeo, for the grace. Thank you, 通商中国 Business China, for the trust. And thank you to my team in the booth.⁣

📷🔗 Danny Yeo: https://lnkd.in/euj5yriD

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