Public Speaking Course:

Bilingual Help

During the research phase of your presentation when you are going over your room setup and audio/visual requirements, you might encounter a foreign logistics technician. If you end up in this kind of situation make sure you go over the all the production plans in advance of the presentation (hopefully several times). Then during your presentation make sure to have a bilingual person there to help keep both you and the logistics person are on the same wavelength in understanding. You will have fewer complications to deal with.

My public speaking course teaches you to be prepared for this kind of situation. Try to be in the room very early on the day of your speaking engagement (at least two hours before the audience enters the room) and, if possible, have your bilingual helper there too. Terms that are familiar to most English speaking speakers are difficult to translate into a foreign language. A good idea is to take pictures of the various items you may need (overhead projector, white board, etc.) and carry them with you to the even. It always pays to "Be Prepared".

When you are desperate in a foreign country and you need something, all you have to do is show the picture. And we all know " a picture is worth a thousand words". Or after years of inflation since we heard it as a child, worth maybe a million?

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