As a co>lab participant, you are responsible for preparing one 20-minute speech, more like a presentation, that your colleagues will interpret simultaneously. You’ll need to prepare a PowerPoint for your speech ahead of time, which your colleagues will use to prepare.

If a PowerPoint doesn’t seem relevant to your particular speech, you must provide speaking notes. We want to set our colleagues up for success!

Your simultaneous speech

Your speech should be:

• Around 20 minutes long
• Delivered in your mother tongue
• Something you’re interested in and can speak about in-depth and competently
• Realistic and challenging
• Extemporaneous and not read from a script
• Written with a specific audience in mind

How to prepare your speech, step-by-step:

1. Decide on a topic. This should be quite specific. You are asked to indicate this topic when you register.
2. Create a presenter persona. Who are you? What organization do you represent? What is your job title?
3. Define your audience. Ideally your audience is comprised of experts in your field but who will have something to glean from your particular presentation. 
4. Fill out the co>lab title slide. Then and add it to your presentation deck. This will help you make sure you have your ducks in order and allow your colleagues to prepare more efficiently.
5. Upload your PowerPoint to the Co>lab Group Drive. Your organizers will send out a link to the Group Drive when it’s time.

An Example: coffee

Let’s take a real example. First, most of what we do as conference interpreters is expert to expert communication, so we need to recreate that.

Let’s say my topic is coffee. I will first pick a specific aspect of coffee: post-harvest processing.

Next, I create a persona. I am the Southeastern Regional Director of Sales for CounterMounter Coffee Roasters.

Then, an expert audience: a group of Baristas. Baristas are coffee experts, but often know less about what happens to coffee on the farm. I’d like to fill in some gaps for them and get them excited about the expertise my roastery has to offer.

Consecutive speeches (Optional)

Though not required, we also need participants to give a speech for consecutive interpretation (4-7 minutes). If you’d like to volunteer, indicate your topic on the co>lab registration form, or send us an e-mail.

For sound advice on developing and delivering speeches, see this DG Interpretation guide on Speechmaking.