This year’s German Microsoft partner conference took place for the first time under the name Microsoft Business Summit in Frankfurt. With over 3000 participants and nine different rooms, EVE was able to accompany all workshops and conferences on both days. A trial by fire.
It doesn’t matter how big or how well attended an event is. Topics such as accessibility are relevant for all types and sizes of conferences. Inclusion means giving all participants the same opportunity to take part in the event. That’s why live transcriptions are essential.
The conference kicked off with a plenary session at which distinguished guests such as Sabine Bendiek, Managing Director and Vice President of Microsoft Germany, and Sami Haddadin, Director of the Munich School of Robotics and Machine Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich, gave their presentations. The plenum consisted of a large stage with LED screens. In consultation with the director, the top fifth of the screens was used to display EVE subtitles. To be on the safe side, two proofreaders were connected to EVE and intercepted all the sentences to correct them if necessary and then approve them. First, the output was sent to the picture control room. They processed the screen and superimposed it onto the stage set. Visually, the image at the end resembled the classic subtitling of a movie. During the presentations, the languages changed along with the speakers. For example, Juao Couto, a member of the Microsoft Germany management team, introduced the next guest in English. While he entered the stage to applause, we changed the language of EVE in live operation. And without the audience noticing.
In addition to the plenary session, there were classic breakout sessions with individual presentations. EVE was also used here with a remote corrector. As there was no large stage for the smaller rooms, the subtitles were displayed on TVs next to the stage. EVE received the audio signal directly from the speakers’ microphones via an XLR-USB adapter in the laptop. Maximilian Krause was on site to control and set up all the sessions and supervised the entire project with all the rooms.
To enable Microsoft to post quotes on social media channels as quickly as possible after a presentation, the PR team used the transcript function to search a presentation for buzzwords. The live transcript can be downloaded as a PDF or text file during the presentation. It couldn’t be quicker.
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“In times of digital transformation, success is created through smart partnerships and collaboration. Sharing knowledge creates added value.” 💪 Sabine @bendiek from @MicrosoftDE in her opening keynote at #MBS19 #SharedIntelligence pic.twitter.com/wWODqx46qv
– Johanna Ronsdorf (@ahoi_matrosin) October 22, 2019
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We hope to be there again next year to make all presentations accessible with EVE.
— Maximilian Krause (MK)