Cameron Roberts speaks to Michael Gwilliam and Megan Walters of XSEM , about how translation technology is opening up a world of international events for the agency

ost-pandemic , event agencies have had to adapt to a new events landscape . Technology and global communities became the forefront of many clients ’ minds , meaning event businesses need to be more creative in their solutions to modern roadblocks .

Leeds-based event agency XSEM is utilising translation technology to bring business leaders and employees together and is taking a unique approach to bidding for business . I spoke to Michael Gwilliam , director , and Megan Walters , sales and marketing

“ There ’ s a huge opportunity in terms of these global events to continue a virtual path that we ’ ve been successful on as well as open up a new audience for us .”

manager , XSEM , about what the future holds for the agency .

Tech comes first

The pair spoke about how international events have become more commonplace in XSEM ’ s portfolio with the widespread use of technology to facilitate virtual and hybrid meetings . What this means in practice is that XSEM must now come up with ways to brings together global communities .

Gwilliam said : “ What it ’ s meant is that it ’ s opened up more global events , instead of doing a global event each quarter where they are flying people all around the world , our customers now might do it live once a year , but three times do it virtually .

“ There ’ s a huge opportunity with global events to continue on a virtual path . For us , it ’ s enabled us to reach new audiences within our current key accounts .” The agency has

facilitated more global conversations by using a translation software to create avatars of speakers , which can then read scripts in 14 languages . Utilising this tech for training , corporate events and conferences has opened up the horizons for XSEM .

Gwilliam spoke about how XSEM uses this system in practice and how it applies to its clients . He said : “ In the businesses that we work with all the senior management leaders speak fluent English . But many within the business may not share a language with us . It is a way that you can get senior leaders from different countries to thank and welcome all levels of new business .”

“ It ’ s just massively widening our reach within existing customers and given the opportunity to pitch for the kind of global business that you might normally associate with larger agencies .”

The translation software feeds into a larger goal for XSEM , since opening up a client base utilising virtual events , the agency has found that technology adoption has unlocked wider budgets . What this means is that the business