Translation workflow for presentations: Here's what you need to watch out for

If you work in a large, internationally active company, you are probably familiar with the problem of different languages and translations. After all, it's not just web activities that need to be kept up to date here, but above all countless sales and marketing documents as well as company presentations. Depending on the radius of action, this can become quite elaborate/somptueusement/overdådigt/πλουσιοπάροχα/etc. Especially when it comes to adapting individual slides in presentations, adding new languages or managing the export and import of texts for translation agencies. To help you move forward as efficiently as possible, we have summarized the five most important phases for a smooth workflow - applicable to both internal and external processes. Incidentally, all those who have already introduced a successful translation workflow can now couple it with our new translation management for professional presentations (see workflow phases 3 to 5).

Workflow-Phase 1: Define a clear goal

It happens all the time that companies translate content into another language without a specific goal in mind. However, to get the most out of your translations, you should have a clear idea of what you want to use them for.

In a presentation context, for example, you might be thinking about which new markets you want to enter in the future, or to whom you want to give or deliver your presentations. It can be helpful to consider cultural differences beforehand. Topics or phrases that are commonplace in your native language may be taboo in other cultures. In the course of this, you should not only analyze your texts, but also the images, videos and animations shown in your presentations and adapt them if necessary.

Find out here how you can swap multimedia content in all affected presentations and slides in presono with just one mouse click.

Workflow-Phase 2: Bring it up

Before you finally send content to your translation agency, you should literally come clean. Communicate what you expect from the language service provider and define in advance what the collaboration should look like. Especially when it comes to presentations, flexibility is often required due to last-minute changes. Therefore, clarify the time frame in advance! Alignment is the key to a successful relationship and successful translations.

Workflow-Phase 3: Use the correct format

In order for the translation process to go smoothly, it is crucial to deliver the content at the right time and in the right format. There are a variety of ways to do this. In presono, we use our XLIFF module, a feature that makes this workflow phase even easier, faster and more cost-efficient. You can read about exactly how this works here!

Important: Once you have sent your content to the translation agency, the corresponding content should not be changed temporarily. That way you can manage a good overview. In presono you can ensure this via rights management by locking all slides or presentations that are being translated for editing.

Workflow-Phase 4: Be available

In the translation phase, interaction and communication with your agency is especially crucial. Here it is important to be available for any questions and to respond as quickly as possible so as not to interrupt the translation flow.

Tip: Since presentations are usually created, edited and maintained by many different people, it is advisable to define a contact person who communicates with the agency. This not only helps to avoid misunderstandings, but also incorrect or multiple translations.

Incidentally, you can now handle this administration or organization process even more easily with our new translation management. From now on, you can not only define new languages in presono, but also remove individual languages or translations, reassign them and make manual changes. How this works exactly and which warnings we have built in for an optimal slide and presentation management, you can read here!

Workflow-Phase 5: Manage the return of translations

Not only the transmission, but also the return of the translations must be specified. Especially if you hire different translation agencies due to different languages. Here it is important to know how the translations are returned, by whom, and when. The more languages you use, the more complicated this part of the workflow can become.

So that you don't have to rack your brains in this regard, we also make this workflow phase easier with our XLIFF module which makes it possible to save all the different languages in a single XLIFF file and then import them back into presono. Why this is extremely helpful for presentations in particular, we reveal here!

With this in mind, we wish you great success and look forward to supporting your workflow with our new translation management system! 



PS: If you are currently preparing for an online presentation, a video pitch or a virtual sales meeting, we have collected exciting tips for optimizing your workplace as well as the six most important presentation types and what is important in each case for you.