Bridging a Language Barrier
These three events used bilingual staffers to make international guests feel at home. by Lisa Cericola

Cristophe Carrere made sure the models looked (and spoke) French at the Longchamp event.
Get Them Talking To drum up excitement for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Franz Beckenbauer, president of the FIFA organization committee, went on a worldwide welcome tour, visiting eight countries in 11 days, including a stop at Gotham Hall last February. The guest list for the New York event was almost as global as the tour itself, so FIFA organizers and destination management company New World Travel asked Elizabeth Frank of Eye5 to handpick models fluent in German, Spanish, French, and Hebrew to work the party. “In international social situations, understanding cultural differences is just as important as knowing the language,” Frank says. “Because the models were not only checking people in and directing them around the event but also socializing with international guests, we only chose models native to another country or who had traveled extensively.” Most of the V.I.P. guests were German, so Frank assigned two German-speaking staffers to serve as their personal hosts. The models translated conversations, mingled, and helped the guests feel comfortable speaking their native language. The German-speaking staffers also proved helpful before and after the event, by translating emails for Frank and interpreting conversations with FIFA organizers.Global Greeting For the opening of Longchamp’s New York flagship store in SoHo in May 2006, the Paris-based clothing retailer wanted sophisticated French flair, right down to the people working the door. Christophe Carrere (pictured), creative director of Reflexgroup, which produced the event, had eight staffers from Soza Models brush up on their conversational French so they could greet guests (including Longchamp president and C.E.O. Philippe Cassegrain and celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Lucy Liu) on their way into the store. “It was a great success,” Reflexgroup production manager Carine Bauvey said. “The models only had to speak a few basic phrases, but it gave the event a French touch and added a sense of refinement.”Add Cultural Flavor The Brazilian Gastronomic Food Festival, which markets Brazilian food products to U.S. consumers, drew about 30 Brazilian manufacturers to the Time Hotel in December 2005. To bridge the Portuguese-English language gap, event planner Maria Benvenuti of Benvenuti Public Relations recruited a wide variety of Portuguese-speaking staffers, including document translators, interpreters, and entertainers. Although the Brazilian-born Benvenuti has hired Portuguese-speaking musicians and servers to work at events in the past, she says that New York’s Brazilian consulate was one of her most valuable resources for staffing. “The Brazilian consulate—or any country’s consulate—will provide a list of interpreters who can speak the language you need,” Benvenuti said. “Within the consulate, the Brazilian cultural attaché put me in touch with Brazilian dignitaries and people who do business in Brazil, which helped with the guest list.” The highlight of the weeklong event was a press dinner, where guests dined on a multicourse menu featuring all the Brazilian products. To accommodate both English and Portuguese speakers, Benvenuti hired bilingual servers, interpreters who translated a PowerPoint presentation, and a Brazilian band, which played while everyone dined.
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