Introducing the Outdoor Classroom 

We are excited to announce a unique opportunity to host intimate staff retreats this summer at our new outdoor classroom at the Greenberg Conference Center on Yale’s campus. 

Located in a beautiful outdoor setting on Farnam Gardens, the tented space accommodates 10-20 people with several retreat options available. All packages include a four (4) hour rental of the GCC outdoor classroom, as well as: 

• 20’x40’ tent
• Indoor restrooms
• Chairs
• Tables
• Internet
• Four (4) flip chart packages 
• Microphone
• On-site YC&E staff member 

To view our brochure with more information, click here.

Internship Opportunities: Join Our Team  Do you know a current college student or recent grad who is energetic, conscientious, and has excellent communication skills? If yes, we would love to hear from them!  YC&E is looking for customer-focused Program Assistants to work closely with our team to support a wide range of Yale programs, conferenes, events, and projects (virtual and in-person). This part-time, paid position runs September-December and offers school credit for the Fall 2021 semester.  To read the full job description, click here. Resumes may be emailed to Megan Palluzzi at megan.palluzzi@yale.edu.

We’ve Been Nominated! 

Our team at YC&E has been nominated in the category of “Best Pandemic Pivot” for Unique Venue’s 2021 Best of Awards! This award will recognize a team that successfully pivoted their services and offerings due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

We’re honored to be nominated for our efforts in assisting Yale with safely housing students and first responders (indluding isolation and interim), managing virtual events of every size, establishing a central residential college housing system, and much more. 

If you would like to support us with your vote, please click here, scroll to the bottom, and select “Yale University” from the “Best Pandemic Pivot” drop down list. Voting closes on Friday, August 13. 

Award recipients will be announced at the virtual 2021 Unique Venues Annual Marketing Conference in October. Best of luck to all nominees! 

Managing Language Interpretation During Virtual Events

YC&E is no stranger to managing in-person events that require language interpretation. However, managing interpretation in the virtual world was completely uncharted territory for us when the pandemic began. After some initial trial and error, our team has mastered running virtual events where multiple languages need interpretation. 

Our resident guru, Shannon LeGault, has successfully managed various virtual events that required interpretation, including the African Women events with the Office of International Affairs. Shannon shares best practices and helpful tips below! 

1. To start, be sure to enable “Language Interpretation” in your Zoom Settings. 
2. Next, find out who your interpreters are in advance, and enter their email information into the specific Zoom Meeting Settings. Here, you will also add in which language they will be translating into. If an interpreter changes last minute, you will still be able to add them in an interpreter once they enter the Meeting. 
3. Once your interpreters log into the meeting, Zoom will automatically recognize them, as long as they use the same email address you added to Zoom earlier. 
4. To avoid unnecessary stress, ensure that your interpreters (along with all other event assistants) log into the meeting early so that they can test their audio and you can make sure all language channels are working. 
5. Once you start the translation in Zoom: 

• Zoom will put each interpreter into their own channel.
• Interpreters, even if on the same channel, will not be able to hear one another. 

Helpful Tips

• We ask each interpreter to log in twice - once from their computer and once from a smartphone. This is done so that they can hear the other interpreter they will be working with during the event and allows them to switch on and off (interpreters typically only interpret for 20 minutes at a time). Interpreters may also need to hear another language. For example, they may need to hear Spanish translated into English so they they can translate into French. 
• We usually send participant lists and any reading material (presentations, agendas, etc.) to the interpreters beforehand so that they have some background information on what the event is about, which makes for easier interpretation. 
• Decide, in advance, how you will communicate with your interpreters during the event as it can be hard to follow the Zoom chat. Our team finds that texting works well! 
• There is currently no option in Zoom to use interpretation in Breakout Rooms. 

We hope these tips were helpful and you can always reach out to us (conferencesandevents@yale.edu) for more information and guidance! 

Yale’s Zoom Bot

As planners, we try our best to anticipate the needs of clients when planning and executing events. In the post-pandemic events world, anticipating outcomes has become increasingly difficult. Yet, we are very fortunate to work at a university that encourages innovation and out-of-the-box thinking, which has been instrumental as we navigated the virtual events realm. Recently, we took advantage of Yale’s innovative technologies by testing out the resident “Zoom Bot” during our internal staff meetings.

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Finger on the Pulse

Did you know that YC&E is very active on social media? We regularly share the latest updates on what’s happening on campus, around New Haven (and beyond), and in the events industry.      We also post original content ranging from useful tips and tricks for event planners to carefully curated lists of local recommendations worth exploring (restaurants, shops, beaches, trails, and more).     Like what you see? Be sure to follow us and never miss an update again!