thebigword works with Expotel

As one of the world's most dynamic translation companies, thebigword helps organisations to communicate on a global scale.

The company has expanded rapidly since its formation in 1980, and now a workforce of over 100 people delivers fast-moving translation services around the world in more than 140 languages. With a head office in Leeds and bases in the USA, Europe, Japan and Scandinavia, thebigword builds on this success by holding in-country events, often organised by Expotel.

Because thebigword offers translations into such a wide range of languages, the company originally relied on skilled freelancers for its translations. However as thebigword grew into one of the world's largest translation companies, it became more effective to directly employ a core of translators in the most common languages. Janet Batten from thebigword explains: "We assessed the situation and a decision was made to offer employment to our freelance translators and source new translators at the same time. We needed to see translators in their own countries and explain the benefits of working full time for thebigword. We could then determine who was interested in coming on board".

thebigword has an unrivalled network of over 4500 freelance translators and so the next step was to begin the recruitment drive. Janet wanted to organise venues in Tokyo, Stockholm and Amsterdam where thebigword could meet new translators and talk with some of the existing freelance translators. She immediately contacted Expotel's international conference and event team for their expert advice. "At thebigword we use Expotel for our hotel accommodation both here and overseas, so they were the logical people to contact for finding venues and organising our recruitment events". Reveals Janet, "The alternative was to organise the whole thing by myself but I just didn't have the time to undertake the task effectively. I knew the international team had the knowledge and experience of overseas locations and would be able to advise me on the best options."

As thebigword invested so much time and money into meeting new recruits it was vital that the company's professional approach was reflected in the quality of the hotels. thebigword was looking for three venues that could host a day for around 20 people and provide refreshments as well as lunch. Luis Burley, international conference and events executive for Expotel explains, "The venues needed to be centrally located for ease of access and they needed to be prestigious to fit in with the position of the client. We were given a budget for each location and asked to come up with several options."

The venues eventually chosen were the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo, the Sheraton Hotel in Stockholm and the Amsterdam Renaissance hotel in Amsterdam. "These are all sophisticated hotels with impressive rooms that provided exactly the facilities thebigword had requested" continues Luis.

Thanks to Expotel's experience, the events were extremely successful, with a whole team of new translators joining thebigword. "We were very pleased with the end results and I couldn't have organised all these events on my own", Janet reveals, "Expotel's knowledge of the host countries was invaluable. The venues were easily accessible for attendees, of a calibre that reflects the success of our company, and the food and beverages were excellent. thebigword is growing extremely quickly overseas and we're already planning more recruitment events. We will certainly use Expotel again."