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You’d think that in 2025, when even your toaster is multilingual if you press the right button, Asia–Pacific’s event organisers would have mastered the art of letting people understand one another. But no. A startling new survey reveals they’re still bumbling along with a “she’ll be right” attitude, except it won’t. Not when half the delegates can’t follow a single word being said.

The Numbers That Don’t Add Up

The research, courtesy of Interprefy, a multilingual event tech outfit, makes reading uncomfortable. 63% of APAC event organisers don’t use Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) at significant events. That’s right: nearly two-thirds of conferences, summits and forums are ploughing on in a single language, as though the rest of the world doesn’t exist.

Worse still, 49% of organisers admitted they’d never even heard of RSI. You’d almost forgive them if this were 1995, but this survey was conducted in May this year, among 600 supposedly professional decision-makers. And just when you thought it couldn’t get more embarrassing, nearly one in five confessed they had no idea AI-powered speech translation was even a thing.

This isn’t just a “lost in translation” case; it’s lost before translation starts.

Picture the Scene

You can almost hear the sighs in the conference hall. An international CEO takes the stage, fires off a presentation at warp speed, and the audience dutifully nods. Half the delegates are praying they’ll get the gist, while the other half wonder if it’s time to check their phones. Nobody’s at fault except the organisers who couldn’t be bothered to flick the switch on technology that exists, works, and has been around long enough to iron out the bugs.

Oddmund Braaten, CEO at Interprefy

The CEO Speaks

Oddmund Braaten, Interprefy’s boss, wasn’t mincing words when presented with his own findings:

“Whether you’re hosting a high-stakes business meeting or a large-scale industry conference, enabling participants to follow and contribute in their own language isn’t just a courtesy, it’s a driver of engagement and effectiveness.”

He’s right, of course. It’s no longer about being polite. It’s about keeping delegates awake and engaged, and dare I say it, paying attention.

Playing the Wrong Game

Here’s the rub: in APAC, global event participation is climbing. International delegates are flying in, or logging on, in record numbers. Yet organisers are clinging to a single-language approach as if it’s some noble tradition. It isn’t. It’s lazy. It also risks making regional events look second-rate compared with Europe or the US, where multilingual tools are par for the course.

Surprisingly, one in seven organisers confessed they use none of the available services: no RSI, no AI speech translation, no captions, nothing. Delegates might as well bring their own dictionaries.

A Matter of Relevance

Accelerating Global Communication: A Strategic Report for Organisers Delivering Events in APAC and the Middle East hammers the point home. Language support is as essential as Wi-Fi or working microphones in today’s world. Ignore it; your “global” conference suddenly looks very parochial.

Braaten, again, put it bluntly:

“Relying on a single language, whether the local language or English, often leads to friction, misunderstandings or reduced engagement. Event professionals in APAC should be using multilingual live translation and interpretation services to ensure inclusivity and clarity.”

Translation: Keep going with English-only sessions, and don’t be surprised if international audiences stop coming.

The Verdict

Let’s be frank. Expecting everyone at a multinational event to “just get it” in one language is like inviting guests to dinner and serving only Vegemite sandwiches. Some will eat them, others will smile politely and push them aside, but nobody returns for seconds.

Technology exists to fix this RSI, as well as AI speech translation, captions, etc. It’s not prohibitively expensive, it’s not experimental, and it’s certainly not science fiction. The only thing missing in APAC is the will.

And if organisers don’t wake up soon, they’ll find themselves hosting “international” conferences that feel decidedly local, with international delegates quietly booking their flights elsewhere.