While the Secretariat exceeded its 90% target for conference organizers’ satisfaction for the second year in a row, results obtained from meeting participants’ surveys fell just short of the same target. In 2016–17, CICS continued to introduce new technologies as part of its suite of conference services. Some minor disruptions occurred as part of the transition and these had an effect on client satisfaction rates. Moving forward, CICS will continue to respond to client concerns and adapt its services as required, while resolving any remaining issues.

While the words professional, efficient and organized continue to be used most often by planners and delegates alike to describe the quality of services provided by CICS in support of intergovernmental meetings, many also mention our organization’s competence, expertise and overall excellence.

There continued to be increases in the degree of satisfaction of meeting planners regarding CICS’ flexibility and adaptability vis-à-vis their changing needs during planning, as well as our ability to identify conference media coverage requirements and to recommend options to address these requirements. All respondents agreed or strongly agreed about CICS’ planning services having resulted in an effectively and efficiently run conference that met operational expectations, as well as their willingness to call upon CICS again to plan and deliver their future intergovernmental conferences. Very high praise was also obtained regarding CICS staff’s and contractors’ courteousness, knowledge and responsiveness to participants’ needs during conferences.

Virtual meetings with interpretation: important benefits… and some challenges

The recent surge in the number and popularity of virtual meetings with simultaneous interpretation has been a direct result of governments wanting to lower costs, increase efficiencies and, generally, respond more quickly to the need to meet on specific topics that require urgent discussion. However, virtual meetings are not without their challenges and a few requirements are critical to their success, namely in relation to sound quality and advance planning.

Advance planning (ideally a full month) is still required to secure the necessary facilities where technicians and interpreters gather to serve each call. Adding to the challenge, is the ability of not being able to see participants and get important visual cues (e.g. body language, etc.) as they speak, for example. The Secretariat is continuing to search for effective ways to satisfy clients’ needs while also ensuring a safe and effective work environment for interpreters themselves.

“ CICS is a fine tuned machine…
anticipates and mitigates any issues.”