Closed captions and translation using Wordly

Easily connect your virtual, hybrid, or in person live session to Wordly, to provide your audience with simultaneous AI-powered closed captions or translations.

Once set-up for your live session, your speakers can simply go up on stage or join the live session via studio, and start to speak as usual. Your attendees, on the web app and on the mobile app, will have the option to enable the closed captions or simultaneous translations, and choose between over 30 different languages.

You will need access to Backstage and to Wordly in order to set up closed captions and translation using Wordly. This is a paid integration, please contact your SpotMe account manager for more information.

IMPORTANT: If you are using Wordly for a live person event or session (including hybrid), remember that in addition to connecting Wordly session(s) to the SpotMe live session, you will also need to connect Wordly to the venue's AV equipment.

How does this look in the app?

When the live session begins, whether they are attending in-person or remotely, in the app the attendees will see a Translations button when they access the live session.

Clicking on this button will open the Translations & Captions panel, where attendees can select the language for the closed captions/translations that they need.

Please note that, the attendee will see the live session and the close captions differently in the app, depending on the following:

• If it is an in person live session there will not be a stream video, and only Wordly closed captions can be configured and enabled.
  
  
• If it is a virtual live session there will be a stream video, and either Wordly OR AI media closed captions can be enabled and configured.
  
  
• If it is a hybrid live session:
  • “in person” attendees, will not see the stream video, and only Wordly closed captions can be configured and enabled.
  • “virtual” attendees, will see the stream video, and either Wordly OR AI media closed captions can be enabled and configured.
    Note: On the same hybrid live session, you can, if needed, choose to use Wordly for the closed captions that will be available to in-person attendees, and AI media for the closed captions that are available to the virtual attendees. You can also use Wordly for both audiences, but you will need to use two distinct Wordly sessions.

Please see the below examples of how this would look on web app and on mobile app.

Attendee is attending the live session virtually (so with live stream video) using the web app:

Attendee is attending the live session in-person (so no live stream video), using the web app:

Attendee is attending the hybrid live session virtually (so with live stream video), using the mobile app app:

Attendee is attending the hybrid live session in-person (so no live stream video), using the mobile app app:

 

Here the attendee can:

• See the language that is being spoken, beneath the Translations & Captions text (for example above it is "Speaking: ENGLISH").
• Open the dropdown list located in the bottom right of the screen, and select the language that they want to see for the text (simultaneous transcript or translation).

After selecting the language, the closed captions or translation will immediately start to appear in the app. The text appears in real time as the speakers are talking on stage, and users can at any time change the language for the closed captions/translation using the dropdown.

Read on below to find out how to set this up on your live sessions, by connecting your SpotMe live session to a Wordly live session.

How to connect your SpotMe live session to a Wordly session

1 - Create your live session in Backstage

1. Create your virtual or hybrid live session, in your workspace in Backstage. Make sure you are using RTMPS or SpotMe Studio as the stream provider.
   
   When you create your live session and select your closed captions options, keep in mind that:
   - for virtual live sessions, you will need to select Closed captions > Virtual attendees > Wordly:
   
   And then in the live session settings, connect a single Wordly session to the SpotMe live session (more information on this below):
   
   - for in-person live sessions, you will need to select Closed captions > In-person attendees > Wordly:
   
   And then in the live session settings connect the single Wordly session to the SpotMe live session (more information on this below):
    
   - for hybrid live sessions, there will be two audiences, so you will need to select Closed captions > Virtual attendees AND In person attendees > Wordly (more information on this below):
   
   For hybrid live sessions, you will also need to create two Wordly sessions in order to accommodate both audience types at your hybrid session. Then in the live session settings connect one Wordly session to the virtual attendees for your hybrid live session, and the other Wordly live session to your in-person attendees:
   
   

Remember to hit Save once you are done creating the live sessions

2 - Create your session(s) in Wordly

As explained above in the Creating your live session in Backstage section, for in-person or virtual live sessions, you will need to create one session in Wordly for each SpotMe session, and for hybrid session that have both audience types, you will need to create two wordly sessions (one per audience type).

Create your session(s) in Wordly, by filling in the fields below and clicking Save:

Important: Select the correct Language here. This is the source language for the speakers that will be used for the closed captions or translation, and needs to correspond to the language that will be spoken live on stage.

Note: You can also use the automatic language selector in Wordly, so that multiple speaker languages can be set. Wordly will automatically detect the language that is being spoken (after a 15 or 20 words) and will changer the selection to the language that is being spoken. More information

Tip: For an improved accuracy of your captions during the session, we recommend that you use the "Glossary" dropdown to upload a glossary of technical or specialized terms that are used.

3 - Connect the Wordly session(s) to the SpotMe live session

As explained above in the Creating your live session in Backstage section, for in-person or virtual live sessions, you will need to create one session in Wordly for each SpotMe session, and for hybrid session that have both audience types, you will need to create two wordly sessions (one per audience type).

1. Once you have created the session, open it in Wordly, by selecting it in the list.
   In the Streaming shortcuts section, locate the URL and Key:
   
2. In another tab in your browser, open the live session in Backstage, and go to the Settings > Captions section:
   
   
   
3. Copy the URL and Key from the Wordly session(s) (see step 1 above), and paste them into the URL and Key fields in the live session in Backstage:
   
   For the Session ID field, please copy it from the session in the session list in Wordly, or from the prefix of the URL:
   
4. Click on Save after adding the URL, Key, and Session ID to the live session in Backstage.
   
   Testing: To test whether the set-up is working, go to the Live session in Backstage, open the room in Studio and add yourself or a speaker to the stage (without going live).
   Now, access to the Page link via your browser. The link is available in the Wordly session, visible in the Streaming shortcuts section, beneath the URL and Key information.
   At this point, if you speak while on stage you should see the audio transcription appear in the Page link in Wordly.
   The Translation button will only become visible to attendees in the web app once you go live in Studio.
   
   Important: Wordly minutes start to be consumed as soon as the live session is in "Preview"
   
   
5. Once you go live with your live session in Backstage, the closed captions/translations will become available to your attendees. The Translations button in the web app will not appear until you go live.

How to connect Wordly to the AV equipment at in-person live sessions

In addition to connecting your SpotMe live session to a Wordly session, for in-person sessions you will need to connect Wordly directly to the meeting or conference room audiovisual equipment.

To do so, please make sure that the AV team follows the instructions that are provided by Wordly, in order to connect Wordly to the meeting or conference room audiovisual equipment.

Technical notes

• Wordly minutes start to be consumed as soon as the live session is in "Preview".
• For an improved accuracy of your captions during the session, we recommend that you use the "Glossary" dropdown to upload a glossary of technical or niche terms that are used.
• Closed captions and translations with Wordly also work when prerecorded videos are played in your live stream (for videos imported into Studio).
• Please be aware that closed captions and translations generated by Wordly will not be present in the live session on demand recording.
• Closed captions and translations powered by Wordly are supported in mobile apps.
• Closed captions and translations powered by Wordly can be enabled together on the same live session with Interprefy live interpretation.
• Please note that you can also upload VTT files that are generated by Wordly to your live session recordings.
• On the same hybrid live session, you can if needed choose to use Wordly for the closed captions that will be available to in-person attendees, and AI media for the closed captions that are available to the virtual attendees.