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How to Enable Caption for a Virtual Event in Zuddl
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Closed captioning is a useful feature that converts the spoken content in a live stage into readable texts known as captions. The caption text is received in real-time and is displayed to attendees on a live stage. This feature is especially useful when you have a global audience for an event or have attendees from more one geographies.
Enable closed captions
To enable closed captions:
- Toggle on Captions.
- There are two ways in which you can enable closed captioning for your event:
- Automated captions
- Syncwords
Automated captions
Zuddl provides automated captions for sessions in English out-of-the-box without any integration. This method is selected by default when you turn on closed captions.
Caption support by SyncWords
Alternatively, you can select SyncWords for more accurate closed-captioning support. Zuddl partners with SyncWords to facilitate closed captioning capabilities. With SyncWords, attendees can select an available language in which they want to receive captions.
Setting up the integration
Prerequisites
To integrate SyncWords, you need to directly reach out to SyncWords and inform your requirements based on which you receive a unique token.
To specify your requirements, fill up the live event request form and send it to SyncWords. The table below describes the live event details required by SyncWords.
Optional fields are marked as Optional.
Event Requirements
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
First Name | First name of the requestor |
Last Name | Last name of the requestor |
Email Address | Email address of the requestor. The invoice would be sent to this email by default. |
Company | Optional field. Name of the company. |
Event Date | Date of the event |
Timezone | The timezone of the event |
Start Time | Event start time |
End Time | Event end time |
Source Language | Language of the original (incoming) audio stream that needs closed captioning. Select from the list of available languages; English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. |
Translating To | The language in which captions are to be typed. Select from the list of available languages; English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic |
Audio Link (Optional) | Leave this blank |
The Attendee-Facing URL (Optional) | Zuddl event link for attendees. You can fetch this from the dashboard. |
Event Credentials (Optional) | Attendee credentials to access the event on Zuddl. |
Speaker Names And Vocabulary (Optional) | Add the list of the speaker names, and other details that would help the captioner such as company-specific terminology or acronyms, a link to a slide deck, or agenda. |
Additional Notes and Instruction (Optional) | A space for additional notes and instructions |
Invoice Contact (Optional) | The contact (email address) of the person to whom the invoice would be sent. By default, the invoice would be sent to the email address of the requestor |
Upon receiving your request, SyncWords will send an invoice for the requested requirements to the Invoice Contact (as in the table above). After the request is accepted, they will share a unique token that is used to enable caption support on Zuddl. Based on your requirements it may take a minimum of 2 weeks time to confirm the integration.
Steps
Since closed captioning is enabled at a stage level, after you have received the token do the following:
- On the Zuddl dashboard, go to Venue Setup > Stage.
- Under the Advanced tab, expand the Accessibility features section.
Under Captions, enter the following
Event Id: Enter your event Id in the Enter event id field
Event token: Enter the token you received from SyncWords in the Enter event token field.
Once Captions is turned on, attendees can then turn on the caption from the settings option (gear icon) in the particular live stage, select a language of their choice, and start reading the simultaneously converted captions of the spoken content in real time.
Since the conversion is done by a real human typist and not a bot, you should expect a lag of approximately 2-3 seconds.
Attendee Settings
An attendee should follow the below steps in a live stage to enable closed captions:
- On the stage, click the gear icon and click Captions.
Click On and select the desired language from the list of available dropdown options.
This will display the captions in the designated text area as shown below:
