Connecting Countries

At the end of last week I was asked by one of our clients to take part in an important business meeting which was going to be done through video conferencing technology with a corporation in Korea. The reason I was asked to attend the meeting was because it was going to be conducted in English, and I am the only person in my office with English as a first language. So it was going to be my responsibility to faciliate this meeting, and help my client translate anything between English and Spanish. Pretty big responsibility.

On Monday the meeting began at 10am Colombian time, which ended up being 12midnight in Korea (what a difference in time zones!). The university I work within, has the most amazing collection of high tech gear, so we used this very advanced webcam, LCD screen, and teleconferencing system to conduct the meeting.

Once the meeting began I was responsible for taking notes, as well as translating anything that my client was unsure how to express in English. At one point in the meeting I actually did a lot of the talking, as well as discussing different topics quickly in Spanish with my client, and then translating it in English and relaying the same information to the corporation in Korea. It was probably the most intense and exciting thing I have done thus far in my job. As well as a huge responsibility on my part, since I had to make sure I was translating the right information (in a timely manner) as the majority of it was quite sensitive since these meetings and the information or discussions gained from them will be used in future negotiations.

After finishing the meeting, I realized that I was essentially the key link between these two countries, I was what connected them. To be THAT person, felt very gratifying since we were able to begin the processes of developing a global business relationship.