Virtual events and other online services are increasingly bringing international customers to associations. However, if organizations aren’t prepared to handle international demand, these prospects often experience obstacles and don’t stay engaged. Associations that wish to open their doors to a global audience must ensure their brands, events, people, and operations are inclusive and user-friendly to the world.

Brands

Start by reviewing everything that is highly visible to the public, including your website, social media, communications, marketing, and online forms. Among the steps to take:

• Display photos and symbols on your sites that are globally diverse and inclusive.
• Where appropriate, provide links to conversion tools (e.g., measurements, temperatures, and currencies) that will help non-U.S. customers.
• Replace dropdown fields in surveys restricted to a single country (e.g., a list of US states or ethnicities like African-American) with options that represent countries worldwide.
• Eliminate country-specific preformatted fields (e.g., 10-digit phone numbers) and allow for the use of accents and special characters in registration forms.

Events

Making a few simple adjustments to online events is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate consideration to international customers.

• Since the order of dates isn’t universal, spell out the month to avoid confusion about whether your 2-12-2022 conference will be held in December or February.
• It may be your summer event, but consider avoiding the use of seasonal names, themes, and features so attendees on the other side of the globe bracing winter weather (and vice versa) won’t feel out of place.
• For live virtual events, it’s impossible to avoid the obstacles presented by time-zone differences, but there are ways to demonstrate greater inclusion for those participating around the world. Rename the “happy hour” to a “social hour” and welcome people to join with coffee, tea, or cocktails. In addition, avoid localized terms like “afternoon break,” remind speakers to skip saying “good morning,” and add a late-night session or two to allow those on the other side of the globe to participate during their working hours.
• Offering language translation will provide a more inclusive and engaged experience to non-native language attendees. Video-conferencing platforms like Webex and Skype offer basic translation features; Zoom announced it will offer these in 2022; and other advanced services, such as Wordly, can easily be integrated into any virtual event platform.

People

Train your most visible staff, volunteers, and speakers to be inclusive to globally diverse audiences, including those who don’t have English as their first language.

• Encourage people to use simple words, shorter sentences, direct language, and to avoid abbreviations and local expressions on the phone and in emails.
• Remind speakers not to speak too fast and to review the dos and don’ts of addressing a global audience, such as avoiding jargon, jokes, and sports analogies and using examples, images, and symbols from more than a single country.
• Consider creating a resource group of individuals who grew up in diverse cultures or have foreign-language skills to provide solutions to issues your foreign customers are facing. It’s also a great way for them to showcase their talents and add value to the organization’s global appeal.

Operations

When first dealing with international demand, it’s common for organizations to make concessions and accommodations on the fly, in isolation, and without considering further implications and impact on their operations. Consequently, they experience common issues that can be avoided by taking the following steps.

• Designate a person, committee, or department responsible for overseeing, coordinating, and reporting on international activities across the organization.
• Limit creating many manual adjustments and unique processes to accommodate one-off needs, such as translations, discounts, and payment options, unless there’s a clear return on investment.
• Before jumping into international ventures for specific products and services, be sure to consider these five variables: applicability, acceptability, accessibility, affordability, and adaptability.
• Involve legal counsel regarding regulatory and taxation issues involved in operating in foreign markets to prevent additional work, delays, costs, and unnecessary risks down the road.

Plan for International Expansion

Sustained demand from international customers is one of the reasons organizations decide to globalize. Other reasons include increasing revenue opportunities, broadening the recognition and representation of their cause or profession, diversifying their customer base to offset fluctuation in their home market, and embracing talent and expertise from other parts of the world. Exploring these opportunities will require strategic discussions to develop a comprehensive, sustainable plan of action.

In the meantime, learning to spot the opportunities and creating a positive experience for all involved will be critical. Organizations that implement simple measures early on to demonstrate inclusiveness and user-friendly processes for their international audiences will avoid common challenges and be better prepared to successfully embrace opportunities in the long run.