Being a conference interpreter is not an easy job. You might come across a great booth partner or not. In the first case, your experience is nothing but extraordinary. In the second unfortunate case, you learn from everybody’s mistakes and move forward:

Study your documents. First of all, open them as soon as possible. Some conferences may need you to prepare more than others. Maybe you need to go to a reference library to study a difficult subject. Better safe than sorry.

Control your nerves. Yes, it looks terrifying when finding yourself in a glass booth overlooking an enormous hall with many people listening carefully. Forget yourself and act as a conference interpreter. You do this to help people understand one another.

Adjust the volume. Do not turn the volume up too high. Do not fear you will miss something. It is also important to hear your own voice to finish your sentences properly or polish what you say. Lower your voice both in volume and in pitch (when nervous, one tends to raise one’s pitch). A pleasant tone of vice is imperious. Try to get detached enough to improve your style as you go, and finish the sentences.

Go the extra mile. If you are a local interpreter and your booth partner is coming from elsewhere, talk to him/her to offer some advice. Suggestions are always appreciated when coming to a new city. Remember that he/she stays at a hotel, is working long hours and maybe he/she doesn’t have time to buy a bottle of water or a cup of coffee. Make sure that, when you buy something to eat/drink for yourself, bring something for your partner as well.

Share glossaries. Do not cover your spreadsheets inside the booth. You’re a booth team. Share terminology and materials. Not sharing can backfire, as the entire booth will look bad when the overall performance is poor. Maybe the audience cannot even distinguish between the two of you, except, of course, when the team is made up by one male and one female interpreter.

Share the space. Stay in your side of the booth and do not wear too much perfume.

Pay attention all the time. Conference interpreters usually work for 20 or 30 minutes each and then the other person takes over. When you microphone is off, pay attention and do not leave the booth. You might have to take over sooner then you think.

"The interpreter is a professional speaker. He must therefore be able to adapt his style to his audience and carry the original message in the way it would have been delivered by the speaker had he addressed the audience in the language into which the interpreter works. "