Four meeting rooms, five Nordic languages, and a parliament with a history dating back to the year 930. On September 14 and 15, the Nordic Council held its September sessions at the Alþingi in Reykjavík. Wannes and Kasper traveled from Belgium to Iceland with a large shipment of Televic equipment to provide technical and logistical support to our local partner SONIK, including simultaneous interpretation in all four rooms.
In this article, you’ll learn how we equipped those venues and why our collaboration with SONIK was just as important as the technology itself.
Four rooms, one complete chain
The Presidium, four committees, and the political groups of the Nordic Council met for two days in the parliament building. This required specialized conference and interpretation equipment that SONIK did not have entirely in-house. So we brought it with us.
In each room, we set up the same arrangement:
- a wireless conference system featuring Televic Confidea FLEX Wireless for the participants
- interpretation booths and interpretation stations for the interpreters
- an infrared system to distribute the interpretation channels throughout the hall
- Televic Lingua receivers, so that each participant could follow the debate in their own language
That’s how wireless conferencing technology, simultaneous interpretation, and infrared distribution all came together in four rooms at the same time. When you’re that far from home, there’s no warehouse just around the corner. So everything has to be just right from day one.
Why Simultaneous Interpretation Was Indispensable Here
Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are so similar that many Scandinavians can understand each other without an interpreter. Finnish and Icelandic, however, differ significantly from these languages. The Nordic Council therefore generally provides interpreters between the Scandinavian languages and Finnish or Icelandic, depending on who is present at the meeting.
To us, this clearly demonstrates that conference technology involves more than just placing microphones on the table. The entire system must function reliably: the speaker at the podium, the interpreter in the booth, and the listener with a receiver to their ear. If one link fails, part of the audience will miss the debate.
Partnering with SONIK
Hlynur, manager of SONIK, and his team gave us a very warm welcome. Their technicians were friendly and interested, but above all eager to learn. For them, this was an opportunity to get to know the Televic equipment in a real production environment.
We set up the system together and also ran the meetings together. In this way, we supported SONIK with this project and were able to demonstrate what is technically possible. This is useful information should they consider investing in equipment themselves in the future.
The fact that the collaboration felt right for them as well was evident from the message Hlynur sent us afterward:
“Thanks for all your support with this project; everything went as smoothly as possible, and the client is very happy with the result.” (Hlynur, SONIK)
Working in one of the oldest parliaments in the world
The Alþingi was founded in 930 and is considered one of the oldest parliamentary institutions in the world. The sessions themselves took place in Smiðja, the Alþingi’s new building in downtown Reykjavík, which has been in use since 2023. It combines offices and meeting rooms for members of parliament and staff, with movable walls that allow the rooms to be configured in various ways.
An institution with over a thousand years of history, housed in a brand-new building: it’s not every week that our discussion stations are set up in a place like this. Moreover, those flexible rooms were well-suited to a wireless setup that we could quickly assemble and adjust.
From Belgium to Iceland
We transported specialized equipment over more than two thousand kilometers, set up four conference rooms, and supported an international event where reliability and multilingualism were paramount. Distance is no obstacle for us. Whether your meeting takes place in Brussels or Reykjavík, we provide the equipment, technical expertise, and on-site support—either on our own or in collaboration with a local partner.
And honestly, it was just a truly special experience. Iceland is small, but impressive. The location, the collaboration with SONIK, and the technical challenge make this a project we’ll remember for a long time to come.
A multilingual meeting abroad?
Are you planning an international event with simultaneous interpretation, in Belgium or elsewhere? We’d be happy to help you plan from the very beginning—from the venues and languages to the right setup.
Want to discuss your own international project?
Sources:
Nordic Council, “Nordic Council’s September meetings 2026” (norden.org)
Nordic Co-operation, “”Interpreting and Translation” (norden.org)
Hönnunarmiðstöð Íslands, “Smiðja is nominated for the Icelandic Design Awards 2024” (honnunarmidstod.is)
Alþingi, “History of Althingi” (althingi.is)