Learn
Host a session
A simple guide to get you going quickly with your first session, from creating your account to going live. The default settings are fine for most sessions.
To get started you need a Parlabase account. The account is free and comes with 180 welcome minutes.
1 - Create your account
Click "Create a free account" above and enter your name and email address, then choose a password and enter it again to confirm it. Then click "Sign up".
We will send you an email to confirm your address. Open it and click "Verify your email". This will confirm your account and take you to sign in with the email and password you just chose. If the email doesn’t arrive, check your spam folder or click "Resend verification email".
The first time you sign in you will see the "Welcome to Parlabase" screen, sometimes after a few seconds of "Setting up your account". Enter your "Organisation name", for example the name of your church or organisation, and click "Continue". The other questions on that screen are optional.
You will then be on the Sessions page. This is where your sessions will be listed when you create them.
2 - Create the session
Click the "Create session" button at the top right of the Sessions page. On a smartphone this is a plus icon at the top right of the screen.
Enter a title for the session, for example "Morning Service", and click "Create session".
There is no need to open "More settings" for your first session, and you can change the settings later.
This will create the session and take you straight to the session host screen, where you manage the translation.
3 - Set up your microphone
Once on the session host screen you need to give Parlabase permission to use the microphone on your device. We have a guide about audio setup, but for now we will just go with the default, which will be the built-in microphone on your laptop or smartphone.
Click "Set up microphone" in the middle of the screen and choose to allow Parlabase to use your microphone when the browser asks.
When you speak near the microphone you should see the microphone indicator at the top right, next to the settings button, going green to show it is picking up the audio. The "Go live" button at the bottom of the screen stays greyed out until the microphone is working.
If you would rather test with an audio file, click "Use a recording instead" and choose a recording to play.
5 - Start translating
Press the "Go live" button at the bottom of the screen to start the translation. You will see the speech transcribed as it is spoken and then committed to the session when there is a long enough pause. Once the transcription is committed it is then translated for all the connected guests.
Keep the screen on while you are live. Parlabase asks your device to stay awake where the browser allows it, but if a phone locks its screen or you switch to another app, the translation pauses within seconds and the broadcast ends shortly afterwards. On a laptop, don’t let it go to sleep or close the lid.
A long service or event uses more battery with the screen on, so start with a good charge and plug in if you can. You don’t need to plug in if the battery will comfortably last until you end the broadcast.
You can pause the translation at any time, for example during a song or an extended period of silence, to reduce your translation minutes usage. Press "Pause", then "Resume" when you are ready to carry on. Your plan’s maximum session length keeps counting while you are paused, so a long pause still brings the end of the session closer.
If nobody is listening, the translation can pause by itself, and the status will show "Paused automatically". There is no "Resume" button for this pause; when it happens is set by Auto Pause Translation. If you are testing on your own, join the session from your phone first.
Press "End" when the service or event is over. The broadcast ends straight away, with no confirmation. Keep the session host screen open until then. If you go back to the dashboard, Parlabase asks "End the broadcast?" first, and if you close the page the broadcast ends shortly afterwards.
Helping your guests join
Guests don’t need an account or an app. They can scan the QR code, open the link printed under it if you used "Print", or type the session code at parlabase.com/join.
Show the QR code on screen or in your printed material before the service or event starts, so guests can join as they arrive rather than during the first few minutes. Until you press "Go live", no more than 200 guests can join, so if you expect more than that, go live before the rest arrive.
The session code, link and QR code stay the same every time you go live. You can create one session for each regular service or event and reuse it every week, and a printed QR code keeps working for as long as you keep the session.
When guests join they choose their language and then press "Join session". The language starts on English, so let them know to pick their own first.
If they join before you go live, they will see that the session hasn’t started yet or, on a session you have used before, that the last broadcast has ended. Ask them to keep the page open and the screen on, and the translation appears as soon as you press "Go live".