Whether you book a male or a female event host changes nothing about the work: briefing, preparation, stage craft and fee logic are identical. What decides is format experience, languages and the fit with your audience, not the word you type into the search box.
Why the question still makes sense
In German you have to pick a word, and search engines take it literally: "Moderator buchen" and "Moderatorin buchen" return different lists. If you check only one form, you miss half the market. The practical advice is simple: search both forms and compare profiles, not job titles. Some organisers deliberately want a woman on stage, for instance as a counterweight to an all-male panel. That is a legitimate dramaturgical thought, but it does not replace the real check: does this person fit this audience and this format?
What actually separates profiles
Three questions separate fitting from unfitting candidates. First, format experience: someone who can pace an award ceremony is not automatically right for a critical town hall or a technical booth programme. Second, languages: an international audience needs a stage that switches credibly into English, not just a welcoming phrase. Third, background: for business formats it helps when the person knows the world of your audience.
An example from Jasmin Wölke's practice: at the Global Sales Summit, three days in front of more than 500 participants from 40 countries, the requirement was fully bilingual hosting for a sales audience. She was booked for the language profile and more than ten years at Bosch in international sales, not for the job title.
And the conferencier?
A conferencier comes from the entertainment tradition: he carries an evening artistically, often with his own material, wit and acts. A moderator leads through content: structuring, interviewing, keeping time and giving the stage to others. For a cabaret gala a conferencier can be the better choice; for a conference, congress or corporate event it is moderation. Many evenings need both in one person: festive hosting with lightness that never buries the content.
What to do now
Clarify format, audience and languages before you compare profiles: that shrinks the shortlist and makes conversations concrete. The path from enquiry to confirmation is described on book a moderator; the fee factors are explained in what does an event moderator cost.