Jasmin Wölke moderates panel discussions in Dresden in English and German: on congress stages, at association events and expert forums. Dresden is one of her regular locations, with its own city page.
Panels between research and industry
Panels in Dresden have a distinctive line-up. On many stages, science and business sit side by side: a professor from TU Dresden next to the site manager of a semiconductor plant, a Fraunhofer researcher next to a founder from the software scene. Congresses with accompanying exhibitions at the International Congress Center on the Elbe bring exactly this mix together. The audience is expert and notices immediately when a panel merely trades pleasantries.
A line-up like this is an opportunity and a risk at once. Research and industry speak different languages: one thinks in results and caveats, the other in costs and deadlines. Without guidance they talk past each other and the panel decays into a series of solo talks. Jasmin's job is the intersection: the question where both perspectives collide and the discussion emerges that the audience actually came for.
How Jasmin prepares and runs a panel
Before the event, Jasmin speaks with every panelist, briefly and one on one. She wants to know which position someone holds, where they will push back and which question they dread. From that she builds an arc of tension instead of a list of questions. On stage she listens, follows up and interrupts politely when an answer turns into a presentation. After more than 500 moderated events she knows when a discussion needs pace and when a moment of silence says more.
Her corporate years help twice over. Having led an international team at Bosch as a Director, she knows the logic of manufacturing, sales and development from her own responsibility, and technical vocabulary does not shake her off. At the SAP Tech Leadership Forum, a company reference, she moderated two full conference days in English. International panels are no exception in Dresden, since the microelectronics community debates in English.
How a panel fits into a conference programme is covered on the conference moderation page. The format itself is outlined under panel discussion, the preparation in the briefing checklist.