Jasmin Wölke moderates panel discussions in Cologne, in English, in German or switching between both. She prepares every panel with one on one calls in advance and steers it so that four positions become one conversation instead of four monologues.
An audience that knows stages
Cologne is a media city. A panel here often plays to people who produce programmes themselves, at RTL, at WDR or in agencies, and who notice weak moderation within minutes. Add industries with their own culture of debate: insurance, retail around the REWE Group, the Ford plants in Köln-Niehl, the gaming scene. A panel that brings these worlds to one table needs a moderator who translates jargon, politely stops sales pitches and keeps the discussion on topic. That is what she is booked for: not as a cue giver, but as the audience's advocate.
From the Gürzenich to the trade fair stage
Panel discussions in Cologne rarely stand alone. Usually they are part of a conference at the Gürzenich, a congress at the Congress-Centrum Nord or an industry evening at KOMED in the MediaPark. At Koelnmesse, experts debate on the stages of gamescom or dmexco, with passing visitors and a strict time slot. Each setting needs its own dramaturgy: in a conference hall an argument may build slowly, on a fair stage the first sentence has to land. Jasmin adjusts questions, pace and length to the venue. Anyone planning during fair weeks or carnival season should secure rooms and dates early, because the city books out fast.
Preparation you can hear in the conversation
Before the event, Jasmin speaks with every panelist individually. She learns where the positions genuinely differ and places the friction where it serves the audience. The briefing becomes a question script with an opening, an escalation, an audience round and a clean ending. At SAP's Tech Leadership Forum she moderated eight expert panels and fireside chats in front of more than 300 executives, two days entirely in English. That was a corporate event for her client, not a Cologne date, but it shows the standard of her preparation. The substance comes from more than ten years at Bosch in international sales and marketing.
How your panel comes together
After the briefing come the pre-calls, the question script and the alignment with stage management and technology. On the day itself, Jasmin keeps the clock without the conversation feeling rushed. She reaches Cologne from Stuttgart by ICE train in about two hours fifteen. More about the city is on the Cologne city page, the format is explained on the panel discussion page, the preparation in the briefing checklist.