Dresden · Conference

Conference moderation in Dresden: from the ICD to the Kulturpalast

Jasmin Wölke moderates conferences and congresses in Dresden in English and German. She comes from the corporate world of Bosch, SAP and Volkswagen and can follow expert programmes instead of just announcing names.

Jasmin Wölke moderates conferences and congresses in Dresden in English and German. She comes from the corporate world of Bosch, SAP and Volkswagen and can follow expert programmes instead of just announcing names.

Conferences next door to the research

Dresden holds its conferences close to its research. The International Congress Center on the Elbe carries the large congresses. The Kulturpalast and the meeting rooms of the old town hotels take the mid-sized formats. Many industry gatherings in the region run as a congress with an accompanying exhibition, and the ICD is built for exactly that. TU Dresden, several Fraunhofer institutes and the microelectronics cluster shape the programmes. In the plenary sit scientists, developers and expert guests from abroad. Whole sessions therefore run in English or switch between the languages. Whoever moderates here needs respect for the content and a very precise sense of time.

What the moderation holds together

Before the conference Jasmin works through the programme and calls the people responsible for each session. On the day she opens, guides through talks and discussions and negotiates overrunning speaking times visibly and fairly. She defends the breaks with particular care, because the accompanying exhibition lives in the breaks. A congress whose coffee break shrinks to twelve minutes loses its value exactly there. How she carries dense expert formats is shown by the Bosch Global Sales Summit: three days, twelve speakers, more than 500 participants from 40 countries, led bilingually. That was a corporate conference for her client, not a Dresden date, but the demands are the same. A packed programme, an international audience, two languages on one stage.

Planning your conference day

For morning formats Jasmin arrives the day before; the train from Stuttgart takes around six hours. The previous evening belongs to the running order: who speaks when, where the microphones stand, who signals the break. A reliable plan is made beforehand, not on stage; the running order template shows the skeleton.

Booking your conference in Dresden

Send the topic, date and venue through the contact form; a briefing and a written offer follow. The format is explained on the page conference moderation, more about the city on Moderatorin Dresden.

Request a date

Is your date still available?

Send the date, the venue and the type of event. You will get an answer within one working day.

Frequently asked questions

Our programme committee consists of professors and heads of development. How deep does Jasmin go?
Deep enough to ask the right questions, and not so deep that she lectures. She reads abstracts and last year's programme and clarifies terminology in the briefing. The expertise stays on the podium.
Some talks are in English, some in German. Who bridges the two?
Jasmin moderates both languages within one programme. She introduces in English, summarises in German and the other way round. The audience needs no interpreting system for the transitions.
What happens when speakers overrun?
She steps in, friendly and visibly. First the agreed signal, then the open question about the final thought. The schedule belongs to the whole room, not to the current talk.
Does she also take the closing panel discussion?
Yes, and she prepares it independently. Closing rounds need different questions from opening panels, because the audience has already heard the talks.
How early should the moderator join the planning?
As soon as the rough programme exists; several weeks of lead time are ideal. Then Jasmin can still react to the running order and the placement of breaks before the invitations are printed.

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