Gerhard Köstner - Englische Rhetorik im Konferenzsaal

It is a great pleasure for me to open / chair / this conference on …

It is an immense honour to have been nominated chairman / chairwoman / of this conference.

The Chair extends a warm welcome to all our guests from …

The Chair is pleased to present the Board members seated at the head table and the dignitaries seated in the audience.

Please welcome them with a round of applause.

Please give them a (big) hand.( …großer Applaus)

I consider it a great honour and privilege to welcome you to this meeting.

It is my privilege to welcome the participants in this meeting in the name of … and to permit myself some introductory remarks.

I´m pleased to extend greetings to all of the participants in this conference.

I want to extend a few special words of greeting and appreciation to our guests from …

On behalf of the steering committee / our company / our management, I extend a hearty / warm / cordial / sincere / welcome to all our visitors from … / to each of you.

It´s my pleasure to extend a cheerful welcome to you all.

On behalf of all who worked so diligently, I extend a sincere welcome to each of you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is (indeed) a (great) pleasure / It gives me great pleasure / to welcome you to our meeting today on the subject of …

I should first and foremost like to pay tribute to … (His/Her Royal Highness, the Duke of …, His Excellency …)(Dank / Anerkennung aussprechen)

Let us now hear greetings from the newly elected president.

The new president will now extend a few gracious remarks.(… ein paar freundliche Worte …)

Bei vielen Konferenzen, Tagungen oder Kongressen gibt es Gäste oder Gruppen von Teilnehmern, die besonders begrüßt werden sollen oder wollen.

I am happy / pleased / to welcome visitors from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic

Please join me in welcoming …(Begrüßen Sie mit mir …)

First of all, I´d like you to please join me in welcoming Mr Stevenson from …

We are honored to have Susan Thomas, Jim Smith and Jane Brown with us today.

Let me also acknowledge the presence of our esteemed friends from overseas.(Anwesenheit würdigen)

Zu Beginn der Konferenz bedankt sich der Vorsitzende besonders bei Teilnehmern, die einige Mühe auf sich genommen haben, um heute dabei zu sein.

I know that many of you have traveled from quite a distance and I’d like to acknowledge our members from Japan, who have made this long trip to participate in this conference.(… besonders erwähnen …)

Thank you for coming. That many of you travel long distances serves to remind us all just how important our work is.

I also say thank you to the distinguished guests from …(… die verehrten Gäste aus …)

Wenn Personen, deren Anwesenheit vorgesehen war, aus irgendwelchen Gründen nicht teilnehmen können oder wenn Verspätungen oder sonstige Änderungen eingetreten sind, benötigt der Vorsitzende einige passende Formulierungen, um dies zu entschuldigen.

I´m afraid, Mr Hamilton, our president, can´t be with us today.

I have received apologies for the absence of Mr Brown, who is away on business.

I think it is unfortunate that no British delegation is present.(… schade, dass …)

Mr Smith, our CEO (chief executive officer), can unfortunately not be with us this morning. He will join us later today.

Good afternoon. We are sorry to be a few minutes late.

I want to apologize for the slight delay this morning.

I apologize for keeping you waiting.

Good morning everyone. Thank you for your patience. I know we are late today.

At the top, our apologies for the late notice.(Vorweg … / Zunächst einmal …)

Nach der formellen Begrüßung wird nun die Konferenz offiziell mit entsprechenden Formulierungen eröffnet

It´s time to call the meeting to order.(Sitzung eröffnen)

Ladies and Gentlemen, it now gives me great pleasure to declare this session open.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I now declare the meeting open.

I have the honour to declare the meeting open.

Die folgenden Formulierungen, die teilweise aus der parlamentarischen Geschäftsordnung stammen, verwendet der Vorsitz für formelle Eröffnungen von etwas größeren Konferenzen, die dann auch von einem Hammerschlag begleitet sein können.

I (hereby) call the meeting to order.(Ich eröffne die Sitzung)

I call this meeting to order.

The meeting is called to order.(Die Sitzung ist eröffnet)

The meeting will (please) come to order.(Bitte um Ruhe. Die Sitzung ist eröffnet)

The House will be in order. Please remove any conversation from the floor. / Please take your conversations off the floor.(Privatgespräche bitte nicht im Konferenzraum)

Let´s set up a conference call.(Konferenzschaltung einrichten)

Thanks for joining this call.

Thanks everybody for getting on the call.(Teilnahme an Telefonkonferenz)

Thanks for having the call.(… für die Annahme des Anrufs)

Thanks for holding the call.(Halten des Anrufs, Warteschleife)

This call is on the record, but it is embargoed until the conclusion of the conference.(… gesperrt …)

Bevor auf die einzelnen Tagesordnungspunkte eingegangen wird, erläutert der Vorsitzende meist Zweck und Zielsetzung der Konferenz. Diese Ziele sollen dabei realistisch, messbar sowie positiv und motivierend dargestellt werden.

I have called this meeting today to discuss …

I have called you all together here to discuss …

The purpose of today´s conference is …

The primary objective of this meeting is …

Our aim is to discuss … / conclude / an agreement on …

The reason for our gathering is …

Now, as you all know, we are here today to discuss …

Today we´ll be hearing about …

We have several excellent presenters who are leaders in this field. They will be talking about advancements in …(Moderatoren, Redner)

At the beginning of this meeting, allow me to inform you …

This is a kick-off meeting(Auftakt-Meeting) with our new project team.

Let me give you a brief verbal outline / broad outline / of the objectives of this conference.

We should be able to agree a common strategy.

By the end of this meeting, I´d like to have agreement on …

I hope we shall have fruitful discussions on …

I wish you a fruitful and successful conference.

I suspect that there will be many a lively debate.

Enjoy your stay here.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy the presentations.

Nachdem allgemein erläutert wurde, warum und wozu die Konferenz stattfindet, wird nun ein Überblick über die verschiedenen Themen gegeben, die im einzelnen behandelt werden sollen.

The subject of our meeting is …(Thema unserer Besprechung ist …)

The topics we have chosen for this conference are …(… Themen …)