Austrian Government

Client: The Federal Ministry of Science, Research & Economy, Austria.

Once every year, Nobel Laureates convene in Lindau to meet the next generation of leading scientists: 500 undergraduates, PhD students, and post-doc researchers from all over the world. The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings foster the exchange among scientists of different generations, cultures, and disciplines. Every year this prestigious event has a gala dinner and in 2016 Austria where selected as the host country.

The Federal Ministry of Science, Research & Economy of Austria approached me to moderate this event. They wanted me to inspire, enthuse and celebrate the all delights Austria has to offer, in my native English, while making sure the events format and formal protocol where maintained and delivered.

The Challenges:
As an experienced public speaker, I’m rarely fazed by an audience; however the responsibility of hosting Nobel Laureate Scientist, politicians including State Secretary at the Ministry of Science, Research and Economy Dr. Harald Mahrer and Governor of Vorarlberg Markus Wallner, and also Countess Bettina Bernadotte af Wisborg was daunting. I had just one chance to wow the crowd and to make Austria proud.

The work:
I received the formal script only a day before the event and had to work through and edit the language choices and narrative flowed quickly and efficiently in order to create content I could communicate clearly to an international audience, while still delivering all the key information. To transform another person’s story from their words to mine required consideration of multiple factors.

I needed to make sure every word I chose matched the events tone, its importance, the audience’s experiences and their diversity. I also had to make sure I was welcoming, open, hospitable and at times even humorous.

The Results:
We all shared a wonderful moment in the sunshine on the shore of Bodensee against the remarkable stage backdrop of the Festspielhaus, Bregenz. As the sun set on the lake, I was able to engage, enthuse and celebrate the evening with over 400 remarkable people. It was an honour and a joy to be part of the night.