Conference Management

The digital recordings of all "public" meetings can be accessed in all official languages on a dedicated portal online. The site allows for searches by date and key word. Thereafter, the audio language and requested segment of the meeting can be selected. The "floor" option will provide the recording of the original language in which the intervention was made, whereas the other languages will provide access to the interpretation. Only the intervention in the original language constitutes an authentic record of the proceedings. Please visit the web page for accessing recordings of meetings. Live webcast access is available in the original language that the intervention is being made, as well as in English (as broadcast from the interpretation booth). Please also check the web page for UN Web TV .

Provide a copy of any prepared text in advance to the secretariat staff so that précis-writers and interpreters can refer to the text as you read it. Refer to paragraph numbers, not pages, in official United Nations documents. The pagination of United Nations documents often varies between language versions, but paragraph numbers remain the same. Give the paragraph references before reading out quotations, not after. Speak at a reasonable pace so that précis-writers and interpreters — and indeed other members of the audience — can follow your arguments. If you feel that a particular point or quotation should be placed on the record, say so.

Corrections should be submitted in one of the working languages. They should be set forth in a memorandum and also incorporated in a copy of the record.

They should be sent within one week of the date of the document in question to the English Translation Section, room E.6040, Palais des Nations, Geneva.

Any corrections submitted will be duly checked against the audio recordings of the meeting. Any corrections to the records of public meetings of a committee are consolidated in a single corrigendum, to be issued shortly after the end of the session.

Summary records are posted as soon as they are available on the committee web site under the relevant session and can also be found on the Web page United Nations Documents (ODS).

The Division of Conference Management of the United Nations Office at Geneva serves primarily conferences and meetings for the United Nations bodies and its Programmes, Funds, Regional Commissions, and Specialized Agencies. Non-governmental organizations, and other organizations with special status, are also allowed to host meetings at the Palais des Nations.

Recruitment of permanent translators is exclusively by means of competitive examinations. For additional information, please check the web page Language Careers.

Freelance translators are recruited through informal tests that generally last half a day and can be arranged at short notice. For further information, please look at the Web page Language Careers.

Conference interpretation can be performed in three ways: simultaneously, consecutively and by whispering (chuchotage). In simultaneous mode, the interpreters sit in sound-proof booths where the speaker is heard through headphones and they deliver a running interpretation transmitted through a microphone to participants in the meeting who wear earphones. Consecutive mode, occasionally used, consists of the interpreter sitting at the conference table, taking notes and delivering the statement in another language. Whispering (chuchotage), also occasionally used in certain working environments such as field missions, press conferences, and high-level bilateral private meetings, consists of the interpreter simultaneously whispering the interpretation directly to a very limited audience with or without mobile equipment. For additional information, please refer to our web page about language services.

A conference interpreter is a professional language and communication expert who works in multilingual meetings and renders a message from one language into another, naturally and fluently, adopting the delivery, tone and convictions of the speaker. For additional information, please refer to the web page on our language services.

The Regulations for the Control and Limitation of Documentation, ST/AI/189/Add.3/Rev.2, define documents and publications: "A document is a text submitted to a principal organ or a subsidiary organ of the United Nations for consideration by it, usually in connection with item(s) on its agenda." United Nations documents are issued for or under the authority of intergovernmental bodies under a United Nations document symbol and include all official records and meeting records of organs or conferences of the United Nations. Attribution in United Nations documents is regulated according to established rules and practices under the authority of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management. United Nations documents normally bear, in addition to a title corresponding to the subject or agenda item, a subtitle indicating the entity or official responsible for submitting the document. In documents prepared for a body that does not have a sessional agenda, the main title may contain that information.

"The term 'United Nations publication' refers to any written material which is issued by the United Nations to the general public." Examples of United Nations publications include major studies and reports, monographs, edited volumes, statistical compilations, conference proceedings, journals, serial publications such as yearbooks, the United Nations Treaty Series and other international law publications. United Nations publications are generally published in response to legislative mandates or requests by intergovernmental bodies. They may be distributed free of charge or for a price. If sold, United Nations publications are assigned an International Standard Book Number (ISBN/eISBN) or, for serials and periodicals, an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN/eISSN). Publications may be published in print or electronic form, including as mobile applications, and in any other format or media as technology evolves.