Coordination of Services

The steps to open an account are explained on the dedicated Indico.UN help page. Once you have created your account, please contact the Indico.UN team which will assign a role (category manager or conference manager) to you. 

The Indico.UN help page "Create an event" gives step-by-step instructions on how meeting organizers can register their event in Indico.UN.

Yes, there are several roles in Indico.UN, and your role determines which actions you are authorized to perform. An overview of the different roles can be found on the Indico.UN help page, "Managerial Roles Overview". 

The Indico.UN team provides an online step-by-step guide for participant registration. Please share the link to the guide with your participants. 

Yes, we do share a presentation explaining how the system works and what functionalities it has. We can also give interested entities a demonstration of the system. Please get in touch with us. 

Based on their Indico.UN registration, conference participants may enter the Palais des Nations through the Pregny Gate where they receive a badge. Doors 40 and the doors of the Tempus Building are always open and do not require a coded badge to be opened (as may be the case for some other doors of different buildings). 

The Indico.UN Analytical Module provides users with statistics about a given event, about specific subcategories (e.g., a selected location or an event series), or about their entity, depending on the user’s permissions in the system. 

Key indicators are the number of events, number of approved participants, number of badges printed and number of checked-in participants per client, subclient, per event and per event series. Filters and views per period and location are available, too.

Indico.UN users can be granted a reporter role to access the Analytical Module. Reporters may access the module through the link available in the Indico.UN interface. Please consult the Analytical Module Help Files or contact the user support team for more information on how to access the Analytical Module workspace and how to grant users a reporter role in Indico.UN.

Yes, Indico.UN works with UN secretariat organizations, UN specialized organizations, non-UN organizations and private entities around the world.

 Meeting organizers will have to arrange the venue, consult the security in charge and arrange any other related service outside of Indico.UN. At the same time, they can leverage on the conference and participants management features of Indico.UN to create the event page, set-up/customize the registration and the timetable, set-up email notifications to participants, set-up security roles, manage the registrations and send email notifications, perform security management activities, badge printing and check-in activities.

Indico.UN is integrated with other UN-secretariat conference management systems handling room bookings, transcripts, or security services. The corresponding features are available only for specific UN conference venues. Please consult the Indico.UN support team for more details.

Participants can test their connection one hour before the meeting starts. The focus is on speakers during a session, i. e. anyone who is known to take the floor. For the morning session from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. testing starts at 9 am. For the afternoon session from 3 to 6 p.m., testing starts at 2 p.m. Speakers who will intervene only in the afternoon session should test from 2 p.m. onwards.

While the layout of the conference rooms cannot be changed, decorations and flower arrangements are allowed, as long as relevant security and safety regulations are respected. Flower arrangements have to be ordered separately and cannot be provided by UN Geneva services. It is not allowed to fix anything on the walls of the conference rooms. To display posters, separate stand-alone walls can be requested. Please discuss your needs with the Meetings Management Section. 

Conference organizers are free to use the dedicated door card holders, as long as nothing is permanently fixed on the doors. 

Flip charts can be requested through gMeets at the moment of submitting the meeting room request. Conference organizers can also contact the service in charge directly, for example to find out if sufficient numbers of flip charts are available: unog-nameplates.conferencerequest@un.org.

Please write to ineed-unog-css-flags@un.org to request a flag for a meeting.

Please liaise with the Central Support Services/Facility Management Section, Mr. Etienne Martinet (phone: Tel.: +41 22 917 2997, email: etienne.martinet@un.org).

In principle, the consumption of food and beverages other than water in conference rooms is strictly forbidden. Water for the speakers can be requested via the official caterer, Eldora (phone: +41 22 917 5619, email: onu@eldora.ch).

The seating order is organized as per the request of the organizing Secretariat and following UN protocol. Podium and protocol arrangements should be in accordance with established United Nations standards, rules and procedures of the meeting. The Meetings Management Section and the Meetings Servicing Unit can advise on official seating protocol. 

Press conferences organized in the press room by UN entities are filmed by UNTV, and the footage is made available on https://www.unognewsroom.org.

For any other specific needs, the Design and Printing Section provides photo and filming services to its clients. This includes photo and video shooting, photo and video editing, as well as captioning and animations. However, the Section does not provide filming or streaming of entire conferences.

If you are organizing an official press conference at the Palais des Nations through the UN Information Service, where all UN accredited media can attend, the Service will put at your disposal a press conference room or a stake-out position. You can hold interviews there after the press conference.

If you wish to organize a briefing with a select group of journalists or media outlets only, you need to book a room with the Division of Conference Management for this purpose.

The Information Service sends out official press conference announcements and notes to correspondents regarding UN events and activities to journalists accredited to the United Nations in Geneva. 

UN agencies and Member States must send their own press materials to the media.  
 

The UN Information Service does not organize fully virtual press conferences.

The Information Service facilitates hybrid press conferences (using Zoom) only when a UN entity is the sponsor or co-sponsor of the press conference and moderates the event. Journalists and speakers then have the option to participate online but the moderator needs to be physically present in the press room at the Palais des Nations.

For Member States-sponsored press conferences, only the in-person mode is available.

Media outlets with press accreditation can broadcast live from the Palais des Nations using their own equipment. For large news events, broadcasters can connect their equipment to a UNTV live feed. No live standups are allowed during press conferences and stakeouts or in meeting areas while the event is still in progress. No recording or live transmission is allowed in areas reserved for coffee breaks or food service.

UN agencies and Member States can organize press conferences at the Palais des Nations. To organize a press conference, please contact the United Nations Information Service, Solange Behoteguy Cortes and Elisa Landozzi, who will guide you through the process.

Member States or UN entities can bring their own photographer or videographer to document their press conference or participation in an official UN event or conference. The official videographer and photographer must be accredited as part of the official delegation, or organizers of the event, and not as press, as they are not media representatives. 

No. The Information Service only provides the list of UN Geneva accredited journalists to the spokespersons of UN entities based in Geneva, in line with guidance on data protection.

Member States or NGOs that would like to send out press materials to journalists accredited at the Palais des Nations can reach out to the Association of United Nations Accredited Correspondents (ACANU), which could potentially share your material with their members. You can reach them at acanu.secretary@acanu.ch. 
 

When liaising with the Meetings Management Section (MMS) for an upcoming request, make sure to list all elements. MMS will then advise and guide you further.

You can book your tour online. As tour capacities are limited, please make sure to book early. 

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.

If the submitter knows in advance that a document has to be submitted late, he or she can reach out to the Documents Management Section (DMS) and negotiate late slotting. If the late submission is not anticipated, the document will be processed as per capacity with no commitment on the release date. If the document is slotted, the delay will be reflected in the official submission compliance of the submitting department. 

If a correction is flagged while a document is still being processed, the information can be included. A new final original file has to be submitted to the Documents Management Section (DMS). If the correction is communicated when the document has already been published, a formal correction by means of a corrigendum or revision will be required.

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 to dms-dcm@un.org within one week of the date of the document in question. 

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 in the Official Document System (ODS) of the UN. 

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.

In general, interpretation is provided for UN Geneva conferences and meetings in the six UN languages. Please discuss all non-standard requests for interpretation with your counterpart at the Meetings Management Section when first reserving the meeting room. 

Interpretation and other services can be requested on a reimbursable basis, on an extrabudgetary provision. The Meetings Management Section at UN Geneva will need to verify availability of queried services, for which a cost estimate will be raised. The estimate has to be accepted in due time by the client to assure the availability and ultimately the provision of queried services. Service providers can only arrange for the necessary once the cost estimate has been accepted, and hence a late acceptance may lead to the non-availability of queried services.

In general, the printing, design and layout, web and multimedia services are provided to international organizations based in Geneva; international organizations based in other duty stations may also request such services from UN Geneva.

Conference organizers and diplomatic missions based in Geneva can also request such service as part of the whole package of conference services. They can contact the Design and Printing Section of UN Geneva at genevapublishing@un.org.

UN Geneva provides services such as the development of microsites, display of interactive information on TV screens, photography, videography, drone footage, and 3D printing of established 3D modules, etc. The microsites are usually developed to promote important publications of clients.

Yes, UN Geneva supports its clients in printing all kinds of outreach and promotional materials. This includes but is not limited to banners, flyers, leaflets, post cards, small and large posters, roll-ups, stickers, calendars, bookmarks, etc.

Yes, the Printing Section can print large and small quantities of publications. Small quantities may be printed on short notice, i.e., with a turnaround time of one to two weeks. Please contact genevapublishing@un.org for advice. 

Material printed by the UN Geneva Conference Services can be sent to locations in or outside Geneva upon request. This service can be requested when placing the printing request and is subject to cost recovery. For more details, please contact us at distribution@un.org.

Printed publications and other paper promotional materials can be printed on-site on a cost-recovery basis. To ship documents to UN Geneva, please contact the Meetings Management Section or the Distribution team. Please also coordinate with us to discuss the timelines for the shipment and the recipient address. 

Please contact genevapublishing@un.org to obtain a quotation for the cost of printing. UN Geneva colleagues managing this email will direct you to the relevant Design and Multimedia Unit colleagues to discuss your specific needs and requirements, before a quotation is prepared.

Yes. All requests are subject to the official agreement of the administration and the security services. The catering services must be provided by the official UN Geneva caterer.

No. According to UN Geneva rules regarding the organization of functions the official caterer is the sole entity authorized to provide catering services for reasons of food safety and access to the premises among others.

Yes. Culinary specialties can complete the cocktail offers with the agreement of the UN Geneva caterer. Such exceptions will be granted on the basis of compliance by the requester with the food hygiene and food safety rules concerning the culinary preparation, the transport and the storage of these specialties. 

No. According to UN Geneva rules regarding the organization of functions the official caterer is the sole entity authorized to provide catering services for reasons of food safety and access to the premises among others. In the case of functions organized in connection with events of a cultural nature (exhibition openings, concerts, etc.) permanent missions or authorized entities wishing to serve culinary specialties not available from the UN Geneva caterer may be authorized to make use of their own catering staff subject to approval by Administration. In no case may they engage a private catering company.

No, this is not possible. According to UN Geneva rules regarding the organization of functions, NOG official caterer is the sole entity authorized to provide catering services due to food safety and access to the premises, among others.

Yes. Culinary specialties can complete the cocktail offers with the agreement of the UN Geneva caterer. Such exceptions will be granted on the basis of compliance by the requester with the food hygiene and food safety rules concerning the culinary preparation, the transport and the storage of these specialties. 

No, this is not possible. According to UN Geneva rules regarding the organization of functions, UNOG official caterer is the sole entity authorized to provide catering services due to food safety and access to the premises, among others. In the case of functions organized in connection with events of a cultural nature (exhibition openings, concerts, etc.), Permanent Missions or authorized entities wishing to serve culinary specialties not available from the UN Geneva caterer may be authorized to make use of their own catering staff, subject to approval by Administration. Under no circumstances may they hire a private catering company.

When general accessibility measures do not meet individual requirements, conference participants may request reasonable accommodation. Such requests should be sent to the organizing Secretariat via the Indico.UN registration. Organizing Secretariats can then discuss with the Division of Conference Management and the Security and Safety Service how the specific request can be accommodated. The organizing Secretariats should activate a short questionnaire for all of their events in Indico.UN, allowing participants to indicate their needs for reasonable accommodation when they register for the meeting. If the short questionnaire is not activated, participants have a possibility to indicate their needs in the free-text box.

Entrances at Door 40 and Tempus Building are fully accessible. Entrances to all conference rooms should be wheel-chair-friendly. For more information, visit our page on accessibility.

Participants of meetings with reduced mobility can indicate on the registration form in Indico that they would need to enter UN premises by car. The secretariat of the meeting will inform UNOG Safety and Security Service accordingly. Alternatively, NGO representatives with reduced mobility may enter the Palais des Nations for a drop off either by official taxis or by private vehicle. The information on the type and color of vehicle as well as the plate and name of the driver if available should be communicated to controlcenter.security-unog@un.org, at least 24 hours before the access time.

Putting in place a ramp should be requested from the Meetings Management Section which will inform the movers. For security reasons, the person with reduced mobility has to be accompanied when using the ramp.