One of the participants recorded the conference work. Here is a script of the welcoming speech by the conference Chairman.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I’ve been privileged to declare the conference open. On behalf of the Organizing Committee and in my own name I welcome the guests and the participants of the conference. I consider it a great honour to speak today. I believe at this assembly you will be provided with an ample opportunity to exchange opinions and discuss scientific and organizational issues of mutual interest. Could there possibly be a better forum for discussing research issues.

My pleasant duty as a Chairman is to introduce to you our honorable guest Professor Flowers from Kingston University, England.

Now let we remind you of the conference agenda and explain briefly the work to be done. I ask those taking the floor to keep to the point, to avoid digression. The working language of the Conference is English, simultaneous translation into Russian has been arranged for users of the Russian language. I invite the speakers to be brief.

I wish you every success.

While taking part in the discussion the participants are supposed to make use of the following colloquial phrases:

I’m (particularly) interested in this problem.

I should (would) point out (emphasize) that …

I think (suppose, presume) that …

I believe that…

I must say that…

In my opinion…; as for me…; to my mind…

I hold (am of) the same opinion.

I could comment on the question.

If I understand you correctly…

If I am not mistaken…

That’s right; exactly; quite so; quite right; quite true.

I (quite, fully, entirely) agree with you; I think so, too.

I can’t but agree with you.

I don’t think so; I don’t agree; I disagree.

I can’t agree with you.

I’m afraid, you are wrong there.

I doubt that…

It’s unlikely that…

Will you allow me to take the floor, please.

I should (would) like to ask you…

I should (would) like to ask you a question…; I am going to ask you a question…

I have a question…

I have a question and a comment (a remark) to make.

I should (would) like to know…

Could you clarify your point of view?

What is your opinion on..?

What in your opinion is the reason for..?

Do I understand you correctly that..?

Do you agree to that?

Do you consider that…?

Would you tell us how…?

I wonder why…

Below you will find the text contributed by one of the former
postgraduates who wanted to share his experience in attending a conference:

You know, any scientific conference is an important event in the researcher’s life, especially in post-graduate student’s activity. It provides an opportunity for exchanging opinions with more experienced colleagues and gives impetus to valuable discussions.

I’ve taken part in several conferences, both as an organizer and as a participant. But now I’d like to dwell upon my first experience in attending an international conference of young researchers held under the auspices of the BSU. The initiative to convene the conference belonged to the University Academic Council. Thus, an organizing committee was formed which sent the so-called “Preliminary Announcement” to all the establishments concerned with a view of supplying potential participants with general information about the conference. From the announcement I learnt such important things as the main programme of the conference, orders of plenary sessions, rules for scientific contributions, requirements to submitted abstracts, information about registration fees, hotel reservations, etc. It was very important for me as a post-graduate student that the abstract would be published in Conference Proceedings.

I immediately filled in the preliminary application form and mailed it without delay. After that I was to submit a short abstract of my paper (one printed page) before the deadline.

Finally, my abstract was accepted and I started preparing my report.

I will never forget the first conference day. The conference started at
9 a. m. with the registration of attendees. Before the plenary session I had some time to get acquainted with other participants, to look through the latest information, to buy some booklets about the conference work. I was particularly interested in the workshop on criminalistics, since it is my special field. There were more than twenty scientific contributions to our workshop, all of them being on topical problems of criminalistics and applied sciences. According to the workshop schedule I was the last to speak. All the reports were followed by discussions, mine wasn’t an exception. I was asked several questions and did my best to answer all of them. I spoke without even looking into my notes and tried to make my reasoning very clear.

I also attended a poster session and found it of particular interest because I managed to study numerous texts of the papers supplied with diagrams, drawings, schemes and photographs.

The final session with review papers was truly rewarding for it summarized all that had been going on not only at the conference but also in the field of law for the past twelve months.

In conclusion, I’d like to say that I liked a specific atmosphere of the conference characteristic of any scientific meeting: groups of delegates discussing something, the sight of prominent scholars surrounded by their followers, talks, smiles, greetings, exchange of opinions.

Check the knowledge of the topical vocabulary identifying English equivalents for the following Russian ones:

получить приглашение

участвовать в конференции

поделиться опытом

под эгидой

быть устроителем конференции

заинтересованные учреждения

информационное письмо

пленарное заседание

секционная работа

рабочий язык конференции

организационный взнос