This book focuses ona hitherto neglected area of research within the fields of academic and professinal descourse: teh language of conferencing. The volume represents a reange of perspectives, from the conference as a whole event to the conferenfe as a system of potential genres, within a given discourse community. Somne discourse feataures of conference language are examined in detail, such as stretegies for politeness and other interpersonal management dur9ng presentations and discussions. The pedagogical implications of conference research are also addressed; in indeed there is a growing need for such a focus. Novice conference participants need explicit linguistic description fo the training in, the relevant generes to enable them to become fullyfledged members of their professional discourse communites. Additionally, the work in this volume makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of he intercultura and educational dimensions of the increasing dominance of English as an international lingua franca--in conferences and beyond. Contents: Eija Ventola/Celia Shalom/Susan Thompson: Introduction--Eija Ventola: Why and what kind of focus on confernce presentations?--Celia Shalom: The academic confernce: A forum for enacting genere knowledge--Chrisine Raisanen: The conference forum: A system of interrelated genres and discursive practices--Elizabeth Rowley-Jolivet: Science in themaking: Scientific conference presentations and the construction of facts--Anni Heino/Eija Tervonen/Jorma Tommola: Metadiscourse in academic conference presentations--Susan Thompson" 'As the story unfolds': The uses of narrative in research presentations--Cassily Charles/Eija Ventola: A multi-semioticgenre: The conference slide show--Monique Frobert-Adamo: Humour in oral presentations: what's the joke?--Pauline Webber: The paper is now open for discussion--Irena Vassileva: Speaker-audience interaction: the case of BUlgarians presenting in English--Tatyana Yakhontova: Titles of conference presentation obstracts: a cross-cultural perspective-Viktor Slepovitch: English as a conference language for students and prospects--David banks: The French scientist and English as a conference language--Eija Ventola: Should I speak English or German?--Conferencing and language code issues--Eija Ventola/Celia Shalom/ Susan Thompson: Afterwood.