A conductor works with the orchestra. What I'm
trying to say is, how a piece of music will turn out actually
largely depends on the conductor.
This is because of the influence of the conductor's interpretation
of the piece of music. And to a large extent, the conductor's
performance on the podium affects how immersed the players are in
the piece of music, and in turn how well they will be able to bring
out the essence of a piece of music.
Conductors aren't there just to keep tempo. Their work is not just
what you see on the stage during a performance, but rather also the
preparation work done before the performance.
In a piece of music, there are instances where there are certain
tempo changes that an orchestra may not be able to handle without a
conductor, such as umm accelerandos and ritards...
Aiyah. How to say in a structured manner.
We don't LOOK at the conductor, but at our scores, yes. I don't
know for others, but for me what I did was look at my scores and
then somehow I manage to keep the conductor in my view also. Like,
multitasking.
Another job of the conductor is to give cues for entrances of
various instruments, percussion quite common...
Erm. Okay that was a bad explanation. 
