The Assembly of Delegates of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) represents a further step towards strengthening the political and professional representation of renewable energy interests. Thanks to good preparation and the commitment of TEDME, this hybrid delegates' meeting ran smoothly. More about this success story:
About the hybrid delegates' meeting of the BEE
The BEE, short for Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energie e.V. (German Renewable Energy Federation), held its delegates' meeting in July 2022 as a hybrid event. This means that both participants were present on site in Berlin and people connected to the meeting were able to follow the event live on their computers. Both groups of participants were able to take part in voting and elections in real time - with the help of TEDME.
The virtual participants were able to dial in via a Zoom meeting and thus participate and help shape all aspects on an equal footing with the on-site participants.
What the BEE wanted to achieve
The BEE wanted to successfully organise its 1st Delegates' Assembly and elect the President, the Executive Board and the National Chamber.
Due to the reorganisation of the BEE - involving renewable energy associations from all over Germany - a delegate system was introduced for the first time. The representatives of the federal states and the members of the Executive Board were to be elected from this group of delegates at the delegates' meeting. As a total of 40 positions had to be filled, the votes had to be carried out quickly within the given time frame. A real challenge - especially in view of the requirements presented below.
The challenges of elections and voting
During the BEE event, in addition to the regular agenda items with votes, elections were held for the state chambers. In order to reflect the structures of our country in these elections, a total of 16 state chamber elections were held in parallel at the BEE. This alone pushes some voting tools and organisers to their limits.
In accordance with the BEE statutes, the votes and elections of participating companies must be weighted with a different factor than the votes of the associations. Of course, individual voting shares must also be correctly taken into account. In order to realise this, each vote at the BEE Delegates' Meeting was conducted in parallel - once for the associations and once for the companies. The results of these two elections were then averaged together.
Anyone who has briefly done the maths here will quickly notice that 32 polling stations were operated in parallel for the BEE state chamber elections alone. In other words, the 32 individual elections had to be correctly converted into a single election result in a short space of time.
The spontaneous question also made new candidates possible
Elections are complex and not all candidates are always known from the outset. Sometimes the organiser has to spontaneously consider other candidates and their presentation.
TEDME's spontaneous question function made it possible for new candidates to be voted on spontaneously during the elections. This also means that the BEE was able to adapt some questions during the delegates' meeting and could have responded appropriately to surprising developments during the meeting.
This is an aspect that planners and organisers of meetings and elections often overlook and that only flexible voting tools such as TEDME can implement quickly and reliably.
This is why the BEE decided in favour of TEDME
The association organising the event, Fachverband Biogas e.V., has already been working successfully with TEDME for its own virtual general meetings for around three years and has been able to draw on both successful applications and internal expertise in operation.
"We opted for TEDME because this tool is user-friendly and can be operated by practically anyone after a short familiarisation period. The analyses are available just-in-time and are very clear. Added to this is the excellent service provided by TEDME. A solution was always found immediately for every question we had. As a non-profit organisation, we also very much appreciate the price-performance ratio" says Anja Lobedank, Head of Events at Fachverband Biogas e.V.
Thanks to TEDME, the BEE has achieved this
"For the BEE Delegates' Assembly, we were faced with the challenge of mapping a very complex voting procedure with a total of 36 virtual voting rooms and executing 32 of them in parallel at any given time. Fortunately, this was very easy to visualise with TEDME"Anja Lobedank looks back: "As Mr Koros' service was already exceptionally good in the past, we also commissioned him to provide technical support for TEDME in this case. The result? A smooth voting process. We were even able to finish the meeting earlier than planned."
Tips for other planners
"It is essential to carefully scrutinise the tools of choice with a view to your own individual requirements. Comprehensive and therefore often expensive tools are not automatically the right ones for your own use case. Often you only need a fraction of the services included. Therefore, use test versions in advance and ask for an introduction. In addition, involve the people who will be working with the tool and who know and understand the requirements of the respective project. And above all: plan early! Especially if you don't have a tool yet, you need the preparation time," Anja Lobedank advises other planners of meetings, votes and elections.
"The BEE would like to thank everyone involved at TEDME for their support and the smooth organisation of the delegates' meeting."
Dr Claudius, da Costa Gomez, Managing Director of the German Renewable Energy Federation
More about the Delegates' meeting of the BEE
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