Lessons learned from organizing the EUROSAI WGEA Spring Session as an e-seminar
29. Mai 2020
Covid-19 pandemic compelled us to cancel our plans of organizing the 2020 Spring Session of EUROSAI WGEA in collaboration with colleagues from the National Audit Office of Malta on their wonderful island. We took the decision to substitute the physical meeting with a virtual one only 3 weeks prior to the scheduled date. This was possible only on the account of the registered participants’ and keynotes’ flexibility to “move online” and tune in to the e-meeting. While EUROSAI WGEA Steering Committee convenes regularly for tele-meetings for some years now, the e-Seminar with around 70 participants was the first of its kind for the whole group.
We are glad to have taken the decision to hold the Spring Session despite the troubling times. Our members seemed to really appreciate the chance to catch up and connect, and maybe even forget the special situation for a moment there. The e-Seminar experience is encouraging to a point where we would definitely consider substituting some physical meetings with virtual ones on a regular basis. Perhaps even the whole logic of meetings of a Working Group could be re-thought in light of the possibilities that e-tools have to offer.
The WGEA has compiled some observations and lessons-learned from the EWGEA e-Seminar on Sustainable Energy held on 7-8 April 2020, which can be of interest to other colleagues planning online EUROSAI activities and we are happy to share here.