European Telework Week 1997 - Information Day 18 April 1997
Kitty DE BRUIN, Chairman of the Dutch Telework Forum (NTF), facilitated the meeting, starting with sharing her experience in building partnerships for the organisation of events. First she demonstrated that there are plenty of potential "sponsors", by generating in a short brainstorm a long list, starting with national Ministries, then through hardware and software suppliers, telecom operators, telecom service providers, but also other businesses that might want to raise their profile by demonstrating their "vision for work".
In her experience of building multiple conferences, and also the annual "National Telework Award" she always succeeded to find plenty of support. The crucial part is to find the right subject. That subject has to touch upon the specific issues of interest for the target audience, but also attraction to possible partners, sponsoring or co-organising the event.
A very good way to prepare the road is to involve politicians, and other public players, like the Belgian Telework Association (BTA) succeeded in doing for the last two years, as well. Under chairmanship of the Belgian Prime Minister DEHAENE some 40 high level people from politics, universities and industry signed up for an endorsement committee. After this it was fairly easy to convince industry to invest in events like specific seminars, and the annual Telework Cocktail in Brussels, reported Mr. Christian VAN ASBROECK, representing the Belgian Telework Association, BTA.
Irish experience showed that even with little money a quite wide public can be reached. Excellent results can be achieved with a small budget given the support of one established partner who can provide facilities and pulling power, reported Imogen BERTIN of the Irish Telecottage Association, citing her co-operation with the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions last year as an example of such leverage.
Low price leaflets (example: one colour -green- print on yellow paper) can reach a wide range of people.
Ms BERTIN also gave another practical tip: by recording proceedings, the speed in which you can produce a high quality report and send it out can dramatically improve... which would make partners even more eager to co-operate with you in following occasions.
Massimo INTORRELLA of Telecom Italia touched rightly on the need to take the current level of awareness into account. For Italy the debate would need to be more focused. The form of teleworking that seems to suit the Italian culture most, is telework centres. In September Telecom Italia will open a demonstration centre in Rome, and will be happy to link in to other telework centres. Not only during ETW, but also on a more prominent basis.
This point was seconded by Mr. Christian SOBLENZ, Director from EURADA. It is important to focus on the issues that are in the public eye. One of the major issues is also to make SMEs aware of the new opportunities, and stimulate the uptake.
As one other possible focal point Mr. Michel MILLER from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) proposed the Green Paper "Partnership for a New Organisation of Work", which was recently adopted by the European Commission. As Ms Vybeke SYLVEST already explained during the morning session, the Green Paper would be open for consultation until the end of November. An excellent opportunity for the Commission to push for a last intensive consultation period, based upon the status of debate at the beginning of November.
The need to start timely was expressed again, by Kitty DE BRUIN. Concluding from the discussion is that there are genuine opportunities to makes things happen, and that there is a wide experience to build on, and to learn from. Participants will be able to contact each other through the address list provided, and the website, for co-operation and exchange of information.
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