Panel discussion with Minister of State Sebastian Gemkow.

At the Energy Forum 2023, leading figures from business, science and politics came together in Chemnitz to discuss the opportunities and challenges of energy policy in the 21st century. The aim was to give the MPs of the governing party the necessary understanding of the issues in order to shape the election program for the 2024 state elections on this basis.

It was therefore important for the moderator to act as a hinge between the MPs' questions and the statements of the economic and scientific experts.

It was particularly challenging to understand and reformulate the sometimes very technical questions and answers at any given moment in a way that ensured understanding for all those present.

The framework conditions were deliberately kept soft. There were key topics for which experts were invited and time slots set aside for discussion. Beyond that, however, there was no agenda, no questions formulated in advance and no content guidelines. This methodology left room for everything essential to be discussed, but also required an impulse from the moderator every now and then to get the discussion going or to keep it going.

In the end, however, the results were exciting and will certainly form a good basis for the MPs' political work.