Savvy Congress
A remote General Members Meeting
Savvy Congress|
November 10, 2020

A collaboration between Bureau DFO and Savvy Congress for the annual general meeting online


Interview with Jurjen Oosterbaan, director of Bureau DFO


“The board was very nervous”.

When the annual General Members' Meeting was just around the corner, Jurjen Oosterbaan, director of Bureau DFO and organizer of the meeting of one of their secretariats, quickly realized that things would have to be different this year than in previous years. Bureau DFO has been working with the relevant secretariat for more than 13 years and provides secretariats for various financial organizations.


"The point was that another General Meeting of Members had to take place. The secretariat in question is an organization of around 500 offices that also have a branch of a franchise organization in the financial sector. Corona was unable to do this physically," Jurjen said. This presented him with a challenge. Various online possibilities are known for organizing online General Members' Meetings, but Jurjen chose to invest in Savvy Congress.


Invest in peace

"There are a number of exciting things at play within the association where there is a group of members who have a different vision than the board. This can be very high, so we found it necessary to work together with an organization of which we were sure the online meeting would run correctly. We couldn't use any errors. "


The digital members' meeting had to run smoothly (technically) and the members had to have 100% confidence in the system. Members were assured of professionalism and security with two-factor authentication and saw from photos that professional equipment was used and that Savvy's technical team had everything under control. In addition, they themselves had a say and could ask questions to the board. "Fortunately, the idea of 'just a quick zoom meeting' was quickly removed. This created confidence in the organization and peace of mind", Jurjen said.


A complex technical puzzle

Sheila Boon, part of the secretariat, then set to work on the preparations. "We sent out invitations to the members. They could then let them know if they were present and with how many offices. Some members received multiple votes. That was quite a puzzle. Luckily, last minute changes could be taken up," said Sheila. A lot was involved, but that is the case at every general meeting.

The Savvy platform is set up in such a way that anyone can get started with it. This was nice for the members and the board of the secretariat concerned. Jurjen said: "The board was very nervous. It was about people who are not used to this, but afterwards they were very satisfied. They were better than expected and they were very positive".


Effective and good for the environment

Jurjen and a large part of the members have a preference for this way of meeting. It's manageable, it's better for the environment, it saves everyone a lot of travel time and it's very effective. The board still missed a bit of the 'physical' interaction with the members. Savvy's hybrid meetings would be a good solution for this. "Members who live in the area are welcome and the rest of the Netherlands can follow it digitally. A flexible format that fits extremely well in these times."



Transparent, safe and verifiable: “It is an investment in peace”

According to Jurjen, this way of online meetings is certainly recommended to the financial sector. "Because of the way in which this happened, there was no stress, no tension and we did not have any unjustified objections. The gravity of the process was such, we also prevented criticism. Wherever parties have tensions or conflicting interests, there must be you just do things like this neatly and ensure that there is extra security. ”The voting process is transparent and verifiable. The voting committee or the notary can check the voting results, which creates a lot of confidence.


Jurjen, who is a lawyer himself, considered Savvy's safety very important. It gave him a sense of professionalism. He said this is an important point that sets Savvy apart from a 'teams' or 'zoom'. "You talk to each other in confidence. Certainly in the financial sector. There should be no discussion about communication. It really matters what platform you use and this cannot be organized quickly, which many organizations think. Due to the reliability of the system. the medium, you build a whole lot of rest, that has its price, it's an investment in rest.


More information about the possibilities of an online general meeting of Savvy?

Then read on here: https://savvycongress.com/ general- members meeting- on- distance/

Or register for the free Thursday, Demo Day: https://savvycongress.com/demo- Thursday/

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