2024-10-01 VDE dialog

Editorial advisory board: By young people for young people

In compiling this edition, the VDE dialog editorial team enlisted the help of eight young people aged between 17 and 24 to gather ideas and plan articles at a workshop in Offenbach.

By Beatrice Hüper

In the end, everyone was a little surprised by how well it went. “I didn’t expect that we would have so many ideas and be so productive in such a short time,” says Marleen Stollberg. The 17-year-old took time out between her written and oral school-leaving exams to attend the VDE dialog workshop in Offenbach. One weekend in May, Marleen was joined in the conference room of a hotel on the River Main by seven other young people who had come to help the VDE dialog editorial team plan a special edition focusing on young talent. Although VDE dialog regularly reports on the shortage of skilled workers and the lack of young talent in the pipeline, this is the first edition to be explicitly aimed at and developed by young people themselves.

The editorial team invited a selection of young people representative of the target readership: people with an interest in technical professions but unsure where their career path will take them, who are looking for the right place to study and who may be persuaded to work toward a future in one of the many fields of electrical engineering and information technology.

Einblick in den Workshop zur Erstellung der VDE dialog Nachwuchs-Ausgabe

| Anja Rottke / VDE

In addition to Marleen Stollberg, the school students Caroline Schalk and Sophie Gastinger also accepted the invitation. Student Ahmed Al Amraoui and eleventh-grader Linus Musekamp traveled from Saarland. Students Tomo Clement and Jonas Pohlmann already knew each other and were delighted to meet again at the workshop. The group was completed by master’s student Elias Biehl.

Together with the VDE dialog editorial team, they considered how to make the edition appeal to young people. Above all, they wanted readers between the ages of 15 and 25 to be able to relate to what they read in the magazine – in other words, the edition had to give young people their say and ensure women were equally represented. The contributions must be authentic and really concern the target group, “so that we have a sense that people are talking to us and not about us,” said Caroline Schalk.

Ideas for magazine articles quickly emerged. The brainstorming session ultimately filled two display boards with questions such as “What is electrical engineering?” and “Who can help me with problems during my studies?” alongside comments like “Show female role models” or “Appeal to teachers.” “It was a lot of fun and I think it was great that everyone was involved and had their say,” commented Linus Musekamp on the idea-finding process.

From the first brainstorming session, the students then developed ideas for articles, working partly in small groups, which the editorial team could then use to create the magazine.

“I can’t wait to see this edition published,” said Elias Biehl. “It has the potential to shed light on the electrical engineering jungle and paint a clearer picture, especially for the next generation. We have a real opportunity here.”

Regina Schnathmann, Head of Brand, Marketing and Communication at VDE, agreed and thanked the young advisory board members at the end of the workshop: “It is incredibly important for the VDE to attract, recruit and retain young people for electrical engineering. VDE dialog wants to contribute to this, and you can help us with your perspective and input.”

Editorial advisory board: By young people for young people

We are on a mission!

Workshop with the young editorial advisory board