The power of many!

If members of a VDE regional association meet somewhere in Germany on an ordinary weekday, it may appear rather unspectacular from the outside. They gather in a university conference area, a utility company’s seminar room, or sometimes simply in a side room of a restaurant. Minutes and documents lie on the table; somewhere there may be a box of soldering stations for the next workshop; on a laptop, a presentation on the energy transition or cybersecurity glows. All participants can be certain that nothing about this meeting will appear in the newspaper the next day – there probably won’t even be a press release. And yet what is happening here is the core of what holds the association together: volunteer work in the regions, carried out by people who invest their free time in a network that has accompanied many of them for years.

Structurally, this engagement is more than just a friendly add-on. Since its founding on January 21, 1893, VDE has understood itself as an association whose fundamental architecture is shaped by volunteers. “In VDE’s organizational chart, the General Assembly and the Presidium stand above everything else. It is the volunteers who appoint the full-time Executive Board,” emphasizes Dr. Martin Hieber, himself a member of that board. And he adds: “We are and remain a technical and scientific association supported by its members.” This attitude is not a nostalgic reference to the past but describes a living network: the approximately 28 regional associations are not simply subdivisions but independent organizations with their own history, statutes, and responsibilities.

Those who get involved here often take on tasks that elsewhere would be handled by paid staff. Dr. Kevin Rick, head of membership services at VDE, describes the range as follows: “It spans from classic association roles such as treasurer or young members representative to the informal organization of events or activities like soldering workshops.” For many volunteers, it is precisely this mix of formal roles and flexible responsibilities that is appealing, because it allows room for initiative while still carrying clear responsibility.

The statutes of VDE e. V. explicitly designate the regional associations as the bodies responsible for representing the organization’s mission within their respective areas. In practical terms, this means they organize technical, scientific, and socio-political discussions; promote exchange among members and with the public; facilitate professional collaboration; and contribute to continuing education. In practice, this results in lecture evenings at regional companies, seminars on standardization topics, excursions to grid operators, visits to laboratories or power plants, as well as informal meetups where students, early-career professionals, and experienced engineers can connect.

The scope for shaping activities within this framework becomes clear in regional associations that deliberately set their own priorities. In the Kurpfalz region, for example, the volunteer board has developed a strategy in recent years called the “Kurpfalz path to the energy transition,” aimed at bringing together regional industry, municipal stakeholders, and academia. Under the VDE banner and in cooperation with the Power Engineering Society, local energy transition issues are addressed with input from members who work in the energy sector. Initiatives like these make visible what might otherwise remain abstract: that volunteer work within VDE is not merely organizational administration but substantive engagement with socially relevant topics.

Many of those who serve on the boards of regional associations bring leadership experience from their professional careers or have held such responsibility in the past. Yet their engagement goes beyond simply transferring familiar roles. In the regions, spaces emerge where younger and less experienced members can also try things out. Such experiences are difficult to capture in an organizational chart but are central to personal development and long-term commitment to the association. This is one reason why many active members of VDE do not define themselves by titles or awards. Their motivation is usually intrinsic: enthusiasm for the subject matter, the desire to share expertise, curiosity about new technologies, and the need for professional networking. Formal recognition certainly exists. It ranges from certificates for liaison professors to honorary pins and honorary memberships, as well as participation in juries such as the MINT Stars awards, which honor the commitment of teachers. Much of the appreciation, however, is quieter: a thank-you after a successful event, feedback from students who secured an internship through contacts made there, or the moment when an excursion is fully booked.

Structurally, the regional associations are grouped into regions that function internally as clusters. Names such as Hanse, Southwest, West, Bavaria, or East-Central do not appear in the statutes but create an additional level of exchange. Together with the regional directors, these clusters are intended to improve communication, coordination, and further development among the associations. The background is demographic and structural change: declining membership numbers, shifts in the working world, and new expectations for volunteer engagement. In strategy meetings and retreats, delegates discuss how the association should respond to these developments. Topics include membership fee levels and structures, the future of the decentralized system with many independent associations, and how much local autonomy is necessary to keep volunteer engagement vibrant.

Full-time staff and volunteers are not in competition but exist in a dynamic tension that can be productive. On one side are the full-time employees at headquarters in Offenbach; on the other are the many volunteers spread across the country. In everyday practice, this means joint project work, coordination of events, decisions on funding budgets, and the content design of programs for young people. When delegate task forces prepare strategic decisions for the future of the association, every proposal, figure, and formulation also reflects regional experience: how to attract young people when academic programs are becoming increasingly demanding and early-career professionals face constant performance pressure; which formats work in rural areas and which in metropolitan regions.

The results of these discussions are ambivalent but encouraging. “In our membership survey at the beginning of last year, more than half of respondents agreed with the statement that VDE is an association you can actively participate in – and that they are satisfied with the opportunities to do so,” says Rick. At the same time, he describes a trend familiar to many organizations: “Our volunteer base is aging, and recruiting younger members is becoming increasingly challenging.” Traditional roles within conventional association structures – long-term positions held for many years – often appeal less to younger generations. What is in demand instead are time-limited projects, clearly defined tasks, and digital forms of participation that can be balanced with studies, family, and professional life.