DO Newsletter: May/June Issue 2009

Luciano Morganti, Director of Crosscommunication

Since 1998 Luciano Morganti has worked with the Development Office as expert for the EU Fact Finding workshops and lecturer for other training courses.

“The participants get all the information they are looking for in one click”

The EU provides a lot of information on the public ‘Europa’ website. Why is it still necessary to participate in your workshop on EU Fact Finding?

People looking for information on the EU are interested in this course because I teach them how to find all the information they are searching for in one click. It’s true that the quantity of information about the EU is extremely large – the ‘Europa’ website is probably the biggest public information portal in the world and the EU’s Publication Office in Luxembourg is the biggest publishing house. This also explains why it is not that easy for people who are not working on EU themes on a daily basis to find EU-related information. In my workshop, I explain how to find the information in an efficient way. The structure of the ‘Europa’ server is also changing quite often. That is why I continuously review and restructure my presentation, so participants can always benefit from it.

What happens during the EU Fact Finding training course?

It starts with a general introduction to the problems that one might encounter while searching for information about the EU. Then I present a few categories of information: policies and history, legal documents, press releases, statistics, calls for proposals, information about the EU institutions, think tanks, research centres, etc. And I give the participants hints and tips on how to find the information through links that are included in my PowerPoint presentation, how the main pages and databases work and how they can use shortcuts to minimise their research time. The workshop is always as interactive as possible. The participants can ask questions during or after the session, and they must do a practice exercise which helps them to ‘learn by doing’.

What is needed for the session to be interactive? Do all participants need their own computer?

It depends on the venue and the audience. What we need for sure is an internet connection. The best setting is a computer connected to the internet and a beamer for me, and one internet-connected computer per participant. It is also possible to have participants working in small groups of 2-3 persons.

How can participants benefit in the long term from participation in your course?

First, they can take the PowerPoint presentation with them, which is a huge and live tool on EU matters at their fingertips – each slide includes a list of links and shortcuts, as well as notes with a list of important sources related to the specific theme and tips on how to use databases or other tools. Secondly, I invite the participants to contact me if they have any further questions, which I try to answer within a few days. Actually, this does not happen so often, which means to me that the presentation provides the participants with all the tools that they need.

Why did you decide to cooperate with the Development Office for the organisation of the EU Fact Finding course?

I can tell you how the workshop was born. It’s an interesting story: I was an academic assistant at the College of Europe in 1997-1998. When the students started to worry about their Master’s theses, they were asking me how and where to find information about the EU. At the time, the ‘Europa’ server was still new, but I had already been using it quite extensively and had the idea to put all that knowledge into a PowerPoint presentation with a few links. As the voices spread, someone in the Development Office asked me to also offer this presentation for business executives. And since then I have trained a huge variety of participants: civil servants working in local and regional or national institutions and ministries, European affairs consultants, EU officials and, of course, participants in your seminars for the Europe Direct Network or the Intensive Seminar on the EU.

... which you will do this year again.

Are or were you involved in any other projects or services offered by the Development Office?

Yes, I taught courses about the EU’s research and development policy, the EU information society and on e-campaigns in Europe.

You just mentioned that you studied and worked at the College of Europe. Do you think the Master’s programme was a good preparation for your current job?

I think you are asking this question to an enthusiast! (Smiles) I have been lucky to benefit from almost all possibilities for a young person who wants to explore and learn about the European Union: Erasmus, Leonardo, an internship at the Commission … and yes, the College of Europe was an excellent opportunity from an academic, a professional and a human point of view – for sure, it has been the trampoline for everything that I have done afterwards!

Thank you.

The interview was held by Cordula Singer on 20 May 2009.