When discussing issues related to climate change, and in particular the process and result of BACC, I have recently used our “Turning Point” technology (for a voting pad, see Figure) to map the opinions among the audience. This system allows showing questions on the screen, and the participants respond by pressing a number of the pad – the frequency is determined by software on the laptop, and when the voting is complete, the result is shown on the screen – visible for everybody. The voting itself is really anonymous, as nobody can really see which number a neighbor is pressing.
The motive for doing this is two-fold, one to allow the audience to note that there are indeed different opinions in the room – the response is usually very positive – and that it may give us Baltic Earthers an extra understanding what our stakeholder perceive and believe. Obviously, these surveys do not provide a representative estimate of opinions, but a mere snapshots of very different groups. I my case, these groups have all in common, not only that they are interested in climate and Baltic sea, but they also join a presentation by Hans von Storch.
