From January 18-20, a delegation of the INEGMA-E2 project took part in the FORMATEX Main Planning Conference in Linz, Austria. Including INEGMA-E2 in this stage of the planning process for a simulation exercise allows the partners to have a better overview of how the evaluation is prepared. Up until now, INEGMA-E2 has been present during the execution of simulation exercises (DOMINO, PROFOUND, BALANCE), yet never in the planning process. As the consortium shares the belief that evaluation planning should be an integral part of the exercise planning process, this event gave us the opportunity to observe that process and the concrete steps that are undertaken.
During the 2nd day of the main planning conference, INEGMA-E2 project partners had the opportunity to see the exercise locations for the FORMATEX exercise and to understand more about the exercise objectives. The site visits were used to support the team in identifying potential skills that the evaluators should have in that particular exercise and the objectives of the evaluation. The 3rd day of the conference was used to present INEGMA-E2 to FORMATEX and to explain the findings concerning the required skill sets and the objectives of the evaluation.