Site visits
Nicolas Van Eck works for the Research and Development Department of EDF, a leading player in the field of energy. He is the communication manager for the Chatou site. Every year, he hosts hundreds of visitors. What is the goal of site visits? What is the best way to organise a good tour? He shares his experience in this field with us.
Agent Majeur: what are the benefits of research centre visits for EDF?
Nicolas Van Eck: Our research centres serve as a showcase for the group. Presenting our activities allows us to increase our recognition and visibility and promotes what we do in terms of R&D. EDF has been doing research since the group was created in 1946. Here, in Chatou, the facilities of the Research Departement are mainly dedicated to the field of power production: thermal, hydraulic, nuclear and renewable energy.
Who visits your installations nowadays?
We host two types of visitors: people from EDF or its subsidiaries, and people external to the group. For example, we receive a lot of customers, elected representatives, shareholders, research partners, as well as students from engineering schools or universities in which we recruit.
What is your policy with respect to general public visits?
Organising a visit, hosting it and accompanying the visitors: all of this is very time consuming. This is why we do not receive groups of students from junior high schools or secondary schools. However, we organise open days. We have three R&D sites in the Paris area: Chatou, Saclay and Les Renardières, close to Fontainebleau. Every year we organise open days by rotating sites. This year the event took place at Les Renardières. Prior to the visit, people had to register online. In the research centres, we remain vigilant due to safety and confidentiality issues.
What do you do when you are asked about ‘sensitive’ issues?
In the field of nuclear security, we regularly have questions. Following the accident in Fukushima, we had even more: what did EDF do? Did we help the Japanese population? If this were to happen in France, what would we do? What are the risks? As communicators, we are on the same page as the group and give the same answers. It is essential to be consistent, the various group departments must carry the same message. And it is also essential to address the questions we are asked. Dodging them would be the worst thing.
How do you know if a visit has been successful?
When the visit was successful, visitors leave shaking our hands, they tell us they are satisfied and that what we are doing is exciting.
How do you manage this?
First you must greet the visitors cordially. This is the basis, obviously. Then you have logistics issues. We must meet the deadlines. A successful visit is a visit that ends on time. I would also say that a visit must meet the visitors’ requirements. Moreover, when I receive a request, I always ask the future visitor what they are interested in. Depending on their answer, I define the programme of the visit. It usually starts with a presentation of EDF, the R&D department and our activities on the site. I then suggest a variety of subjects: renewable energy, the impact of weather on the energy market, hydraulics…
In addition, a successful visit is when researchers like to share what they are working on and answer the visitors’ questions. Or if researchers cannot give the presentation themselves, Agent Majeur speakers know how to make these topics engaging and exciting.
