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Call for proposals

Propose a session

Berlin, 14–15 October 2026. A peer exchange, not a marketplace. We are looking for the sessions that will fill a single focused day of vegetation management and grid resilience.

The agenda is final. The call for proposals has closed. Thank you to everyone who sent in a session. See the programme.

What this is

The first European room for this conversation.

Utilities across North America meet every year at events like Trees & Utilities to compare notes on vegetation management. Europe has had no equivalent. We are convening the first: a closed-door, utility-only gathering of the people who own vegetation management and grid operations, to compare what is working and what is not, honestly, among peers.

The format is welcome drinks on the evening of 14 October, followed by a full day of sessions on 15 October in Berlin. Attendance is free and limited to utilities. This call invites the sessions that will fill that day. More about the forum.

Who we want to hear from

Utility practitioners first.

We also welcome academics and industry experts who work directly with utility vegetation and grid-resilience questions.

One rule

This is a peer exchange, not a marketplace. We do not accept product or sales presentations. Where speakers from industry join a panel, they do so as subject-matter experts.

What makes a strong proposal

Three things we look for.

Useful to a decision-maker

It speaks to a challenge other VM decision-makers are working on, and they leave with something they can use.

Honest and specific

Real results, including what did not work. Hard numbers wherever you have them.

Transferable

Another utility can act on it on Monday morning.

Themes

Five themes. Tell us which one your proposal fits.

Use the prompts as a starting point rather than a limit.

01 Moving from cycles to risk

Shifting from calendar-based cutting to condition- and risk-based vegetation management.

  • How did you move off fixed cycles, and what did it cost or save?
  • Turning inspection or remote-sensing data into a prioritised worklist crews actually trust.
  • Proving the return on the change to the people who hold the budget.
02 Climate resilience and extreme weather

Preparing the network for wildfire, storms, snow, and flood, and making fast, confident calls when an event hits.

  • How are you readying the network for wildfire and severe weather, and what has measurably changed?
  • What does a good de-energisation or crew-positioning decision look like under live pressure?
  • Tackling off-ROW hazard trees, the largest single source of weather-driven outages.
03 Ecological corridor management, biodiversity and climate action

Treating corridors as a cost, permitting, and climate strategy, not only a compliance task.

  • The long-run business case for ecological corridors, with the numbers behind it.
  • Turning rights-of-way into biodiversity and carbon assets.
  • Getting ready for the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the Nature Restoration Law.
04 Liability and compliance

The liability and insurance exposure that sits behind every vegetation decision.

  • Where does liability land after a vegetation-caused fire or outage?
  • How is the insurance market pricing vegetation risk, and what can utilities do about it?
  • Building an evidence trail that holds up in an audit.
05 Building and leading VM and operations

The operating model, people, and decision flow behind a programme that moves fast.

  • Breaking the silos between planning, GIS, field, and regulatory so decisions do not stall.
  • In-house versus outsourced models, and what each really costs.
  • Scaling and keeping crews and contractors in a tight labour market.

Session formats

Thirty minutes, your choice of format.

Presentation. A talk or case study.

Interactive workshop. Hands-on and discussion-led. These are the slots most likely to run in parallel.

How we choose

A small programme committee reviews every proposal.

We score against five criteria, then curate for balance across the five themes and keep the headline sessions on a single track so the whole room shares them.

  • Relevance to a senior VM or operations audience
  • Pan-European applicability
  • The strength of the outcomes and evidence
  • Transferability to other utilities
  • Peer credibility with zero sales content