The GEO Conference offers a unique opportunity for senior election officials and democracy practitioners to gather together to share common experiences and find solutions to issues in election management.

IFES, an international nonprofit organization that supports the building of democratic societies, hosted this year's gathering of the GEO network at the Westin Grand in Washington, D.C., from March 27–29, 2007. 

Presentations made during the plenary sessions of the GEO Conference are available as PDF documents below:

(all presentations in English unless otherwise noted)

Tuesday, March 27

Opening Ceremony and Welcome

Moderator: Richard Soudriette, IFES

• Richard Soudriette, IFES
• Diane Davidson, Elections Canada
• Luis Carlos Ugalde, Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico
• Zoltán Tóth, ACEEEO
• Angela Kane, United Nations
• Andrew Ellis, International IDEA
• William J. Hybl, IFES
• Paula J. Dobriansky, U.S. Department of State

Moderator: Jean-Pierre Kingsley, former Chief Electoral Officer of Canada

• Andrew Ellis, International IDEA - Tuning In To Democracy: Challenges of Young People's Participation
• Pippa Norris, UNDP - Electoral Engineering and Turnout
• Orsolya Nagy, ACEEEO

Moderator: The Honorable Samuel Younger, Electoral Commission (UK)

• Rich Twigg, IFES - Programming Trust: Election Technology and Voter Confidence
• Paul DeGregorio, EAC - The Use of Electronic Election Technology in America (Power Point  also available)
• Zoltán Tóth and Jenö Szép, ACEEEO - Standards and Observation of Election Technology
• Mike Yard, IFES - From Power Outages to Paper Trails (Power Point also available)

Wednesday, March 28

Resolution of Election Disputes

Moderator: Denis Kadima, EISA

• Barry Weinberg
• Luis Carlos Ugalde, Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico - The 2006 Mexican Experience
• Jesús Orozco
• Vincent Tohbi, EISA - Les Mecanismes de Resolution des Conflits Electoraux en RDC (in French)
• Diane Davidson, Elections Canada Tracking Political Money in Elections

Tracking Political Money in Elections

Moderator: Marcin Walecki, IFES

• Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, Brunel University
•  Jeffrey Carlson, IFES - Enabling Disclosure: A Comparative Review of Three Countries
•  Robert Lenhard, U.S Federal Election Commission - Money in Federal Elections in the United States
•  Janice Vézina, Elections Canada
•  José Thompson, IIDH-CAPEL - Money and Politics: the Latin American Experience

Professional Election Associations

Moderator: Tony Sirvello, IACREOT

Media and Elections

Moderator: Dorin Tudoran, IFES

Thursday, March 29

Effective Electoral Assistance

Moderator: Jim Vermillion, IFES

• Paul Guerin, International IDEA 

• Pierre Garrone, Council of Europe - Setting and Applying Electoral Standards 

• Miriam Lapp, Elections Canada - Electoral Management Bodies and International Electoral Assistance: Principles Applied, Key Lessons, and Where to From Here?
• Jacques Bernard, Electoral Council of Haiti 

Professional Development

Moderator: Arnis Cimdars, Central Election Commission of Latvia

• Orsolya Nagy, ACEEEO
• Dong Nguyen, United Nations
• Manuel Carrillo, Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico
• Doug Lewis, Election Center
• Ian Campbell, Australian Electoral Commission - Building Resources in Democracy, Governance & Elections 

Information and Networking Resources

Moderator: Manuel Carrillo, Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico 

• Joseph Szamel, ACEEEO - Democracy Development Ranking (Power Point also available)
• Linda Maguire, UNDP - The Ace Electoral Knowledge Network
• Sara Staino, International IDEA - The Ace Practitioners' Network (Power Point also available)
• Rakesh Sharma, IFES - Information Resources for Election Professionals at IFES