Parliament’s web team has become so accustomed over recent months to working on the elections communication campaign that it has become a way of life. So much so that it is actually quite disconcerting that the elections are actually now upon us. The Brits and Dutch have already voted, and, as I write, the Irish are going to the polls, with Czech to follow them this afternoon.

Twitter HQ - the team gets its briefing

So we are finally there, and some of us are trying to come to terms with the concept of life-without-elections. I know this must seem strange to an outside world on whose consciousness these elections impinge as just one of several matters to which they might dedicate a moment’s attention, but in our professional universe they have been pretty much the only story in town for a while now.

However, there is still the grand denouement to be played out. For us, this brings with it a little bit of extra (self-inflicted) upheaval, as we have decamped en masse to temporary accommodation close to the heart of the action on Sunday night – “results night“.

For the kind of coordination this will require, the old methods are the best – someone will stand up and shout.

Amid the clamour of ongoing construction – TV sets being set up, screens for results, special facilities for journalists, spectacular lighting - we have taken possession of our little piece of prime real estate. That’s 50 square metres just off the plenary chamber (the epicentre of results night), now occupied by 31 people, 31 PCs, one allegedly networked printer, two small TVs to follow the news, nine telephones (some of which actually work) and a smattering of wifi-equipped personal laptops for the would-be footloose and fancy-free. A Belgian fire officer came by, grimaced a little, but gave us a clean bill of health as long as we make sure our chairs are stowed under the tables when we leave our desks.

Yes, it is quite tight…  So just as well we get on.

All this adds up to “Twitter HQ”. We wanted to be in the thick of it, so that, as events unfold on Sunday night, we are in the midst of the action, twittering merrily in 22 languages, giving our followers a blow-by-blow insider’s account of election night. We also took the view that, for the kind of coordination this will require, the old methods are the best – someone will stand up and shout. No-one will be out of earshot. 

Meanwhile, we’ll get to know each other a little bit better, especially perhaps as night follows day on Sunday and we plough on into the wee hours relaying the outcome of the poll in remote Finnish provinces or little-known Greek islands.

I expect us to get through election night without serious outbreaks of violence.

I will blog another time about the team and how magnificently it has risen to all the new election-related stuff asked of it. Suffice it to say for now that this is an outfit with a high capacity for intensive teamwork, that I expect us to get through election night without serious outbreaks of violence, and that we will doubtless look back fondly to this as a positive group bonding experience after we return to our usual offices.

So we’re set. Next stop Sunday night. Follow us on Twitter!