Part of the new online media strategy at B&ES allowed the business to embrace new ways of improving its accountability such as through using webinars, which in turn raised the profile of the Association and improved it's public affairs credentials. In late 2012 the Emerging Technologies Forum was launched in a response to the demands of the industry and to better represent members. The online group was created to reflect the shift in Government interest and the policy making of the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) to focus more on renewables and on the needs of the industry to adapt to new technologies, such as biomass and heat pumps. The new technology was far-reaching and members needed to diversify to keep up with the changing market.

The increased interactive relationship between the Association and members resulted in a marked improvement in the quality of the feedback given to Government through 'calls for evidence', which was further supported through a successful social media campaign through the Linkedin community and using Twitter.

Participants were able to share their ideas in real-time and comment on discussion topics as well as offer input before or after webinar sessions via the Linkedin groups that were created to help support the online community. Webinar sessions were trialled at the beginning and the middle of the working day to see which best suited members, and sessions were kept to 45 minutes to ensure the forum could be held within a lunch hour or not too time consuming in after-work hours.