Friday
Registration, Hotel Check-In and Snacks
7:00 Dinner
8:30 Cocktails, Keynote: New Thinking for a New Era
10:30 Shmoozing Groups: Personal Prerogatives
Hospitality Suite with Food open 24 hours a day until conference ends
Saturday
10:30 Caucus Session I: Hard Choices
12:00 Pre-Lunch Cocktail Party
1:00 Lunch
2:30 Caucus Session II: Hard Choices
4:30 Free Time
6:00 Cocktail Party
7:00 Dinner
8:30 Workshop I
10:15 Nightclub, Lounge & Free Time
12:00 Piano Bar
Sunday
9:30 Networking Brunch
10:30 Workshop II
1:00 Lunch
2:30 Workshop III – Hands-On
4:00 Farewell Party
Program Detail
Keynote: New Thinking for a New Era
Make Money, Not War – Middle East businessperson; Harvard Middle East Program Participant
Internet: The Ultimate Sovereign On Earth – CEO: Internet company
Exhibition Middle East Business and Tourism Opportunities; Internet Technologies
Shmooze: Personal Prerogatives
Groups of 20 in moderated sessions in which the object is to let everyone say something and for everyone in the room to learn everyone else’s name. Breakout sessions after about 40 minutes.
– Next Generation Prejudices: What do and should we think of the new generation of Germans and Arabs?
– Acceptable Role Models? Homosexual, Charitable but Convicted, Puritan but Aloof
– Is God Good Government Anywhere?
– Boycotts, Embargoes & Corruption: Principled Impotence amid Globalized Competition?
– Education: Equality for All or Bye to the Fittest?
– Zionism: A Jewish State or a State For Jews?
– A Seder for the 21st Century: Do We Agree on What is the Jewish Story?
Hard Choices
In this round, participants are assigned specific scenarios with given facts and choices. They negotiate in groups of 6-8 to come up with some sort of resolution they can agree upon.
Caucus I Building and Protecting Our Communities
Curriculums
Internet Censorship for the Protection of Minors
Pride-Building Events
Community Representation
Caucus II Balancing Budgets: Who Gets, Who Gives?
America
Israel
United Nations
Your Community
Exploring New Frontiers — Possibilities & Pitfalls
Workshops I and II are 90 minute lecture & Q/A / comment format; Workshop III is hands-on and geared toward promoting contact among program participants in a constructive atmosphere.
Track A: Conflict: The Middle East Theater: Assessing Change
Workshop I Warfare: Current Trends – West Point Military Attache
Workshop II The Koran’s Content Viewed Against Contemporary Arab Literature & Behavior – Middle East national / academic or embassy
Workshop III Arab Culture and Etiquette – Wear It and Dance It / Same source as II
Track B: New Bites/Bytes for New Likes
Workshop I Diversions: What will be Fun? New forms or stick with Nick at Nite? / Entertainment industry or Market Research
Workshop II Raising Children – Will a Generation Gap Exist with our children? / Social Psychology or Entertainment Industry
Workshop III Music, Clothes & Food – New Sounds, New Tastes – Eat It Or Wear It! / Food Scientist, Fashion and/or Entertainment Industry
Track C: New Types of Macro Ethical Dilemmas
Workshop I Taxation – As Countries Compete for Technically Skilled Workers: Favor the Upwardly and Internationally Mobile vs. the Situated Middle Class? / Economist correspondent / Consulting Industry
Workshop II Privacy – Do Convenience and Efficiency in Allocation of Resources Compensate for the Lack of it? / Market Research firm, Advertising or Attorney
Workshop III Research – Fair Use and the Internet – From High School Term Papers to Work Academic / Library sciences / Internet Search Engine Company
General Comments
Renaissance Weekend – Styled after the annual retreat attended by the Clintons in South Carolina which attracts an ever-increasing by-invitation-only crowd of future leaders, many of them Jewish. Such an event discreetly geared toward Jewish singles would be a totally new ball-game in singles programming that would produce results in personal relationships and contact-building and more effectively target future leaders than current New Leadership programming primarily geared toward targeting future givers.
1. Choose a resort that is within 90 minute drive of Manhattan with sufficient facilities for conferencing and outdoor enjoyment
2. Religion and Eating: The Program should be non-sectarian and avoid being seen as affiliated with one religious sect or another. Participants should be in an egalitarian atmosphere and vegeterian food is one possible way to finesse issues. Prayer services will not be part of the official program. Microphones will not be used at sabbath events.
3. Sponsorships: Likely corporate sponsors might include Bnai Brith (Building Our Community), World Zionist Organization (Israel topics), Microsoft (Internet), the Forward (New Generation Thinking), professional associations such as Arab-American Chamber of Commerce (Middle East business), the Economist, and entities in the fashion, market research and consulting industries. They can sponsor cocktail parties; bring freebies to hand out at workshops; and generally give goods and services to use; they might also give scholarship aid to those who can’t afford the full price of the conference. They can get a link to the conference web site and we can prepare home pages for them if they don’t have one.
4. Delegate Preparation: Informational material would be available via Internet so that schedules, caucus scenarios and speaker data could be accessed in advance and participants arrive prepared. This avoids having to print and disseminate lots of reading material at the conference (which people by then will be too busy to read) or in advance (which people will forget to bring) at our expense. Several computer terminals with Internet access will be set up at site so that people can access whatever they didn’t bring.
5. Financial: A conference fee of $200 per delegate will be charged separate from the hotel reservation fee. If 100 people attend, that creates a $20,000 budget for speakers and administrative expenses. The hotel will be expected to throw in either a commission on rooms booked (about 10%) adding an extra $25 per person or to allocate an events budget for on-site expenses such as decoration, entertainment, extra food, hospitality suite, comps for staff and speakers, etc. Corporate sponsors eager to get their name in front of this desirable demographic might well kick in goods and services such as computer rental, speaker transportation, exhibition materials and delegates.
6. Attendance: Rather than being open to all who apply, attendance should be limited to 120-150 people aged 24-35 and unmarried who may attend upon acceptance of an application used to select a diverse and qualified group of individuals that will ensure that these efforts are well received by people likely to fill leadership roles in the future, of a disposition likely to contribute to the well-being of such a conference and of likely compatibility to those that attend. Those unlikely to enjoy this conference are highly ideological and close-minded, lacking a graduate level degree, uninterested in highly structured programming and generally uncurious about people and new ideas.
7. Speakers / Faculty: All speakers and faculty should similarly be within the ages of 25-40, and preferably be entrepreneurs and good speakers. Facilitators will be needed for dining room seating and shmoozing sessions. Honorariums of between $300 and $500 a speaker are anticipated plus room and food comps. Speakers will be expected to prepare written curriculum to disseminate in advance to delegates over Internet and to bring hand-out material to conference.
8. Homework on the Organization End: Seating Assignments for dinner, pre-registration for the various caucuses and workshops; preparing hand-out materials such as badges, maps, room signs, tickets to events, souvenir shirts, etc.
9. Things to determine from the Hotel: Room rates, commissions, availability of dining rooms, gratuity policy, selection of night club entertainment, late checkout (ie: 5 pm), availability of food outside of meal times and in hospitality suite, modem and PC terminal access, photographer, full range of transportation options to and from the hotel.
10. Publicity: web site, voicemail response, press releases to jewish media, federation, wzo, universities, synagogue bulletins.
11. Services we will need: web site creation and maintenance including some art, credit card merchant account (so we can take visa).
12. The Web Site contains: the program, speaker bios, purpose of program, application to register, travel instructions by car, bus, plane and taxi; links to sponsors; hotel and conference reservation information; contact information if there are any unanswered questions.
So That We Can Do Our Homework and make this conference more effective and tailored to the tastes of the Participants: The application for registration asks one’s: name, address, telephone, e-mail, credit card, age, sex, ever married, children, kohen/levi, b.a. or higher degrees and from where, any study abroad, foreign languages, special talents or skills, current reading and newsgathering habits, outgoing or introverted, specific things you like/dislike about people, hobbies, extent of internet usage, general political/zionist orientation, t-shirt size, can we list your name/e-mail and city in a take-home directory. choose which caucuses, shmoozes and workshops the registrant wishes to attend and list second and third choices. Refunds available for cancellation outside of 14 days only.
