Therefore every active and vital entity should be a part of this highly esteemed and scientifically efficient Convention that will be called upon to record its stance, concerns and possible proposals for the specific thematic categories. For this reason the invitation is extended to all entities without any exclusions, in accordance of course with the terms and conditions of the present official invitation.

This open invitation is extended to every dynamic, vital and active member of the Greek community.

For the Convention in New York, there will be six different meetings according to the thematic categories, as shown on the program.

Subsequently, the Convention of Athens will take place during the last days of September where the basic elements of the deliberations and the capabilities of the Greek American Community will be presented scientifically and in detail, so that a more extensive and reliable channel of communication and collaboration can be achieved between the Greek American Community of America and Greece. For the Convention of Athens, six autonomous and distinct conferences will take place simultaneously in six different rooms, according to a thematic category (forum).

Distinguished scientists, academics, political and social representatives, representatives from prestigious institutes and Universities from the USA and Greece will participate as speakers in the Convention of Athens. Based on their credentials, these speakers will be selected by the Scientific Board.

The thematic categories of the convention are the following:

    1.   The historic role of Hellenism in the USA and the ethnic issues from the standpoint of the modern-day foreign policy of Greece

    2.   The role of the Greek Orthodox Church in the USA

    3.   Education and civilization: Problems, visions and goals

    4.   Organizing the Greeks of America and the right to elect and be elected

    5.   The role of the Greek media in America and in Greece

    6.   Greece and Hellenism of America as one united global economic power

The committees that for the past months have been working for the Convention are the Organizing Committee, the Scientific Board and the Executive Administration.

A: Scientific Board (SB), that provides the scientific support and efficiency necessary for the protection of the high quality and validity of the Convention. The SB is comprised of the following personalities: the Archbishop of Pergamos Ioannis (former president of the Academy of Athens) and the professors: Antonis Makridimitris, George Kontogiorgis, Dimitrios Nanopoulos, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Stamos Papastamou, Fotis Papadimitrakopoulos and Charalambos Vassileiadis.

B: Εxecutive Administration (EA), whose purpose is to maintain optimum organization and supervision of every aspect of the Convention, are: Paraskevi Goltsi, Charilaos Daskalothanassis, George Dionisopoulos, Thanassis Zisimopoulos, Roula Kotseta, Chryssanthos Lazaridis, George Nikezis, Alexandros Stefanopoulos, Despinia Siriopoulou and Costas Triantafilakis.

C: The Organizing Committee (OC) is responsible for organizing the Convention, and co-ordinates and monitors all actions. The President of the OC, following the decision of the Board of Directors of the Federation is the General Secretary of the Federation, Dimitrios Dimitriou and Vice-President is the Treasurer of the B.D., Christos Vournas, in addition, under the supervision of the OC will function the committee of Direction and Technical Support, whose Director is the member and Assistant General Secretary of the Board of Directors, Apostolos Skotidas.

Fundamental rules of the Conventions

1. The speakers of the Convention of Athens that come from the greater New York areas will cover 50% of the total number of speakers while the other 50% is covered by scientists and political, social and academic representatives of institutions in Greece.

2. The speakers for the Convention in Athens will be selected by the Scientific Board from the greater metropolitan area of New York, where the Federation’s jurisdiction lies (New York, Connecticut και New Jersey).

3. The cost of participation in the Convention of Athens (transportation, accommodation, etc.) must be covered by the organization that wishes to send a representative.

4. Fifty percent of the speakers at the Convention of New York will come from the organizations and fifty percent will be guest speakers. In the event that the member-organizations cannot provide the whole 50% of speakers, the Scientific Board will appeal to guest speakers.

5. Guest speakers are considered the representatives of secondary and tertiary parties of the Greek American Community from other states, representatives from organizations, cultural centers, scientists, politicians, and officials from Greece and the United States.

6. Everyone that wishes to attend the Convention in New York and in Athens must abide by the rules enumerated in this invitation.

7. Every entity of the Greek American Community that wishes to participate must introduce its candidate speakers in a timely fashion and in writing to the General Administration of the Federation or of the Convention, with a written proposal and presentation by a chosen representative. The official e-mail of the Convention is nygr2007@yahoo.com. For each speaker curriculum vitae must be presented and, if possible, previous writing samples of their theses presented publicly the last two years.

8. Every entity, to which this invitation is extended, is invited as a guest speaker.

9. Every entity that is invited may participate in every thematic category, with only one speaker for each one of the six categories. Each entity can participate with a maximum of 6 speakers one for every category. The Scientific Board of the Convention may decide to allow more than 6 speakers for an organization.

10. The personalities that will be recommended from the organizations for guest speakers, upon entering the premises of the convention, must provide letters- authorizations signed by the Board of Directors they represent, which will authorize their participation as a speaker. A photo-id will also be required.

11. Each representative’s proposal, topic and abstract of their thesis for the New York Convention must be presented to the Convention’s administration by June 15, 2007 via e-mail and in accordance with the provisions and timetables set forth by the circular. A curriculum vitae must also be given in English as well as in Greek, along with a small photograph, preferably a passport style picture.

12. Each representative’s proposal, topic and abstract of their thesis for the Convention of Athens must be presented to the Convention’s administration by July 27 2007, via e-mail. A Curriculum vitae must also be given in English as well as in Greek, along with a small photograph, preferably a passport style picture.

13. Each representative’s proposal must strictly abide by the technical characteristics, as they are presented in the special addendum at the end of this circular.

14. Each entity may choose for their speaker someone that does not belong to their organization if they believe that they will better represent them. This must be done with a written mandate of the member of the Federation (the mandate will be given to the Convention’s Administration).

15. Every Greek American entity that wishes to participate with speakers in the pre-convention dialogue, but also at the Athens convention, can voluntarily send a 2-page history of its association, in which the activities and the names of the current Board of Directors are listed.

15α. The special enclosures, if well-made with the history of every Greek American association, will be included in the special package, which will exist as an informative package in the Press Area of the convention of Athens, so as to relieve the media’s work in following the convention’s workings.

16. The Scientific Board will officially examine the texts of the speeches of every speaker. The Scientific Board, based on the submitted speeches by all the speakers in New York and Athens, has the responsibility to determine who will participate in every thematic accord of the convention.

17. The entities that are officially invited could in turn invite individuals who wish to participate in, or observe, the convention of New York, with the ability to only submit written statements, which would be submitted in the minutes. In order to be recognized, their presence and invitation must be announced in writing during the commencement of the convention.

18. The Greek American associations that are officially invited and wish to invite individuals to participate with written speeches in the conventions of New York or Athens, should inform such promptly and in writing, including all the enclosures and necessary documents mentioned in paragraphs 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, as well as the special addendum, the latest by June 10 for New York and July 15 for Athens, to the Convention’s Administration, so as to follow the process that is aforementioned and dictated in this document.

19. In order to provide assistance of any kind (expert advisors, speech preparation, biographies, etc.) toward the societies, a support office is operational at the Federation, which will assuage the societies’ technical and various problems, so that they can properly participate in the pre-convention dialogue and in turn the Convention in Athens this coming September.

20. For the Convention’s needs, a Press Office is operational for the coverage of the entire convention by the Greek and Greek American media, whom you may contact.

21. Every speaker is obligated to submit his/her complete biography, along with the other required documents.

22. If there is a case of a recognized Greek American organization with a detailed list of activities and history of achievements for at least the last five years, they may submit proposals in writing for any thematic accord, proposals which must be approved in advance by the organization that is submitting the proposals.

23. Similar positions, viewpoints, and proposals, per thematic accord, may be submitted by the individuals with the notation that those specific papers are their own personal positions and viewpoints.

24. The convention is not concerned and will not discuss the internal affairs of the Federation, either in New York or Athens. Hence, any speech with relative mentions will be rejected in advance. The Federation has its own internal bodies, the General Assembly being its highest, and it is there that internal matters are discussed.

Necessary clarifications:

The submission of the texts of the speeches, as well as the 2-page history of the society-member of the Federation, within a specific period of time, for it relieves the Organizing Committee and the Scientific Board’s job.

The technical standards, which are enclosed in the packages and are to be faithfully adhered to by all the participants, relieves the Organizing Committee’s job of the special tome, which is being prepared with the convention’s minutes and is being published and paid for by the Hellenic Parliament. This Special Tome will be submitted to the Hellenic Parliament’s library.