Conferences in 2004

September 24 through October 21, ICW implemented a major follow-on activity under which we implemented three professional conferences in partnership with our Worcester alumni. We targeted alumni of all U.S. government professional exchange programs in these areas. The three conferences were in:

• Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia, September 27
• Omsk, Russia, October1
• Karshi, Uzbekistan, October 13

We selected these three cities based on the fact that these were our most positive hosting experiences and that we had established the best relationships with the participants from these three cities.

The topic of the conferences was “Quality in Business and Customer Service.” The topic was suggested by conversations with Post, and confirmed through our grant negotiations, as being pertinent to the current business environment in Russia.

The President of the Better Business Bureau of Central New England, C.J Pederson, traveled for the Russian portion of the follow-on program with ICW Executive Director, Royce Anderson, and ICW Project Manager for the Community Connections Program, Nadia Anderson.  At both the Ufa and Omsk conferences Mr. Pederson make presentations about the concepts of self-regulation and business ethics and described the work of the Better Business Bureau. 

Mr. Pederson and Royce Anderson also visited several Rotary Clubs during the trip: in Omsk and in St. Petersburg.  Both Rotarians, they exchanged banners with the clubs and reported the highlights of their trips to their home club in Worcester.

In all three conference cities, Royce and Nadia Anderson were provided with homestay accommodations. CJ Pederson was given a homestay in Omsk, and hotel accommodations in the other cities.  These were all organized and provided by our ICW alumni. 

We received fairly good media publicity, both overseas and in the U.S. In Ufa and in Uzbekistan we were interviewed and the conference was shown on local TV and radio business news shows.  The Omsk conference was shown in the Open World Program newsletter out of Washington. 

We worked closely with IREX staff in organizing these conferences. IREX was helpful in providing lists of Community Connections alumni to invite to the conferences. The Moscow Embassy sent out invitations to alumni of various other US government programs. We were also able to draw on the lists from the American Corner in Omsk and some of our own ICW alumni from other programs such as Open World and the International Visitors Program.  Although compiling up to date and complete lists of all US government programs is still a challenge, the current lists were an improvement over the lists we were working with for our earlier follow-on activities in 2000-01. 

The IREX staff in Uzbekistan were our co-partners in organizing the conference in Karshi and helped us with many of the details and logistics. In Omsk our organizing partner was the staff of the American Corner. In all three conferences, we worked very closely with our alumni. Prior to our arrival, the ICW staff worked with alumni by phone and by email, sent them most of the printed materials including invitations and alumni lists, and contacted many of the conference speakers.

Our itinerary included a visit to Moscow Embassy where Royce Anderson, Nadia Anderson, and CJ Pederson met with the Public Diplomacy Officer and staff. The discussion centered around the follow-on activities and possible future plans for ICW’s involvement in programs in Russia.

Also on the itinerary was a meeting with the St. Petersburg Alumni Association, which we were instrumental in founding through the follow-on conferences we held in 2000 and 2001.  We worked with the members of the Association to organize a reception, which also included a brainstorming session. In this session, attendees broke up into several groups, each with one topic such as future programs and better outreach to alumni.  Several practical ideas were generated and discussed during the brainstorming session.