Dear Mr Chetcuti,I refer to our recent email exchange regarding the proposed meeting in Frankfurt on 26 June 2014. The planning goes on and I received many expressions of interest and many profound and inspiring suggestions on our way forward. In fact, so many suggestions were made that it turned out to be truly challenging to draft an agenda for a focused meeting, see attachment.As it turned out, suggestions came from many sides and addressed many issues including place and date of our meeting. In the absence of obvious alternatives, I suggested Frankfurt as a meeting place because it is easily accessible and the place I come from. Since I made this proposition, a most interesting suggestion was made which would provide us with first class facilities for this meeting - at lower cost.Maurizio Cohen, the newly elected Chairman of STEP Monaco – congratulations, Maurizio! – informed me that they arranged a special lunch meeting on Monday, 23 June 2014 to welcome the STEP Worldwide Chairman, Hélène Lewis, on her visit to Monaco, and he suggests that the Monaco Branch would be delighted to welcome the representatives from the Continental European Region to attend this lunch meeting, meet Hélène Lewis personally and, following lunch, remain as a restricted, smaller group consisting only of the Continental European Branches and our Worldwide Chairman, Hélène Lewis, to discuss the matters which particularly concern our branches and chapters and how to move forward within the Society. After our meeting, STEP Monaco would be delighted to offer us all a cocktail and dinner, which will allow us to discuss further any outstanding matters.I am aware that some flights to Frankfurt have already been booked, and I am particularly keen not only to have your personal support and input at our meeting – be it in Frankfurt or in Monaco – but see as many if not all of those who have also already confirmed their attendance in Frankfurt.I would thus like to hand the question over to you:• Would you prefer to attend a meeting in Frankfurt on 26 June or in Monaco on 23 June? Please do let me know by Friday, 30 June 2014, so that we can send out final invitations allowing everyone to book their flights and make the necessary arrangements.• If you cannot attend a meeting in Monaco in person, would another representative from your branch be able and interested to join us?Please let me give you some background information for your consideration: STEP Worldwide thankfully agreed to grant us a small budget of GBP 3,000. • If the meeting is being held in Frankfurt, we will have to spend about half of the budget for a catered conference room and for the evening dinner, leaving the remainder for travel and hotel cost. With about 12 to 15 delegates present, each of us can probably expect a share of 100 – 120 GBP which should suffice to cover the hotel cost but not the flight.• If we meet in Monaco and the Monaco Branch generously hosts lunch, the meeting itself, a cocktail reception and dinner, the budget of GBP 3,000 would be available for hotel and travel cost. I would suggest to refund cancellation and re-booking cost for those who already made arrangements to come to Frankfurt, first. But in any case the proportion of cost each of us will have to cover her- or himself, certainly will be lower than in Frankfurt.In case you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.I’m looking forward to seeing you at the end of June,best wishesDaniel Lehmann
