Dear SIETAR Members,

More than a month has passed since the last Newsflash, and I again have important news and events to announce.

The Board will have its next face-to-face meeting in Sofia 30th May to 2nd June. The official business will be complemented with two events that serve to lay down some of the foundations for next year's congress in April. Board meetings are open to anyone, so if you can attend, you are welcome!

The University of Sofia will host a Sharing Intercultural Expertise day on 1st June, where local interculturalists and Board members will give an induction into our field to students and anyone interested.

On 2nd June LaMonte Miller, our much-treasured fundraiser for La Colle sur Loup will do a workshop on how to best seek monetary and in-kind contributions. The event will be attended by representatives of national SIETARs and Young SIETAR.

We warmly invite you to support SIETAR Europa's NGO activities, particularly its participation at the Salon Initiatives de Paix. Click the link to find out more.

SIETAR UK and SIETAR Europa are pleased to announce a two-day conference which will be held at Middlesex University on 9th and 10th September. The title of the event is "Beliefs, Attitudes and Intercultural Interaction". If you are interested please do not hesitate to submit a presentation proposal via their website, or simply book a plane ticket for that weekend. Full details are at the bottom of this message.

There are many fascinating events coming up in June and July. Click here to view the Events Calendar.

And don't forget that your can list your event too. It's free for SIETAR members.

Just like previous newsflashes, I would like to invite contributions to the Magazine. Karina Holm Gabrielyan has been creatively and energetically preparing for the next issue: Love across cultures. We are looking both for articles in the current issue, and editors to future issues. Please see the Magazine page on the website, or contact Maria Jicheva.

There are a few calls for papers active at the moment:

• SIETAR Europa Magazine (Love across cultures)
• SIETAR UK (Beliefs Attitudes and Intercultural Interaction)
• Åbo Akademi, Finland (Cultures in Business and Corporate Communication)

There have been some changes to the Board of SIETAR Germany. Sabine Wagner has been elected into the board. She is well-known to many SE members for her active role in the SE membership committee and her engagement for the SE congress in La Colle sur Loup. Sabine is a free-lance trainer and consultant for intercultural communication and based in Munich. She will serve the board as event manager. Kazuma Matoba has also been elected into the board of SIETAR Germany. He is academic staff of Master in Diversity Management at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. He teaches inter- and transcultural communication, dialogue process and diversity management and is one of initiators and founders of International Society for Diversity Management e.V. (www.idm-info.org). Kazuma will coordinate SIETAR Germany’s contacts to the academic field and will update and maintain the information pool for the members of SIETAR Germany. Julie Shimizu and Christiane Barho have left the board.

Some of you have asked about the Proceedings of the 2005 SIETAR Europa Congress. Please click the link to get more information.

Have you already decided which book to take on holiday with you this year? To help you decide, George Simons has been busy developing our Book reviews section, recently adding reviews of Kids Like Me, Seeing Through Maps, The New American Expat, The GenXpat and others. Thanks again George!

Looking for work around Paris? Corporate member MeridianEaton Global seeks an expert Freelance Cross-Cultural Trainer & Consultant with international business experience in Paris, France. Click the link for details.

We are delighted to welcome Magdalena Berecki as the new Secretary to the Board of SIETAR Europa. Magdalena was recently appointed by SIETAR Austria to this post, and will be taking over from me in the coming weeks. Welcome Magdalena!

Young SIETAR is planning an event in Rotterdam in November to develop professional skills. Betina Szkudlarek (YS Training Director) invites "Old Trainers" to participate in delivering the session (details of the themes are below). The training will be half a day long (3 hours). Food and hotel will be provided by YS. For more information see the Events Calendar and contact Betina at Young SIETAR.

Last but not least, the discussion prior to the Virtual General Assembly voting closes on 28th May. Please use the Forum page on the website to add your comments. The Board will discuss these during its Sofia meeting, and then the voting will take place between 5 to 18 June. Make yourself heard.

Yours sincerely,

Ildiko Polyak
Acting Secretary
SIETAR Europa Board

Call for papers:

SIETAR UK & SIETAR Europa Conference and Workshops 2006
"Beliefs, Attitudes and Intercultural Interaction and Communication" Middlesex University Business School - London 9/10th September 2005

Papers and workshop proposals are invited which explore this theme either from an empirical research perspective or from a practical training perspective. Possible foci could include:

• Religion and resulting attitudes/practices
• Ethics and business practice
• Discrimination and racism
• Ideology and Education

The above is not intended to be exhaustive; we welcome other topics=20 associated with the main theme.

Guidelines for Submission of Abstracts / Papers: Submissions should be in the form of abstracts only. Maximum length: 3 pages: Title page + 1 page (400 words) abstract + 1 page of references if required. Margins: all 2.5cm or 1 inch, text: 10 points, 1.5 line spacing. Title Page: Title, author(s), affiliation(s), contact details and a short biography.

Guidelines for Submission of Workshop proposals: Submissions should be in the form of workshop outlines only. Maximum length: 3 pages: Title page + 1 page (400 words) abstract + 1 page of references if required. Margins: all 2.5cm or 1 inch, text: 10 points, 1.5 line spacing. Title Page: Title, author(s), affiliation(s), contact details and a short biography The title page should be followed by a description of the workshop, with a short description of the content, target audience and aims of the session.

Abstracts should be submitted electronically, either in Word (Word 6 and above) or PDF file by 30 June 2006 to s.dahl@mdx.ac.uk . If you do not have access to email, please send your abstract to:

Dr Stephan Dahl
Middlesex University Business School
The Burroughs
London NW4 4BT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 20 8411 6840
Fax: +44 7005 804 866

Authors will be notified of acceptance, rejection or suggested modifications as soon as the review process has been completed. Authors will have at least one month in which to amend their papers/workshops. Acceptance of a paper means that the author (or one of the authors) will present the paper at the conference.

Publication of Papers:
Papers will be published, with author's permission and subject to presentation at the conference, as part of a hardcopy volume (after the conference) and will be made available online in the SIETAR Intercultural Library.

Conference Location:
The conference location will be Middlesex University in Hendon, North London.

Questions?
Please check our website or Dr Stephan Dahl, Middlesex University Business School.

Young SIETAR Professional Skills Event 20-26 November 2006

1) Training methods
Overview of different training methods
Pros and cons of different training methods (possibly including virtual, distance training methods)

2) Training design
How to design a balanced training event
Story line – building up an activity

3) Adapting the training to the audience
Personality based training
Adult learning principles
Learning styles

4) Intercultural theories
The most important contemporary intercultural theories, what are their shortcomings and limitations
The pitfalls in teaching about culture
The pitfalls in teaching multicultural groups

5) Group Dynamics
Group dynamics
Team building
Tutoring
Facilitating

6) Presentation techniques
Presentation techniques, different presentation styles
Adapting the training methods to individual presentation styles
Verbal/ Non-verbal communication

7) Training “challenges”
Dealing with problematic participants
Feedback strategies
Other “unexpected” problems