Confirming letter for Speakers

Dear esteemed speaker,

We are happy to reconfirm your participation as a speaker at the

Congress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha:
Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages
at the University of Hamburg from July 18 to 20, 2007

The title of your paper is posted on our website according to the information you provided to us. Could you kindly reconfirm that the title is correct as listed?

Due to the large response from many wonderful speakers, regretfully we must limit the allotted time for speakers to a maximum of 15 minutes each. Instead of reading your paper in full, we request that you abridge your talk to the essential points and strictly respect the time limit. The talks will be interpreted simultaneously into German, Tibetan, Korean, and other languages.

For the benefit of the translators who are going to prepare their translations beforehand, please submit your 15-minute talk in writing by June 20, at the latest.  Each speaker is asked to keep strictly to the wording of his or her 15-minute talk, as only this will enable each participant to understand fully what will be said and to enter into discussion about your subject. In addition you will find a copy of your paper included among the conference papers.

Many people will be keenly interested in reading your paper in full, with all the details of your research, references, etc. Therefore, we have decided to publish the proceedings of the conference in their entirety. Please submit the full-length version of your paper in MS Word format as an e-mail attachment no later than June 10.  In indvidual cases, it will be possible to make changes after the conference.

Given our time constraints, rather than allow time for questions and answers (Q&A) after each talk, participants will be asked to submit their questions in writing to the moderators of each session. These questions will be answered and discussed in a special session at the end of day July 19. We will try to find time for a second session for questions and answers. Speakers are required to be present at the times stated in the program. However, please note that the times of your talk may change. We will inform you on arrival or by announcement during the congress. The order of speakers has been determined by topic.

The language of the talks and proceedings is English. Anyone requiring an interpreter should submit a request as soon as possible, and the organizers will do their utmost to comply with this request.

The  tentative program and the planned  time for your talk is published on our website: http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/

Looking forward to seeing you in Hamburg,

Yours sincerely,

Thea Mohr
Foundation for Buddhist Studies
Organizer

We confirm that we agree to pay for your travel expenses for those speakers who told us that funding is requested as outlined below.

Cost of flight in economy class from your departure place to Hamburg incl. return flight as
per the offer we are receiving from some airlines who are kindly giving us special rates for this occasion.

For the purpose of transparency to all of you, we have had to raise an enormous amount from sponsors to cover all expenses which are arising in relation to the conference. We can all be pleased that our requests have met with huge support. Nevertheless, we are deeply thankful to all of you, who had been able to cover part for travel and other expenses by themselves or with outside funds, since this will help us to bear the expenses of those participants, in particular nuns, who are not fully able to attend the conference on their own resources.

If you wish to extend your stay in Hamburg or Europe and plan to travel via another route, you are free to buy your ticket according to your wish and we will reimburse you on your arrival or departure from Hamburg in euros no more than the costs of a direct discounted return flight, as given to us by the airlines as stated above.

Kindly send us immediately the dates you plan to leave your country and the date of return to your country to enable us to book your flight, if you have not done so already or plan to make the booking on your own.

If you have decided to book the flight on your own already, please tell us immediately and we will let you know about the amount we will be able to reimburse you as per the discounted rates extended to us by the airlines. Whatever amount we can save will be for the benefit of the conference expenses. 

We will not be able to reimburse any additional costs of your travel.

In any case, we will need to know your arrival time in order to reconfirm your
acommodation at Hotel Elysee. We have booked a room for you from July 17-21 (4 nights).

At the Hamburg Airport taxis will be available for a 10-15 min. drive to the Hotel (fare: around € 20,--). If you need our help with transport of larger groups, please let us know.

All speakers are invited to a reception as guests of the University of Hamburg and the Foundation for Buddhist Studies in the foyer of the Asia-Africa Institute (east wing of the main building) at 7 p.m. on July 17, 2007. We ask that you try to arrive well in advance of that time.

We confirm that we agree to pay for your accommodation and meals as follows:

Free accommodation in the 5-star Hotel Elysee, a five-minute walk from the venue of the congress – arriving July 17th up to 4 nights until July 21st (departure time) in a room with two separate beds if you decide to share the room with a colleague who is also a speaker at the congress. No answer from your side until May 15th will authorize us to reconfirm the booking of the room for you sharing it with a colleague.

Should you prefer to use this room as single occupancy or to share this room with a family member or friend, who is not a speaker, the extra expenses will be Euro 50.- per day to be paid on your arrival. Please let us know your decision on this topic as soon as possible since we will have to book accordingly well in advance.

Upon arrival in the hotel we will be there to welcome you, register you and distribute the congress materials to you, and will be available to offer you any additional information you might require.

You are invited on the mornings of the 18th, 19th and 20th  to a sumptuous breakfast buffet in a room of the hotel reserved for all speakers of the congress. Non-speakers who also want to have breakfast at the hotel would have to pay an additional Euro 18.- per day. Please inform us accordingly, so that we can prepare the respective vouchers.

There will be a lunch break of 90 minutes combined with an invitation to lunch and soft drinks at the canteen of the University. Please let us know if you prefer vegetarian meals. We will also offer soft drinks, coffee or tea during the sessions in the foyer of the venue.

Evening meals will be at your own expense, as will be any extra meals or beverages you order at the hotel.

All extras, such as mini-bar, telephone, etc. will be billed to a personal account which you will be responsible for settling at checkout.

Please note that anyone requiring a visa to enter Germany should apply for it well ahead of time. You can obtain application forms for a Schengen-Visa from the German Embassy or Consulate in your country. Generally you will have to cover a health insurance for the time you want to stay and show your invitation to the congress as a speaker. You will be responsible for any costs involved in this.
     
Thank you very much,

Dr. Thea Mohr
Alpenroder Str. 28
65936 Frankfurt am Main
Tel./ Fax: 069 - 93402106
Email: TheaMohr@aol.com