Dear RhodesMRC Family,
With great sense of responsibility and duty towards the youth that have embraced RhodesMRC all these years and the future generations that will continue to cherish it, we are announcing the postponement of the 11th Rhodes Model Regional Co-operation 2020. Your favorite simulation will now be scheduled for the same period next year, Oct. 13-17, 2021.
After much thought and deliberations with the organizing partners, we are convinced that the COVID19 pandemic and the counter measures taken by the Greek and European Authorities, do not allow us to realize a conference at the standards and specifications we have posed and you, our participants, expect.
The Health and Safety of all those involved, participants, board members, volunteers, organizers, is of the outmost importance. Keeping in line with the guidelines for securing our health and limiting any potential risks posed by COVID19, makes it logistically and pragmatically impossible to execute a conference that will deliver the highly rated and much appreciated experience that we offered all these past years and you do expect from a RhodesMRC conference.
The financial risks for both the organizing committee and the participants is another important factor for the postponement. Even now, just 4 months before the conference it is impossible to outline a definite budget for a single person to travel and participate to RhodesMRC, let alone organize and handle all the arrangements and specifications for accommodating 500+ people for 5 days.
The COVID19 pandemic has created a new reality for our global village. We must surpass ourselves by dedicating our strengths and resources to the safety and care of our loved ones and the support of our local communities. Hopefully, in 2021 this new reality will be succeeded by a COVID-free future, where the lessons of the past will help us to achieve new levels of success and shared experiences.
RhodesMRC will not remain totally absent from your lives in 2020. We are already exploring various ways to have this “October habit” provide another opportunity for us to get together, virtually, academically, or even physically in a more limited way.
On behalf of the Organizing Committee and all our partners and friends, we wish you the very best for this coming period, to get out of this unpleasant situation as unharmed as possible, with all your friends and family in good standing, and start dreaming of RhodesMRC 2021.
Best regards,
Michael G. Kavuklis
Head of the Organizing Committee of RhodesMRC