March 1, 2007

Dear Fellow VPA Members,

We are very excited to update you about the upcoming 10th Vokkaligara Parishat of America Convention which will be held in Palo Alto, California (Silicon Valley) starting from the evening of Friday, June 29th through Sunday, July 1st, 2007. Like past Conventions, the event promises to be fun-filled and exciting. There will be a host of cultural and entertainment programs in addition to events focusing on key areas such as business opportunities, entrepreneurship, community service, and philanthropy.

We will be inviting eminent members of our community (from both the US and India) to speak on a number of areas (mentioned above). From their words of wisdom, we hope we can all learn from their experiences, as well as be inspired to further develop ourselves and our community for the future.

This year’s theme “From the Soil to Silicon” will focus not only on the contributions of our fellow VPA members in the United States but also, the recent success stories that have emerged out of Bangalore. Indeed, no one can dispute the fact that our community has played a key role in helping Bangalore become a household name around the world. As such, our Convention’s goal will be to explore these successes as well as use the opportunity to uncover new ones.

To this end, we will focus on the following topics:

• Developing a Business Plan – Turning Ideas into a Solid Business Plan
• Venture Capital Financing – Keys to Getting the Most for your Business Plan
• US/India Partnerships – Developing the Right Cross-Collaborative Alliance
• Indian Success Stories – From Café Coffee Day to Infosys
• US Success Stories – Going from a Garage-Based operation to a Multimillion Dollar Global Corporation

In addition, this year’s Convention will particularly focus on the youth of our community. The overall goal is to make sure that they have an opportunity to network with their peers as well as identify mentors who they can relate to, learn from, and share ideas with so that the foundations for even more achievements can be built.

The 2005 Detroit VPA Convention set new standards of excellence in terms of not just program content but also, its outstanding cuisine. We would like to build upon this success and after conducting numerous food tasting of local caterers, decided that it is well worth flying the same crew of chefs in all the way from the East Coast to cater the food at our event as well.

This year, the July 4th holiday falls on a Wednesday. Keeping in mind that a lot of our members are taking the time and expense to fly all the way to beautiful Northern California, the Convention Committee has arranged for tour buses to take members who want to make a vacation out of their VPA visit to world renowned destinations such as San Francisco, Monterey/ Carmel and Napa Valley on the Monday and Tuesday immediately following the Convention. This way you and your families can enjoy the scenic beauty and weather of lovely San Francisco Bay Area and fly back on Wednesday, July 4th. Please let us know your interest in taking advantage of this arrangement which will of course be organized at cost separate from the Convention fees.

Talking about Convention fees, you may be aware that past Conventions were heavily subsidized by major donations from a small number of patrons. This year, rather than have a massive budget shortfall and have to arm twist the same donors again and again for money, we have decided to pass a significant chunk of the Convention expenses to the attendees themselves. With this in mind – and after getting approval from the Board of Trustees – we have decided to charge $175 per adult registration. While even this rate will need to be subsidized with contributions, we feel that we have a better chance of making up the deficit created with our fund raising efforts. (Breakdown: $110 of the fee will be applied towards the hotel hall rentals and service charges while the remaining balance will be used to cover other convention related costs including food). We felt this number was fair and justified - especially if you think about how much we typically have to spend to go out and have seven outstanding meals.

Though almost all of the members of our community have done well for themselves in America, understanding that there are financial restraints to consider, this year we have arranged for major donors to sponsor those who would like to attend but are not able to pay the Convention registration fees. Our registration form will have a box for you to tick for our consideration.

We are looking forward to an exciting Convention. The keystone to the success of our 2007 event is your willingness to participate and contribute. We urge each and every one of you to attend the event and make sure to spread the word to as many Vokkaligas as you can. Please keep visiting our website www.myvpa.org for more frequent updates as well as feel free to contact us with your suggestions and feedback.

We guarantee you that this will be one reunion not to be missed!