At the meeting in Genova, Italy, June 2004, the steering committee of the Group, chaired by Dr. G.P. Celata, decided to change the format of the Meeting so that the future meetings will be based on invitation and more focused on informal discussions of current problems in the field. Thus, basically, the meeting time will be split into two activities: Discussion Part and Conference Part.

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Special Features of the ETPFGM

• It has to be a meeting and not a Conference

• Presentations should deal with fresh material (work in progress)

• Not necessary to bring a paper; powerpoint presentation or raw material is fine

• Good quality attendance by invitation (45-50 participants)

• Time for discussion

• Plenary sessions

• Informal meeting

• Panel discussion on a main topic

• General meeting on other subjects (typical subjects of the ETPFGM)

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Discussion Part

Presentation of reviews
Upon approval of the steering committee, the local organizers choose a suitable Main Topic for the discussion, usually that close to their own expertise. According to this Topic, few experts will be invited to serve as the Panel. Advantageously, these are recommended to be from outside of the ETPFGM community to provide an unbiased and open-minded guidance through this part.
Several Key Speakers will present an authoritative and critical review of particular Research Fields within the Main Topic. The result should be a list of open problems and possible ways how to solve them. Also, an outlook at the future of the research in the filed should be foreshadowed. The Panel experts will chair the sessions, moderate the presentations, make links between the contributions, and highlight the main points for the forthcoming common discussion.

Common discussion
After the review presentations, the extensive common discussion open for everybody will take place, where various relevant aspects of the subject will be discussed thoroughly. The Panel will chair and guide the discussion with the goal to produce a clear view at the topic as a whole. Eventually, the all pieces of the mosaic presented in due course should fit in a common frame. The final picture should be codified into few major points where to go and possibly how.   
The discussion could also include 'brainstorming sessions' - assistance from a person with the skill to facilitate such sessions will be welcome.

Discussion part should be maximum one day long.

Conference Part

Selected oral presentations followed with profound and detailed discussions, as it was basically in the past. The lectures should point out the main problems and latest achievements, as well as the probable prospectus. In this Part, wide range of topics will be addressed, according to the authors' offer.