The conference opened with a keynote address by the Honorable Joseph S. Nye, Dean, Kennedy School of Government and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University. His address was titled "Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics." The conference was comprised of three panels, each with a different topic and discussant:

Panel 1 - Common Foreign and Security Policy
Panelists:
David Elliot, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Pomona College
Richard Rosecrance, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Relations at UCLA
Christopher Coker, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics
Greg Treverton, Senior Policy Analyst, RAND Corporation
John Keeler, Director, Center for West European Studies, University of Washington.

Panel 2 - Trade and Monetary Relations
Panelists:
Thomas Willett, Professor of Politics, CGU
S. Linn Williams, former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and Ambassador
Benjamin J. Cohen, Louis G. Lancaster Professor of International Political Economy, UCSB
Adam Sheingate, Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University.

Panel 3 - Domestic Politics and EU/US Value Differences
Panelists:
Patrick Chamorel, Visiting Professor of Government, CMC
Paulette Kurzer, Professor of Political Science, University of Arizona
Cem Oezdemir, former Green Party Member of the German Bundestag
Robert Donkers, Counselor for Environmental Affairs, EU Delegation in Washington
Andreas Maurer, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin, Germany.