A symposium on 21st century leadership kicks off an Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity convention at the Fairmont Southampton this weekend.Approximately 400 men and women are travelling here for the Eastern Regional Convention, usually held on the US East coast.One of the highlights is tonight’s symposium, ‘Leadership in the 21st century: Are we still relevant? Are we still effective?’.Panelists include former Premier Sir John Swan and Alex Scott, former PLP Senator Walton Brown, insurance executive Geno Smith, Bermuda Democratic Alliance MP Shawn Crockwell, political commentator Corey Butterfield, ex-Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith and Digicel Bermuda CEO Wayne Caines.“The goal is to ask these men about leadership,” said Alpha Phi Alpha member Dwayne Caines. “Are we prepared for the future? Is our spiritual community enough with their role?“What role does race place in regards to politics and leadership? Have we challenged our leaders enough?“We want the public to come out and listen. The question is always asked, ‘Will the public have an opportunity to speak?’, and there will be a small portion allocated to that, but we want people to be geared to listening.“One thing that is critical to note, we don’t have an opinion. Our goal is to put the leaders in our community into a room and ask them tough questions about the leadership in Bermuda whether that is our financial leadership, our Government leadership, our spiritual leadership, our business leadership.“We have brought a panel together who we think represent a good balance of the community.”Fraternity member Diallo Robaine said he thought hosting the convention here provided a phenomenal opportunity for the local chapter.“We get an injection of 400-plus men and women to the Island. They bring their brain trust, their finances, and they also bring the love of Alpha to our shores.”The men will visit the Island’s prisons as part of an outreach programme, he added.They will also host a Leadership Development Institute (LDI) programme for 20 pre-college men.“Over a two-day period they go through workshops that teach meeting etiquette, business etiquette, conflict resolution and all types of leadership type workshops.For more information on the weekend’s events visit http://bermudaalpha.bm or the Alpha Phi Alpha of Bermuda Facebook page.For tickets visit www.multepass.bm or e-mail info[AT]bermudaalpha.bm.