The lecture tour from 31 March to 4 April 2008 was initiated by the World Affairs Council of Rhode Island (WACRI) and involved a number of universities, law firms, local chapters of the WACA, and Eric M. Warburg Chapters of the ACG, as well as representatives from consular offices of EU Member States.

The lectures, seminars, and small-group briefings during the tour were designed to help the various communities learn and understand what the EU is and what it does, to raise awareness of EU policies and institutions, the EU's role as an international actor in the economic and political fields, with energy security and climate and energy policies in the focus. Addressing various communities with different ties to or perceptions of Europe, the lecture series highlighted many facets of the transatlantic relationship and the role of the EU as a partner to the US. Among the highlights of the tour were:

• ACG Discussion and Breakfast in New York, presented in cooperation with Alston + Bird LLP;
• International Awards Night at the Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia;
• Briefing at Mueller Water Products, involving McKinsey Atlanta, on water infrastructure finance and energy transformation;
• Atlanta Warburg Discussion and Luncheon, presented under the auspices of The 10th Anniversary Speaker Series of the Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning at Emory University, sponsored by The Halle Foundation and the German-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States (listen to this lecture, requires RealPlayer);
• Philadelphia Warburg Discussion and Luncheon, co-sponsored by O'Brien and Gere, and hosted by Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads;
• Briefing at the Environmental Change Initiative of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, on trans-national policy learning and EU environmental policy;
• Lecture and discussion at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, hosted by the Environmental Change Initiative (ECI) of Brown University (this lecture can be watched on-line);
• Speech and discussion at the Hope Club of Providence, Rhode Island, sponsored and hosted by the World Affairs Council of Rhode Island (WACRI);
• Briefing at the Ecologic Development Fund, Cambridge, Massachusetts on the EU's external and development policies;
• Boston Warburg Discussion and Luncheon at the Harvard Faculty Club, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, presented in cooperation with WorldBoston.