TP and I wanted to thank all of those who attended ICIS 2011 in Shanghai. We were very happy to see about 1,200 of you there, which represented higher attendance than anticipated/budgeted. The sessions were well-attended and the location was hard to beat. The social event and reception had the most abundant food and drink (and without coupons) I've seen at a conference. We were lucky to avoid any snow storms, major airline problems, or visa processing problems that cause any ICIS chairperson to gain grey hair prematurely. I can reflect for a long time on the positives that ICIS 2011 in Shanghai contributed both in symbolism and substance. Of course, please don't email me to remind me of the notable one-time issues we ran into: for example, we are painfully aware of the room size problems in rooms 3D and 5D, box lunch on Tuesday, and rock band that didn't really play the music I was expecting. It was at very least an interesting and fun learning experience for even seasoned visitors to Shanghai.
Many of you have provided kind comments about our first foray into Asia. And we had what I believe were record sponsorships for the conference (over $155,000). These more than paid for our venue, largely thanks to the work of Lihua Huang at Fudan University. Local sponsorships continue to be a key for the success of ICIS, especially when hotels and conference centers continue to escalate food costs. Our website will continue to provide the names of the generous sponsors, too many to name here.
Even without my favorite noodles, which I unfortunately missed on this visit, walking along the Bund at night is a "top ten" experience for me that provides the same elation as do the following: Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, the Star Ferry at night (also in Hong Kong), the Great Wall of China, the Sphinx in Cairo, the Sydney Opera House, the Golden Gate Bridge during a blue-sky day, the view of downtown Pittsburgh from Mount Washington, Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, and NY Times Square at night. With more travels, I hope to augment that list. My dilemma is that each one could be number 1 on that list!
But the balance of this message is about another conference that calls itself "International Conference on Information Systems." We are hoping to find the "owner" of this other ICIS. The 8th meeting of this other ICIS will be held in February in Penang Malaysia http://www.waset.org/conferences/2012/penang/icis/
I think most would agree that there should be distinct names for our conferences to reduce any confusion that might arise if this is not resolved.
AIS has attempted without success to contact the person at New Mexico State University listed at http://www.waset.org/information.php. We are hoping that someone in our AISWorld Community can enlighten us about this operation that uses the ICIS name-a name we have used for 32 years. Any and all information would be greatly appreciated so we can understand and try to more efficiently remedy the situation.
DG
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Dennis F. Galletta Professor of Business Administration
University of Pittsburgh and Director, Katz Doctoral Program
282a Mervis Hall Katz Graduate School of Business
Phone +1 412-648-1699 Pittsburgh, PA 15260
E-mail: galletta @ Fax +1 412-648-1693
katz.pitt.edu homepage: www.pitt.edu/~galletta<http://www.pitt.edu/~galletta>
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