Tributes

EXTRACTS FROM FIRST TWENTY EMAILS RECEIVED BY THE ORGANISERS AFTER THE CONFERENCE:

Thanks so much for the fantastic time in Dublin, compliments on organizing a great conference, and apologies for not being able to be there for more of it. Enjoy tonight and celebrate the success of your Conference!

Prof MPM, Chicago, USA

Well done – great Conference; lots of interesting research going on!

KO, Lecturer in Business Ethics and Anthropology, Lagos Business School, Pan-African University, Nigeria

Just wanted to say thanks again for inviting me to speak at the conference; I had a fantastic time listening to the other presentations and meeting your (very nice) members.  Indeed, I’d say it was the best conference I’ve attended in a long time. I would have loved to attend your “inside” tour of Dublin but am totally jet-lagged at the moment and just looking forward to a soft pillow. Please don’t forget to include me in your mailing list for next year’s conference; I will circulate to the other 40 members of the college and encourage them to attend.

Prof HIS, Heller College of Business, Roosevelt University, Chicago

See you on another occasion and keep in touch regarding the follow up of the conference. As other people told you, of course, it was well organized and all things were interesting, from papers and discussions to the dinner and dancing… (after dinner we went to Temple Bar and we destroyed ourself…) Let me know about other EBEN Irish initiatives. I think the success depends also on your nature and the nice way of engagement and involvement of people.

Prof GL, Genova, Italy

Before leaving on Friday I managed to find the books I was looking for in the Trinity law library – very friendly library personnel by the way. But after a couple of days in Dublin I’ve already grown used to the great Irish hospitality – the credit largely goes to you. Thank you very much for having organized the conference so well enabling interesting discussions and insights. I am well aware that you would have wished to have more than 24h per day. 

Law Prof BF, EDHEC, France

I want to thank you for your all your help and for the great conference that you organized us. 

Prof JLFS, Cantabria, Santander, Spain

I want to thank you for a very interesting conference and a friendly hosting of the event. I also send you an article I wrote on trust since this is such a central topic in your research and teaching. Hopefully, it might be something of interest in it for you. Again many thanks.

Prof JT, Stockholm, Sweden

Just wanted to thank you again for a wonderful conference and for your very warm welcome and hospitality. I enjoyed the conference immensely and I think you inspired everyone with your enthusiasm, energy and good nature. I hope to see you again at next year’s conference.

Prof PW, University of Newcastle, Singapore

As the things got into the usual path after the conference, I would like to thank you once again for organizing the conference and making it feel really cosy and easy to make contacts with other people – this does not always happen. I brought very warm impressions about Dublin and Ireland (the usual mistake to generalize about the country from single persons or places, but I like it this time:)) and hope to come there back again.

Prof RP, Vilnius, Lithuania

We would like to thank you for the smooth organization of the EBEN research conference and all the enriching discussions we had with other participants. We very much appreciated your excellent hospitality!

Prof MB (Accounting) & Prof SH (Law), Rouen Business School, France

It was a pleasure seeing you last week.  The EBEN conference was a smashing success, and I met a number of people worth keeping in touch with.

Prof MT, IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain

It was great to meet you and attend the conference. I could not say a proper goodbye to you as I thought you were too joining the rest of the evening with John.  Anyway, I had a good time with John and others who joined him along. Thanks a lot for your great efforts on organizing the conference.

Dr GN, Zurich, Switzerland

Thank you all for the wonderful and rewarding experience I had during the EBEN conference. Thanks for the warm hospitality. I am very sorry I did not get to say goodbye on Friday, was preparing to go home. Thanks for the souvenir – I will treasure and make full use of it. I was looking for you on Friday after lunch but I understand you were busy organizing. Thank you for your morning greets during the 3 day conference.

Dr MBMS, UTM, Malaysia

Just a quick  note to thank you again for the enormous effort you put into organising the conference.  I had a great time, and appreciated the opportunity.  I hope you’ve had a chance to breath since and catch up on sleep!

JL, Strategy Consultant, London, England

Unfortunately I had to leave the conference before it was officially closed, so no chance to say goodbye and THANK YOU. Well, I try to say it this way: Thank you for all your great support and your hospitality. I enjoyed the conference, I enjoyed the city, after all a great experience.

CD, Masters student, Netherlands

I wish to say a sincere thanks to you for organising the accommodation on campus in Trinity, it was an excellent facility and greatly added to the visit to the Conference.

For myself, I found the talks on the Banking / Economic crisis most informative but of the talks I was present for I would rate that by Professor Argandona (Stakeholder/ Values) very highly. His is a message which should be given across all sectors.

MOB, Multinational, Ireland

Hope you are well and found some time to relax and reflect upon the great Conference EBEN Ireland hosted. It was a great conference and the different presentations and informal talks with the speakers made it a valuable experience. Thanks for that once more.

WS, PhD student, Saxion University, Enschede, The Netherlands

Just a note to say a big thank you for your very kind hospitality, the thousand welcomes and the craic … I enjoyed the conference immensely, from both a learning and development perspective as well as the personal interaction with colleagues. I hope to meet you all again in Newcastle next year.

HN, Newcastle Business School, UK

I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations, both formal and especially the informal. You … were most remarkably gracious hosts. I thought the conference was of great value and quite helpful to my thinking on the important subject. I really enjoyed some of the ideas and concepts presented. The dinner, music, and Irish dancing entertainment on Thursday evening was quite enjoyable. The trip … to the more traditional pub afterwards – and our long night of conversation was simply exceptional. All quite remarkable.

I thought the wrap up on Friday went well and, other than the Dublin rain, I did enjoy the final opportunity to share dinner with you and the others. I should give you a report about our Friday night adventures after we left you, adventures which proved to be most memorable. After bidding you farewell (and still savoring my Irish Chowder and Irish Stew) I was quite fortunate to join in with the group that John was leading to the DNS and away from the “tourist spots.”  We set out, with John’s capable leadership, to discover some “authentic” Dublin experiences.

Our first stop was the Cobblestone Pub. The Cobblestone is located at the top of Smithfield, near the Four Courts, in the North Inner City. The pints were perfect (each one was a “best pint”) and we listened to the fiddles, guitars, and voices of traditional Irish music.   G… had his first beer (not ready for a full pint yet) in 25 years and I think he survived (you may want to check in on him).

From the Cobblestone, our group thinning down to a critical core of about 7, we made our way over to the National Teacher’s Club (Parnell Square) whereAn Góilín, the traditional singer’s club based in Dublin was gathered for the evening. This was a most remarkable cultural experience. The Góilín Traditional Singer’s Club has been in existence for about 25 years.  The Club gathers every Friday evening to sing. As their Motto says: “there is no standard set“, not in the singing anyway.  The rule of the club is: if someone is singing, reciting or performing in any way, total attention is given to the performance, excepting the many pints of Guinness, a few whiskey’s, and one bottle of wine all being attended to by the participants.  The audience tended to join in during the choruses. We were lucky that all of the songs on the evening we visited were sung in English (it is our understanding that this was a rarity and it is more typical for some, most, or even all to be sung in Irish Gaelic.)  We each felt it was a unique and enjoyable experience and were just amazed at the melancholy, humor, and Irish pride expressed in these folk songs. Anyway, I got back to the hotel shortly past 2am and had a 6am call for the trip back to Dublin Airport. I did manage to purchase a bottle of the water of life in the Duty Free and found my way back home.

I enjoyed my visit and found the conference and the experiences to be quite memorable. I most certainly look forward to my next visit to Dublin’s fair city. I also look forward to hosting you here in Orlando.

Prof RC, Orlando, Florida

I have never attended a warmer conference than the EBEN at Dublin and it is mainly due to your effervescent and caring selves !!!  So three cheers for being such good hosts !!! I managed to see the pristine beauty of Ireland on way to the Moher Cliffs, Kilkenny and Galway – the taste of it all lingers. I do not know if I will ever get to come again (even this chance was hard to come by) but I trust your work will bring you to India. I will look forward to that … Stay in touch and may our paths cross again.

 Prof UM, Mumbai, India