Thanks to all of you who helped make the 34th annual conference of the International Information Management Association (IIMA) in Las Vegas back in October, 2023, such a wonderful success. Here are some highlights that come to mind as I reflect on our days together – I’m sure I’ve forgotten some of the many experiences and interactions already!
- The Platinum Hotel was a great venue – (thanks for finding it, Trevor) away from the hustle and bustle of Vegas and yet close enough that we could walk “The Strip” and experience all kinds of entertainment just around the corner (including the building of the Formula One race track in front of our hotel! The race takes place this coming weekend – Nov. 16-18!)
- Our keynote presentations were again memorable…
- Anand, our program chair for next year’s conference, gave a keynote on Tensions Between a Sustainable Technology-driven World and Today’s Digital Utopia-Dystopia… talking about tensions we face in today’s digital world where dis/misinformation, aka ‘fake news’ and cyber-surveillance are present. (check out his slides on https://iima.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Sheombar-IIMA-2023-1.pdf.
- IX, aka Paul Kemppainen (SISU Enlightened Protection) https://www.sisu.la/ told us about some of his fascinating life story: The Protection 2.0 Era –Taking Unthinkable Risks / Fighting for What You Believe In. Thanks!
- There were wonderful paper and abstract presentations! For highlights of the papers submitted, Pascal posted a “Booklet of Abstracts” on our website: (https://iima.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Booklet-of-Abstracts-IIMA-2023.pdf)
- Emmanuel again brought a group of students (Favour, Emmanuel, Christian and Mario) who did a wonderful job presenting the paper: “Is Chat Generative Pre-Training Transformer (ChatGPT-4) a Killer to Learning?”
- There were also students from the University of Nevada Las Vegas who presented some of their work as well as their efforts at providing security services to small businesses…
- Ramesh presented a paper with Thomas on “A Framework for Comparative Analysis of Data Mining Tools”
- And there were Helen and Jim from Seattle, as well as Nadia and Sylvia from the Netherlands who came without papers – just to listen and learn!
- Alison is our president for the coming year. Congratulations! She shared some great ideas and challenges with us – in order to help us grow as an organization and find ways to connect more with each other…
- Trevor found multiple opportunities to transport people in his big Mercedes van which he drove up all the way from Texas…whether pick up folks from the airport or give tours of Vegas.
- Our conference dinner featured a wonderful variety of pizzas at Pizza Rock in Las Vegas before we headed for a tour of the Mob Museum. In the “lineup” photo you can identify a number of “guilty” suspects!
- Many thanks to Pascal for creating the program – as well as being our editor for JITIM and CIIMA journals! Keep sending him paper submissions! And if he invites you to review a submission – please do so promptly!
- And Diana continues to do a wonderful job updating our website, as well as our LinkedIn pages. Like, follow and post!
- Somehow Nicholas lost his hotel reservation – but he was there to present, as well as ask questions and learn… Perhaps everyone should make sure a few students from your universities make it to Manchester next year!
- Our CEO, Trevor, brought not only his delightful daughter, but also his brother along. The three of them worked super hard setting up the conference rooms, registering individuals, as well as making sure our technology was working smoothly. Thanks so much!
- Thanks, Ian, for your leadership as president of IIMA these last years and your willingness to help with conference planning in Manchester next year – even as you enter retirement!
- On Wednesday morning, Trevor and I filled two vans with IIMA participants and we traveled to see the Hoover Dam – impressive!
- Thanks to Pascal for helping us hear some virtual presentations – and thanks to those who presented virtually!
- Dan found some of us at the Mob Museum and invited us up to the Circa Hotel for a rooftop view of Vegas. Thanks!
- Thanks to everyone who came and participated!
- We missed some of our long time regulars – and hope you’ll be back next year in Manchester!
The IIMA is a wonderful organization. Start working on your papers for next year in Manchester!
Gerhard
Gerhard Steinke, PhD., CISSP
Professor Emeritus of Management and Information Systems
School of Business, Government and Economics
gsteinke@spu.edu
SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY | SPU.EDU