Dr. Cheryl M. Cordeiro-Nilsson and Associate Professor Patrik Ström (Chairman of the local Organizing Committee for RESER 2010), a last inspection of the Odd Fellows Estate grand hall, prior to dinner.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010
The 30th September to 2 October, 2010 saw the world’s leading researchers in the field of Services Research gather in Gothenburg, Sweden, for their annual conference.
The Chairman of the local Organizing Committee for RESER 2010 was Patrik Ström, Associate Professor, Docent, PhD, Ek.Dr. Staffan Helmfrid Pro Futura Fellow at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, whom I had the pleasure to assist in the materializing of this event.
This event was the 20th anniversary conference of the European Association for Research on Services (RESER), held for the first time in Sweden at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.
The theme for the conference this year was The Resilience of the Global Service Economy, that culminated in the 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner which we had the pleasure to host at the Odd Fellows restaurant in Gothenburg.
Professor William B. Beyers from the University of Washington, USA was the Guest of Honour that the RESER organisation was unanimously happy to present with their Life-time Achievement Award, for more than 40 years of research in the field of Services.
String Trio of violin, viola and cello by Nils and Charlotte Edin together with fellow musician Ingrid Sjönnemo.
Pre-dinner mingle
As part of the tight organizing team for RESER 2010, there’s always the pre-event jitters and the worry that something or other might go critically wrong on the day of event. So I was absolutely taken by warm surprise when entering Odd Fellow Lodge – the red carpet lined with lit candles and the sound of soft chamber music, by our good friends Nils Edin of the Gothenburg Symphonic Orchestra (GSO) and his wife Charlotte, together with fellow musician Ingrid Sjönnemo. All this created a stunningly pleasant and welcoming atmosphere, filling the air and setting a fitting mood to the historic setting of the Odd Fellow estate in the heart of the City of Gothenburg. From that moment on, I knew the night would be memorable!
Patrik and Cheryl together with Gun-Britt and the Odd Fellows Lodge team before dinner.
In all event planning, there will always be last minute details to attend to. Nonetheless, Gun-Britt (far right in the picture above) and the Odd Fellows Estate team did a splendid job with the pre-mingle session serving Champagne and tending to the seating and arrangement of the main dining hall.
JE Nilsson and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson
The discussions of the topics and themes of conference had started already at the champagne and the efforts of the kitchen was duly appreciated. A quiche with green salad and caviar was offered as the the first dish.
Pre-dinner mingle with champagne and live string music.
The pre-dinner mingle gave us researchers a chance to continue to exchange ideas.
Associate Professor Inge Ivarsson (L) and Professor Claes Alvstam (R) at pre-dinner mingle.
Colleagues and part of the RESER 2010 local organizing committee are Inge Ivarsson and Claes Alvstam.
Inge is Associate Professor at the Department of Human and Economic Geography, School of Business Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg and was part of RESER’s local organizing committee. He gave a splendid tour of the City of Gothenburg for the participants!
Claes is Professor of International Economic Geography and is currently adviser to the Vice-Chancellor in matters related to the University’s internationalization work. He is also Chairman of the inter faculty Internationalization Council at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Cheryl and Patrik with Stefano (from Italy) and Christopher (from Sweden).
Ambiance, pre-dinner mingle, Odd Fellows.
Dinner
The dining hall was lit with warm light dancing off the crystals of the center chandelier, the red and gold theme in the walls and chairs added a certain quiet and calm to the evening meal.
Dinner began on time with the continuing of the Chamber Music in the background, and it opened with Patrik delivering a Welcome Speech to all who were present.
Cheryl and Patrik at the Welcome speech at the start of dinner.
Dinner ambiance.
Professor Claes G. Alvstam.
Asst. Professor Metka Stare, giving a speech during dinner. Metka is President of RESER and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She is also Adviser at the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, Ljubljana.
It was also during dinner that Metka Stare, President of RESER presented William B. Beyers his Life-time Achievement Award for more than forty years in research in the field of Services. Grete Rusten, who is Council Member of RESER also gave a heartfelt speech about Bill and his work.
Professor Grete Rusten telling us more about RESER’s life-time achievement award winner, William B. Beyers. Grete is a Professor at the Department of Geography University of Bergen, Norway, and Honorary Research Fellow, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham UK. She is a Council member at RESER.
During Grete’s speech.
Professor William B. Beyers, RESER’s life-time achievement award winner for more than 40 years of research in the field of services. He is Professor at the Department of Geography, University of Washington, USA.
Cheryl, Patrik and Bill, after Bill’s acceptance of award and thank you speech on stage.
The String Trio and a view from the stage during dinner.
Cheryl with Markus (from Denmark) and Vik (from India).
I loved, at the end of the day, how the crowd mellowed and gathered in various groups around the dining hall and continued to discuss various research interests after the last cream filled brownie was served. It seemed a perfect ending to RESER’s 20th Anniversary.
Thank you RESER and all members for the opportunity, to be a part of this valuable event.