Great IDeaS for Network and Fun

By Tanja Ohlson (August 12, 2020)

What’s missing most at conferences in this Covid-summer is the opportunity to meet new people and network. The lack of personal interactions makes it even harder for new and upcoming communities like the IDeaS group to grow and flourish – but thanks to Maggie Cascadden and Rodrigo Valadao, both Doctoral Students at the University of Alberta, young scholars interested in interpretive data science still managed to network and make new contacts.

Following up on a PDW at the Academy of Management Annual (virtual) Meeting (AoM), Rodrigo and Maggie organized an IDeaS group hour of networking and fun outside of the official AoM program and invited young scholars from both the PDW and the IDeaS conference in Edmonton in October 2019. The hour-long session resembled a cocktail hour at a conference, with a little ice-breaker game and breakout groups to get to know others interested in the field. “Two truths and a lie”, which every participant had to submit about themselves before the session, helped the conversation to immediately flow a bit more openly and created a level of trust that is usually absent in academic discussions at virtual conferences.

The most valuable part of the session might have been the “homework” we were sent away with: Rodrigo and Maggie strongly encouraged everyone to contact at least one other participant that had similar interests or needs, in order to set up a call in the days after the networking session. AoM might be over, and the next IDeaS conference still some time away, but I am now looking forward to several calls with young scholars from all over the world during the next week!