To: McGill International Entrepreneurship Conference Participants
Date: August 4th, 2006
From: Prof. Hamid Etemad (On behalf of the Conference Organizing Committee of Fifth Biennial McGill International Entrepreneurship Conference)
Subject: News Bulletin No. 1.
Greetings from Montreal!
I hope that you have had an excellent summer and this News Bulletin finds you very well. I am writing to inform you that the reviewing process is completed. Most submissions have received a feedback from us. For some of you not having received one, we will be completing the initial feedback process shortly (before the end of next week). I am delighted that most of you have an accepted paper and will be participating in the Fifth Biennial McGill Conference on International Entrepreneurship: Researching New Frontiers, to be held at the Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, located at 1001 Sherbrooke Street West: (Sixth Floor), from September 15th to 18th, 2006. The number and quality of papers and proposals submitted are impressive and thus the reviewing process took more time than we expected. We were planning to provide constructive feedback to all the research teams very quickly in order to begin a process of regular pre-conference communication. I regret the delay involved in reaching you. Please do let me know if you have not received yours by the end of next week.
I am writing now to provide you with some broad highlights and information to assist you in planning your trip. This note is the first in a series of Information Bulletins. It will provide you with some preliminary information about the upcoming conference. It will be also posted on the conference web-site (see: Http://www.mcgill.ca/mie). Pertinent details follow.
1. Travel Plans. September is an ideal time to visit Montreal. Day temperatures are in mid twenties (in Centigrade and seventies in Fahrenheit) and evenings are in high teens (Centigrade and sixties in Fahrenheit). Fall is Quebec's and Canada's best season. You may plan to spend some additional time here to take full advantage of your trip to our beautiful city, its surroundings and even the neighboring cities. For example, Ottawa, the capital city of Canada (half-an-hour by air and two hours by convenient train and ground transportation) offers many museums, parks and natural attractions. The historic Quebec City (45 minutes by air and two-and a-half hours by train or ground transportation) is one of the World's Heritage Sites and offers unique architectural, historic, natural and attractive features. Toronto (one hour by air and four-and-a-half hours by train or ground transportation) is the largest and busiest Canadian city and offers many attractions of its own (e.g., the Royal Ontario Museums, Water front attractions, Niagara Falls, Thousand Islands are all within convenient one-hour reach). They offer a lot to see and to enjoy at very reasonable costs. Of course, Montreal offers many local events, art exhibits, festivals, fine dinning and a host of other attractions (see for example:
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/B2C/00/default.asp ;
http://www.montreal.com/tourism/general.html).
2. Conference Activities. For the purposes of the conference, please plan to be in Montreal by Friday noon, September 15th, and to remain here until Monday noon, September 18th. The conference-related activities will begin on early Friday afternoon with registration followed by an interactive session with prominent entrepreneurs. We are planning for a reception to welcome you and to provide an opportunity for informal interaction with the other scholars on Friday afternoon extending into the evening on the September 15th. Although, the plans in terms of exact time and location are not yet fully-finalized; we hope that all of you will be there. We will post the details on the Web-site as soon as they are finalized (See Http://www.mcgill.ca/mie )
The sessions dedicated to the presentation and discussion of scholarly papers will begin with the plenary speeches on Saturday morning and will run through all Saturday and Sunday, September 16th and 17th. The closing session will take an interactive, reflective and participative workshop for team building, planning future research, among other topics. It will be on Monday morning of September 18th. More details will follow shortly.
Judging by the number and the quality of the papers and proposals submitted so far, the conference promises to be very busy and highly productive. We will try to cluster papers into working sessions designed to give everyone ample opportunity for a full presentation of their works, and to provide time for meaningful discussion and feedback from the other participants. I will send you the program soon after the Completed Paper Submission Deadline of September 1st, 2006. Please send your completed paper to the Conference Coordinator, Ms Lorraine Vezina (2006conference.mgmt [at] mcgill.ca ) at your earliest convenience, and hopefully before the deadline to give us a bit more time.
3. Registration. The conference registration fee of $335 Canadian Dollars, $300 US$ or €240, payable to McGill University: the 2006 International Entrepreneurship (IE) Conference, should accompany the registration application and sent to us before the conference. We must receive your registration form to place your presentation in the conference programme. We are in the process of putting credit card / Pay Pal capability in place to facilitate payments. In the interim, the registration fee may be paid by International Money Order, or a Certified Bank Draft, or in cash upon arrival at the conference. It will cover conference materials, the welcoming reception as well as light continental breakfast, luncheons and coffee breaks and snacks on September 15th, 16th and 17th. The registration application and other related information will be shortly available on the Conference Web Site at https://www.mcgill.ca/mie. Please register at your earliest convenience but before 25 August, 2006. Earlier registration will be helpful to us.
4. Hotel Arrangements. McGill has negotiated with several Montreal hotels for accommodation of McGill guests at preferred rates. The list of hotel and pertinent information, including links to their corresponding web-sites, are provided on the conference web site. I will provide you with further details about the Special McGill Discount Rates for the various accommodation options through a separate e-mail shortly, as we cannot post them on the Conference Web-Site. In reserving your hotel rooms, please ask for the McGill Special Discount Rate.
5. Airport and Transportation to the Hotels. The Main Airport is Montreal (Trudeau) International Airport. It is about 30 minutes from the centre of the city and most hotels. There are at least three transportation options available. A Taxi (fixed taxi rate of about $35 CDN for up to three passengers) is the most convenient and fastest option. The rate for the larger Bus/luminousness is about 15$ per person; but it is not as convenient or as frequent (twice an hour). With a city bus connecting the Airport to the Montreal Metro System (underground), at the cost of $2.50 Canadian, one can all Metro stations; but it takes more than an hour and is not the most convenient, especially if you carry a heavy luggage. All hotels are within five to ten minute Walking distance from McGill and Peel Stations on the Metro. All the three options are available in front of the Arrival Halls (ground level), once you complete the custom and immigration formalities. Detailed information about all options is also available at the Information Desk (on in Departure Halls on the first level of the Airport Building).
Please don't hesitate to contact us (hamid.etemad [at] mcgill.ca or the conference coordinator, Ms Lorraine Vezina at: 2006conference.mgmt [at] mcgill.ca) should you need assistance or require any further information.
We look forward to receiving your Registration Form and completed papers soon and meeting you all in Montreal in mid-September.
Sincerely,
Hamid Etemad