We would like to congratulate Malmö on an outstanding conference, that has not only gathered researches in Sport Management in Europe and the World to exchange their knowledge and expertise, but has also inspired young people to be part of a community that is truly unique.
With the seamless organisation and presentation of the conference program, the social events and the details of focusing on sustainability and zero waste, Malmö has left a strong impression of a modern city, that thinks ahead.
Malmö, that is not only the city. For participants of EASM 2018, it is the warm welcoming character of this place across the bridge and an Organising Committee that has worked tirelessly towards delivering a memorable experience. The impressive young university, that has supported the conference, and the mayor of the city of Malmö, who has welcomed us to an impressive closing ceremony, which we won’t forget. It is also the volunteers, that helped everyone of us to find the right venue for the next session and the chefs that fed us all that good food.
Malmö has set the bar high for the future and we look forward to see you in Seville in 2019!
I just wanted to drop an email to thank EASM for the many opportunities it has allowed me over the years. I have worked with some amazing people who have taught me a lot and I thank you for that. In the work I have undertaken for EASM, WASM and also the work I do for my University, I have learnt that the “best organisations” that are seen as global and international, demonstrate key success factors. The most effective global organisations are those ones that embrace change and recognise the need to. The top organisations are those that do not demonstrate ethnocentric behaviour. Behaviours that suggests this is the best way because our organisation has been established the longest, or this is the best way because we do it this way in our country, or this is the best way because an individual or organisation has a title, status or ranking, so the perception is that they “know best”.
Rather, the finest organisations are those ones, who learn from best practice regardless of status, country, title, longevity etc. The most effective organisations are those that embrace cultural diversity and recognise that there are different ways to view things and different ways to do things. That recognise individuals for the skills, competences and attitudes they can bring to an organisation in helping to advance that organisation, as oppose to personal gain. Leading international organisations that are most effective are ones that foster true teamwork, the best sports teams are not made up of 10 superstars, rather a group of individuals who understand the common goal and all have roles to play in delivering that.
I thank EASM for giving me the opportunity to reflect and learn such values, in all the work I have undertaken voluntarily for EASM, I have attempted to do so to the best of my ability for the development of EASM. I have made some great, loyal friends along the way and have had the pleasure to work with some lovely inspirational, humble individuals. I will continue to be involved with EASM albeit in a different way from now on, with a bit more time to enjoy the conferences, seminars and other services offered.
Above all of this though, I have had such fun for many years and this is one of the values I hold dearly, because if you cannot have fun, laugh and smile in the work we undertake, then we are missing out on one of the greatest gifts God has granted us. So EASM Board, many thanks for all the opportunities, take care and keep up the great work.
What can I say, as a student at the Student Seminar with about 50 international students, we had so much fun, great experiences and we got to know each other. I can only speak for myself, but this week was one of the best in my life.
However, the last days at EASM 2018 we as students enjoyed the real conference, where we listened to different lectures, we have been part of different workshops and I think we all got different perspectives towards sports. Thus, I can say that my perspective towards sports have grown, I understand sports in various ways that I couldn’t think about.
Moving forward, for everyone who´s interesting in next year’s EASM Conference, it will be held in Seville, Spain. I will definitely make it there, and I hope to see you there as well!
Day six, Thursday, was the first day of the conference. For the first time this week we had the opportunity to choose the lectures we wanted to go to. The evening before I took my time to look through the conference app, Attendify, to check out all the lectures that were about to be given the next day. From what I attended that day I learned a lot of new information, for instance about self-promotion on social media, fan commitment and drug policies in the United States. When it comes to the food, it even became better than the days before. And after the good dinner we went to the city to have some drinks and to discuss the lectures that we visited.
The next days of the EASM Conference were similarly structured with different presentations, poster sessions and workshops. I visited my Japanese colleague from the Student Seminar who did a poster presentation. I could tell that the group of students was getting together. Everybody felt at ease and you could see that all students were having interesting discussions as well as having a fun and good time together. The dinners were outstanding, the program and services offered were perfect. The lectures were interesting, the social program was fun, and the people were very friendly.
We closed the EASM Conference with a beautiful dinner in the City Hall of Malmö. You could tell that the university and the city of Malmö had the best interest in making the city an exciting and sports-breathing city where people live together peacefully. However, you could also experience through the whole week that there are still difficulties the city faces and the university as well as members of politics are aware and willing to find different ways and innovation solutions for the city of tomorrow.
With the student seminar moving towards the end, all participants have been busy creating the presentations the management game is based on. Having attended lectures about innovation in sport, managing creativity processes and ways to incorporate inclusion into sports, they can surely be an inspiration when we make the last touch on our projects. Excited to present our idea and hear about the other projects!
Highlight of the day: The Swedish concept of Fika, a tradition where people socialize over coffee and snacks works like a beauty as group members can mingle and network. In last days of the conference, you could feel a change of atmosphere in the group from exciting to comfortable, as we have gotten to know each other a little bit better. What a great tradition to have, as it gives the participants several chances during the day to connect with each other in an informal way.
The days 3-5 were very intensive but also very interesting. Mainly we heard lectures about integration and did group work to prepare a final presentation. Furthermore, there was another field trip. We went to an outdoor gym and saw a nice possibility of doing fitness outside while enjoying fresh air.
My group was very competent and nice and I was confident in our project. We had a good learning atmosphere and always achieved progress together, because every group member contributed different ideas.
Our final presentation was about the campaign Football Against Racism of Malmö FF. Our group received a good and reasonable feedback, which will help us all to further improve. I’m proud, because I was able to present in a competent way and I got great engagement with the audience.
All the groups did a great job and I am sure the tutors could enjoy very interesting presentations. All in all, I had an interesting student seminar week. I learned a lot and I am sure that I could gather much helpful information for my future studies.
After the final presentations the students went to the Opening Ceremony of the EASM Conference 2018. Afterwards I spent a very nice evening at a rooftop bar and I had some nice conversations with EASM delegates. Now I am looking forward to the Conference and to some informative presentations.
Today we settled a little bit and we had the first opportunity to work together on our main assignment for the week. We came up with the idea of using equestrian sports for integration and exclusion. Horses can’t see race or skin colour, they simply don’t judge by who you are but by how you act. From this perspective our idea was to use this safe space that the horse creates to bring people together. We took our time to find some interesting literature and to discuss the idea that we had.
In the afternoon we had field trips and took our time to explore the city of Malmo, in this case different urban sport arenas. I went to a skatepark called Stapelbäddsparken, together with people from the other groups in the management game. After we all came back from our urban sport arenas we discussed in our own group what we have seen at different places. We closed the day again with a nice dinner.
Day 4
Day 4 started as usual, quite early. Breakfast was at 7.30 and I could feel that the group was getting more tired. That probably had to do with the intensive program, but maybe with the beers from last night as well… After breakfast we had a lecture by Dr. S. Hedenborg, who taught us some interesting insights about inclusion and exclusion in sports. She was critical about the Swedish sport system, as it was hard to tell if there were any hard facts that underlie the results of such programs. After the lecture we had lots of time to work on our assignment. Because the next day, Wednesday, we had our final presentations and everything should be ready and prepared today.
Day 5
Wednesday was the final of the management game. I discussed with my team who the presenter was going to be. Meanwhile, we did some additional groupwork and we had an interesting lecture about how to stimulate innovation, and then we had once again a great lunch at the Malmo university Orkanen. After this, it was time for the presentations! We were all filmed and as we listened through the other group’s ideas we found out the level of innovation was quite high. I would say that a lot of teams came with interesting ideas how to use sports in a new way for inclusion.
Unfortunately, our group didn’t win the presentations, but still it felt that we achieved a lot together, not only as a team but all of us students together.
I thank Mattias and his team for the great opportunity we were offered. They did an outstanding job in facilitating everything from breakfast to social programs to make us feel comfortable and to get the best out of ourselves.
In the evening we were all happy that we finished the management game and we had the grand opening ceremony of the EASM conference.
Very positive first day at the PhD Seminar at #EASM2018!
It was great having Sport Management students from around the world sharing their knowledge, and learning from each other’s experiences. Team #SPLISS made a debut at the PhD Seminar with 5 PhD students from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Interesting lectures and very constructive feedback from the professors which contributed to a successful first day!
During the parallel sessions we had a good balance between theoretical and practical discussions. It was very motivating to learn from the fellow PhD students who are also undertaking PhD projects and get to know how they deal with their research challenges. I’m sure that we will take with us many positive lessons from these intense two days, and of course, we will leave #EASM with many new friends and maybe future collaborators.
Looking forward to tomorrow and happy to be part of the #SportManagementClub.
