Guest article by Bart Larivière, KU Leuven (Belgium), Conference Track-chair for Service Marketing.
This is a reminder about the upcoming LaLonde in Service conference 2020, the 16th International Research Conference in Service Management in the South of France (June 2-5, 2020). More information about the submission guidelines are available from the conference website (note that the exact submission date is January 31, 2020 – so there is a typo on the website). You will be notified by the end of February whether your submission is accepted.
Why do you need to consider to submit something and to participate into the LaLonde conference:
I have been a great fan of the LaLonde Conference, which is organized every two years.
Ever since I participated in the LaLonde for the first time, I never missed the next edition of the conference anymore.
In my point of view and based on my own experience, the LaLonde is very unique in its kind, and this for the following reasons:
-1- More time and feedback: unlike other conference, the typical presentations at LaLonde take 45 minutes, such that 20 minutes of presentation are followed by 25 minutes of discussion; for posters (new since this edition), people will get 15 minutes (which is the typical amount of time you typically get for a regular conference presentation at conferences) to present their work (and hence, people presenting posters will as such also be eligible to refund their conference expenses from their universities, that often require a presentation to get reimbursed).
-2- Service Research is very interdisciplinary, and since there are typically only 2 parallel sessions, you have more people attending your presentation, from various backgrounds as the conference targets (1) marketing, (2) strategy, (3) operations, and (4) human resources linked to various service research topics.
-3- The atmosphere is unique in its kind, for so many reasons, including the location (south of France), the good wine tasting, the conference dinner at the beach, and the boat trip to the idyllic island Porquerolles; If you want to know more about the unique atmosphere and recipe of the LaLonde I recommend you to click on and read the following articles by Pierre Eiglier and Chiara Orsingher about the history and the recipe of the LaLonde Conference.
-4- Value for money: In 2018, I paid 850 euro, and this included both the registration fee (covering all breaks, lunches, dinners, social events), as well as the accommodation during the dates of the conference. Additional nights could be booked at a rate of about 100 euro. For doctoral students, rates were cheaper. So, this is a good value for money compared to the prices that you typically pay for both your accommodation and registration.
-5- Amongst others, I will be there, and I would like you to be there too in order to experience another great conference together, at a great location 🙂
In sum, a 45 minutes presentation (20 minutes paper presentation, followed by 25 minutes Q&A and discussion) requires a submission that is no longer than 20 pages (including Tables, Figures and References, typed 1.5 line spacing in Times New Roman size 12), whereas a regular presentation (15 minutes) just requires an abstract that is no longer than 5 pages (typed 1.5 line spacing in Times New Roman size 12).
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me (bart.lariviere@kuleuven.be).
Hope to see you in the South of France next year 🙂