NOFOMA conference was originally supposed to be organized by NTNU in Trondheim this year. But due to organization of another large event there and promised and recently fulfilled cooperation with Molde University College it moved to Himolde instead.
Photo by KRYSTOF DIATKA
The conference started, the evening before the first contributing authors presented their papers, with a reception. It took place at the historical venue called Chateau close to the city center of Molde. This place was chosen for this occasion for its historical and aesthetic value.
“Originally we planned to organize this reception at the hotel Alexandra but both the rental price and price for refreshment were just unnecessary high so we decided for the Chateau. We wanted to have a garden party here, but sadly due to weather condition it was impossible,” said Lise Lillebrygfjeld Halse, the co- chair of the NOFOMA conference.
The relaxed atmosphere of the Chateau was underlined by plenty of food and beverages. Groups of conference participants and attendees occupied different sets of furniture and kept each other busy with small talk and chatting. In this atmosphere Lise Lillebrygfjeld Halse revealed more about the organization of NOFOMA. Apparently, the model from previous years conference in Copenhagen was used. The so called double blind review model was applied when two independent reviewers evaluated every candidate paper which was striped of its authors name to ensure transparency. Based on this evaluation it was decided whether the paper deserves presentation at the conference and eventually the best paper was chosen. Said paper is going to be awarded on Thursday evening.
The friendly atmosphere of reception in Chateau played along with the ultimate goal of NOFOMA which is to build a network of academics this togetherness benefits any research.
By 22:00 all guests of the party left to get ready for two upcoming days filled with parallel presentation sessions.
Money was not the main issue here. The «Chatueaet» was chosen to present an unique sourrouding for the reception of the NOFOMA conference, showing the heritage of a successful entrepreneur in Molde.