Anticipating the Unexpected (and the Expected!): Report on the 1999 ISAGA Conference

Abstract

This brief article reports on the ISAGA '99 conference in Sydney, Australia, giving a glimpse of the type of theoretical papers and practical workshops presented at the conference along with a mention of the other activities prepared by the organizers.This year's theme (Anticipating the Unexpected) for the International Simulation and Gaming Association's 1999 conference in Sydney, Australia, held at the University of Technology from 12-16 July, was very apropos. Many of the 135 participants had never been to Australia and found the beautiful city of Sydney with her Harbour Bridge and Opera House and her fantastic bays, beaches, museums, gardens, and people an unexpected and wonderful surprise! In addition, many of the conference presentations touched on this theme with topics as diverse as risk management, critical incident management, future planning, and information systems development, as well as topics concerning chaos theory and conceptual complexity theory. What even the organizers could not have anticipated were the heavy rains that flooded one of the conference rooms, the suspected heart attack of one of the keynote speakers (happily not serious), and the blackout that made some of the speakers almost late, all of which they handled with calmness and flexibility.What the participants did expect-and were happy to receive-was a program that lent itself to debate on topics such as those mentioned above as well as others that included the following: policy exercise, cross-cultural communication, facilitation skills, environmental impact, virtual learning environment, debriefing, urban systems, stress management, operations management, learning strategies, and team building. New simulations or games were presented and played, such as Richard Teach and Bob Schwartz's CONGRUENCE GAME for business strategy or Arnaldo Cecchini's LUCUMIE for training and improving competencies. Speakers from 13 countries presented more than 80 papers or demonstrations, showing how the demands for creativity, versatility, and flexible responsiveness found in simulations and games will help us to face the challenges of the new millennium.