The 2013 edition of the ICIS congress, held in Milan, december 15-18, 2013, and whose claim was “Reshaping Society Through Information System Design”, saw a record-high attendance of 1,537 registered delegates – an outstanding result, which was aptly celebrated also during the very special Social Event that took place at the Franco Parent Theatre, located in the city centre, at walking distance from the congress’ venue, the Bocconi University.
Given ICIS 2013’s very high percentage of foreign delegates, the event was shaped around the concept of a sensorial journey through Italy, involving all the five senses at the same time, and based on true Italian excellences such as food, cinema and music.
As for taste, the event represented Italy’s particularly diverse culinary offer, spanning throughout our country with many regional recipes and much appreciated wines.
At the same time, the guests’ sight was stimulated by large-sized visuals on walls and screens, and also by clips from famous Italian classics, projected in an old cinema that had been set up in a small hall of the theatre – and apart from that, also by the colours of the dishes and by the fresh products offered by a mozzarellaio (a cheese maker) directly at his stall.
As for smell, the theatre’s gallery hosted a real street market, offering fruit, vegetables and bunches of spices to all the guests.
As for touch, nothing better than to… touch food: guests helped themselves with some finger food courses, while the mozzarellaio taught some of them how to prepare a delicious mozzarella.
Last but not least, hearing: some brass duets and trios walked through the halls, improvising extracts from the most renowned Italian songs.
Grand finale: the main stage screen offered an overall view of all the clips that had previously been displayed in the single, smaller halls. At the end of the projection, all the brass duets and trios gathered together in a 30 people.strong orchestra and started playing the some among the most famous Italian successes.
