Today was a whirlwind at the INTR Conference!
Let me describe the general format for the conference. Every morning, a chartered bus leaves at 8.30am from the Marriott Hotel where all the attendees reside. [Yes, including yours truly!] There is a continental breakfast at the University of Michigan School of Law and the conference papers start at 9.30am. Each day is divided into three sections. Usually, the first section contains three presentations. Thereafter, there is a lunchbreak. A second section follows with three or four short presentations interrupted by a coffee break. Finally, the third section hosts two or three presentations with a nice dinner at the end.
There are usually comments by the members of the audience after each section. Today's first section was mainly by OECD-type speakers. Most of yesterday's sections were very high level policy papers on tax issues relating to developing countries. Today's first section papers were no different. It was a bit upsetting altogether since the papers rather showed how much the speakers didn't know about true developing country-issues. And so, I decided to speak. I commented about the way we were all ignorant about tax issues and developing countries; I spoke about how Nigeria and other developing countries really do not care about the fine points of a trade tarriff over a VAT, or a consumption tax over an income tax base. I said it was unfortunate that the people who might be able to provide informed opinions about these issues were not present - as is characteristic of these type of high level think-tanks. I also said I wished the acumen were present in developing countries to actually appreciate the issues we were discussing.
You cannot imagine how much attention my comments raised! Since I was the last commentator in the first section (before the lunch break), the conference rose immediately after I spoke - and everyone (almost) crowded around my chair!!! Everyone was talking simultaneously - "What you just said was so true", "I totally agree with you", "You were so eloquent in expressing what I've been hoping to hear throughout this conference". Unfortunately, I cannot tell all the nice things that happened immediately after my comments but two directors from the OECD offered to sit at my table for lunch. I guess what a professor from George Washington University said was most characteristic. She said: "What you said today was the best thing I've heard since the conference began, and is probably the best thing I will hear. I'm very glad you spoke and you've made all the difference." Comments like this went on and on. People kept stopping me to pass a nice comment or the other. I was very surprised by people's reactions and I was very, very, proud indeed.
As a spin-off from my new-found fame, I got invited to a private dinner by some of the other participants. Normally, I would have just gone back to my bed. I got to speak personally with some of the other INTR participants and they were really down to earth and very nice! It was nice to talk to such grand achievers. Almost everyone had an SJD/PhD in tax law - which is certainly no mean feat. Of course, I was just a lowly LL.M. student. No pretences to the intellectual edge whatsoever from me. I shall have to send an email of thanks to all the people who have been especially nice to me.
The conference ends tomorrow. Most people will leave early right after the conference. I am flying back to New York at 4 p.m. I really am grateful that I took the initiative to come for this conference. It is nice to mix with the rest of the world in some microcosmic sense. It is so nice to speak my mind and to hear that people better than me thought it was highly impressive. I am optimistic about the future but I'm just happy for today.
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