{"id":110,"date":"2006-11-04T00:44:04","date_gmt":"2006-11-04T04:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mat.tepper.cmu.edu\/blog\/?p=97"},"modified":"2006-11-04T00:44:04","modified_gmt":"2006-11-04T04:44:04","slug":"navigating-an-informs-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mat.tepper.cmu.edu\/blog\/index.php\/2006\/11\/04\/navigating-an-informs-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating an INFORMS Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, the INFORMS Pittsburgh Meeting<\/a> is about to begin. The weather looks like it will be fine (no hurricanes like in Miami a few years back!). It is cool tonight (Saturday) but should get a bit warmer for most of the meeting.<\/p>\n

At the Doctoral Colloquium<\/a> tonight, INFORMS President Mark Daskin<\/a> made some good points about navigating an INFORMS Meeting. One point that may not be obvious to first-time attendees is that you are very welcome to leave a session in between talks (it is a bit ruder to leave in the middle of a talk, but that is certainly not uncommon). So if you like presentation 1 of a session, and presentations 2 and 3 of a session three doors down, feel free to leave after the first presentation (typically as presenter 2 fiddles with the technology) and change rooms. It is something everyone knows after a few conferences, but even first-time attendees should do this. A second point is that many people attend tutorials<\/a> of areas they specialize in. The best use of tutorials is to learn something of an area that is not known to you. I admit I check out tutorials in my area (to make sure they refer to me in appropriately reverential tones), but I am really wasting my time: I should either be attending something new or partaking in social capital activities (like having a drink at the bar with friends old and new). My own talk at the colloquium was on social capital and OR, similar to my EURO talk<\/a>.
\nFor those attending, enjoy the conference! For those not attending, shame on you, and plan for Seattle<\/a> next year!<\/p>\n

Update November 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark has kindly provided his full<\/p>\n

Mark\u2019s Two-Page Guide to Navigating the<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

INFORMS Meeting<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

With a focus on first-time attendees<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

(Mark Daskin’g Two Page Guide to Navigating the INFORMS Meeting)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it. For some of you, this may be your first INFORMS meeting and it may be your first professional meeting of any society. When I went to my first such meeting, I was a bit (OK, very) intimidated and scared. The purpose of this two-page guide is to reduce your anxiety, first by letting you know that you are not alone in feeling anxious.<\/p>\n

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This will be the largest INFORMS meeting ever, with 3,200 presentations and around 3,500 folks attending the meeting. Think positively. What that means is that there will be a lot of people there to ask questions of and who can help you.<\/p>\n

There are lots of things to do at INFORMS. Here is my list:<\/p>\n