O.R./Analytics at Work Blog
Blog Entries for networking
Three days, 116 attendees, 105 talks, 8 posters, 3 plenary speakers, 2 featured speakers, and a small ceremony in honor of Robert Fourer. That’s a one-sentence summary of the Fourth INFORMS Optimization Society Conference that took place from February 24th to the 26th on the University of Miami campus. Mother nature cooperated with good weather and the participants did not hesitate to tell us (the organizers) how much they enjoyed their time here in Coral Gables. It was a lot of work, but it was all worth it. I’m exhausted but happy. Thank you all for your kind words, handshakes, and feedback.
The conference was much more than simply giving and attending talks (to paraphrase Michael Trick). There were old friends getting together, there were new friendships (and papers) getting started, there were old/long-forgotten, unfinished papers coming back to life (my case), there were laughs, jokes, and camaraderie. There were inspiring plenary talks that made some of us think (and tweet) about new research directions, and wonder whether we chose the right path. A true networking event.
In Brazil, in the context of a soccer match, we say that a good referee is one whose presence we don’t notice. The conference wasn’t glitch-free (on my end of things), but it was pretty much glitch-free to everyone else not involved in the organization (at least this was the feedback I received). That’s as good as it gets, in my opinion. We wanted to be the soccer referee who wears an invisibility cloak, and it seems to have worked. We (the conference chairs and organizing committee) couldn’t have pulled it off without the tremendous help of many people, and I want to take this opportunity to thank them once more:
From the Management Science Department: our awesome office manager Vanessa Ferguson, and dedicated students Jannelle Chaviano, Jen Verdon, Meiyin Cheng, and William Barnard. Thank you for taking care of the catering, logistics, registration desk, signage, receipts, printing and binding of programs, bags & badges, table decorations, and the 1000 other things that seem to be small but amount to a whole lot when put together.
From the IT department at UM: Emil Diego, May Peralta, and Richard Mencke. Thank you for your help with the web site and payment processing.
From the INFORMS offices: Ellen Tralongo and Paulette Bronis. Thank you for all your help with the abstract submission system, special requests of all sorts, and formatting of the final program.
From my family: Madeline Keller (a.k.a. my darling wife). Thank you for helping out with all sorts of little things, and for lending us your computer expertise and attention to detail (and for helping me get a beer early at the receptions :-) there must be some advantage to being an organizer, right?). And most importantly, thank you for your patience during my stressful days.
First, I would like to apologize for being woefully remiss in my blog facilitation duties. But, on the bright side, we have some great things for you that have been keeping us busy here at the home office. Most of the summer was occupied by the conversion of the Highwire platform from H10 to H20, so you have a better user experience when you view your journals online. We are also getting ready for 2012 membership renewals to start, with some exciting additions to your member benefits. You will now have two online journals included (print will have a small surcharge) with your membership, so start thinking about which journal you want to pick; perhaps choose our new addition, Service Science? In order to encourage members to be green and renew online, we will be having a drawing for an iPad for members who renew online between October 3 and October 21.
But now, on to the good stuff… The last challenge was O.R. and Social Networking, and has become quite the hot topic around the INFORMS office. In August, the INFORMS Board of Directors highlighted social networking in one of their official strategic goals and priorities, which states, “INFORMS will provide up-to-date ONLINE systems that enable and encourage access, collaboration, and effective exchange of information, content, services, and benefits to and among our members, potential members, and those interested in knowing more about OR/MS and analytics.” INFORMS maintains accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and an “unofficial” Google + account listed under our fearless leader, Melissa Moore. These have become great places to connect and share with fellow O.R. and analytics people. At the upcoming 2011 INFORMS Annual Meeting, there will be a session held on Monday, November 14 entitled, “Bringing O.R. into the 21st century with Social Networking and Web 2.0 Tools” with Bjarni Kristjansson (@bjarnimax), Tim Hopper (@tdhopper), Laura McLay (@lamclay), Paul Rubin (@parubin), and Michael Trick (@miketrick). Try to attend and do some live-real-time social networking, and keep an eye on the @INFORMS2011 twitter feed for some impromptu “tweet-ups.”
September Blog Challenge: O.R. and the Environment. Please send entries to graphics@mail.informs.org.
O.R. and Social Networking
Anna Nagurney
- Social Networking and a Great INFORMS Student Chapter
- The INFORMS Speakers Program and Social and Professional Networking
Paul Rubin
David Smith
Nathan Brixius
Marianela Pereira
Michael Trick
Thiago Serra
Tallys Yunes
