INCREASING SERVICE LEVELS IN CONFERENCE AND EDUCATIONAL SCHEDULING - A HEURISTIC APPROACH

This paper explores a technique for developing a conference (or class) schedule that maximizes the servicing of participant requests for ses sions. Data regarding participant interests are collected before the t ime the schedule is generated. The problem contains two principal part s: (1) to feasibly assign session offerings to time periods and rooms, and (2) to assign participants to sections of multiple-offering sessi ons. A heuristic procedure that simultaneously solves both parts is de scribed and tested. The procedure considers not only the participants' requests for sessions, but also the relative importance of the variou s requests. Benefits of request prioritization are described. Results show that this approach can result in significantly improved participa nt satisfaction and equity when compared with traditional conference- and class-scheduling approaches.