Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Scheduling a Conference

Baucells, Manel, Z...

Case

Scheduling a Conference

Baucells, Manel; Zorc, Saša

QA-0925 | Published June 16, 2021 | 4 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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This case uses a mathematician’s experience as a first-time organizer for a prestigious conference in Barcelona, Spain, to set the stage for applying optimization methods to scheduling problems. In particular, the case addresses linear optimization with binary variables to map out a speaker schedule. The protagonist, Juana Torres, is given a list of submitted talks, a matrix of restrictions about which talk fits which topics, as well as a number of constraints on individual presenters’ schedules. Her goal is to find a speaker schedule which maximizes the attractiveness to the audience without violating any of the constraints. The material includes a spreadsheet template with a basic schedule layout for students to work through.

•Use a solver engine to build feasible and optimal schedules •Examine the power and wide applicability of linear optimization with binary variables •Practice using the model to manage a project