Dynamic Conference Session Allocation Iron Architect Competition TechEd 2006, Boston Steve Land Principal Architect, Codesic Consulting

Problems Reduce conference walk time Allocate sessions based on popularity Distribute VPCs and slides in time for session Notify attendees of room allocation

Limits Solution should use Microsoft technologies

Assumptions Assume that we have awareness of individuals’ location at the room level of session rooms only  Not XY coordinates of each individual Assume that developer resources are available to build the solution

Context for dynamic allocation Not every attendee pre-registers Some attendees register for multiple events in a single time slot Speakers’ locations outweigh attendees in priority (setup, preparation) Travel between sessions matters less when the break is long, for example lunch breaks and expo hours

Dynamically allocating sessions The optimal solution would be for each person to stay in the same room However, it is not a burden to walk down the hall For any given room in the conference hall, one could create a list of second, third, and fourth preferred rooms relative to that room. For any given hallway in the conference hall, one could create a list of second, third, and fourth preferred hallways.

One (hu)man, One vote Actually one preference ranking Could be grouped by zones Zones could be grouped by larger zones (hallways) All these could be arranged in a hierarchy

One (hu)man, (more than) One vote 259AB 258ABC 257AB259AB 258ABC My room preferences, in order: 258ABC Either 259AB or 257AB 259AB 258ABC

Nested logical zones – simpler to capture than spatial data Zone3Zone4 Hallway Zone Zone1Zone2 Hallway Zone My zone preferences, in order: Zone3 Zone4 Zone2 Zone

Example starting data Floor1  Hallway1 Zone1  210ABC Zone2  206AB  205ABC  204AB  203  Hallway2 Zone3  259AB  258ABC  257AB This data would also need to capture room capacity. This example data is meant to show that basic room relationships can be expressed without spatial data. Avoids the need to create spatial map view for new venues.

Ranked voting Each individual “votes” for zones that are their top preferences for a given session, based on the room they are in. Basic approach based on Condorcet voting rules (ranked pairs) Allocate largest rooms to most popular sessions, next largest second, and so on Room preferences could be pre-generated for each room Speaker top-level zone and room should be considered first for room assignment

What about non-registered people? Algorithm based on approximate % total who attend sessions each hour Distribute attendee proportion across the most likely attendee count for totals

What about multiple sessions registered in one timeslot? Calculate probability based on other registration and frequency of users’ registration Randomly choose one session, weighted by probability, for each user

General outline approach for session allocation Tally all ranked votes Starting with most popular sessions, assign rooms with enough capacity based on votes  If instructor’s location is in top 10 of the ranked pair votes, use that location  If instructor’s second and third choices for location are in the top 10 of ranked pair votes, use that  Etc

Distributing VPCs and slides Central Web Service returns location of day’s bits  All VPCs for the entire session available in two or more central locations  Nightly process gets path and schedules download  Startup process verifies files are current  Morning and lunchtime verification re-verifies “Pull” process:  Each PC pulls the manifest from a Web Service  Automation deletes existing VPCs from local disk  VPC files transferred using locally-installed automation (Robocopy) Failsafe  Manifest offers at least 2 locations for download  Additional Virtual Server in case local copies fail

Presenter PC Daily bits WS Central File Store Request manifest XML file manifest Robocopy VPC files (all for the day) XML file manifest tells the PC automation the entire list of files to get and their paths. It also assigns a download start time that can be staggered Request manifest Verify files Nightly (after last presentation) Early morning, repeated at lunchtime [File discrepancy] Robocopy VPC files (deltas) Each presenter PC ends up with a local copy of all VPCs and slide decks for all sessions for that day Delete old VPC files

Logical deployment view – VPC and slides Get file location manifest Copy all session files locally

How to notify attendees Airports are a good analogy: dynamic gate assignments TechEd screens could show upcoming session locations in strategic locations  Current screens may not be seen; trusted source of info is still the booklet  Need enough room for everyone to view the screens Image source: Boston.com

Logical deployment view – Scheduling http LAN