Thousands attend INFORMS Virtual Analytics Conference

The 2020 INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics, originally set for April 26-28 in Denver, was canceled due to the coronavirus crisis, but the show went on a few weeks later rebranded as the first-ever INFORMS Virtual Business Analytics Conference. Despite the obvious obstacles, including the radical change in format and limited advance notice, thousands of individuals registered for the online event held May 18-22.

The conference committee and INFORMS staff members went to great lengths to make the virtual conference resemble the real thing by including live Q&A opportunities after each session, along with virtual award presentations and a virtual networking session. The only thing missing was a virtual goody bag.

Conference chairperson Scott Nestler noted in his welcoming remarks that it was going to be a “one-of-a-kind analytics experience” – and it certainly was. (For Scott’s take on moving the physical conference to a virtual one, click here.)

The virtual conference had more than 5,200 registrants, and the highest attended presentation saw 1,100 attendees from around the world – about the same number of total attendees during last year’s in-person event in Austin, Texas.

The virtual conference featured 13 sessions artfully moderated by INFORMS Creative Director Mary Leszczynski, with help from Ashley Kilgore, INFORMS communications manager, and INFORMS Meetings Department staff to keep each Q&A session on track and running smoothly. Any questions that were not addressed during the live Q&A session were answered by presenters later and are included in the full presentation slides on INFORMS Connect.

As usual, this year’s Analytics Conference began with a plenary session. In his talk, “The Ethics of Analytics,” Bill Franks, chief analytics officer for the International Institute for Analytics, discussed the many ethical, privacy and legal issues to consider because, in the absence of clear standards, organizations and individuals must lean on their own principles to guide them.

The rest of the sessions, delivered by a select cast of thought leaders and subject matter experts, covered a range of themes and timely topics. Not surprising, the coronavirus crisis and related COVID-19 disease – the topic on everyone’s minds, especially analytics professionals – drew plenty of attention. “Is anyone operating ‘business as usual?’ Insights on the COVID-19 impact to the analytics community” was the title of the presentation by Linda Burtch, founder of Burtch Works. Robin Dillon-Merrill, a professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, followed with her session titled, “Prevent disasters: How to identify and manage risks by learning from near-miss events.” Genetha Gray of Salesforce discussed “Using analytics to address the impacts of COVID-19 on the workplace” and Zahir Balaporia, CAP, of FICO gave perhaps the timeliest presentation: “Analytics leadership during a crisis.”

Other presentations included:

• “Pricing a Subscription Service to Maximize Customer Lifetime Value”
  Anand Srinivasan, chief data scientist, Kaizen Analytix
• “Transitioning to the Digital Factory at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics”
  Bryan Massie, data engineer/architect and technical fellow, and Tony DeMarco, principal data scientist, Lockheed Martin
• “Why AI/Data Science Projects Fail – How to Avoid Project Pitfalls”
  Joyce Weiner, data scientist, Intel Corporation
• “Executive Perception of Machine Learning for Marketing Decisions”
  Beverly Wright, CAP, partner ­– data science, RelationalAI
• “Minimizing Risks through Data-Driven Decisions”
  Rony Chatterjee, technical advisor to the corporate vice president, Microsoft Azure Data
• “10 Things You Need for AI-Enabled Knowledge Discovery”
  Swami Chandrasekaran, managing director & head of solution architecture, digital solutions, KPMG
• “Supply Chain Optimization Now and in the Future: How Will Advances in Analytics and AI Influence Decision Making?”
  John Poppelaars, co-founder and director, LITIC bv
• “Removing Technical and Cultural Barriers Standing in the Way of Operationalizing Predictive and Prescriptive Models”
  Libin Varghese, solutions consultant, FICO

All presentation videos are available on the INFORMS Virtual Business Analytics Conference website and full presentation slides can be found on INFORMS Connect. 

Awards & Amity

The final portion of the 2020 INFORMS Virtual Business Analytics Conference was an awards ceremony followed by a networking session. The following award winners were recognized: 2019 Daniel H. Wagner Prize, 2020 INFORMS Prize, 2020 UPS George D. Smith Prize, 2020 Innovative Applications in Analytics Award and 2020 Syngenta Crop Challenge. For more about these awards and winners, click here.

After the virtual awards were “handed out,” the presenters, award winners and attendees were encouraged to stay logged in for some virtual networking. Using Zoom’s breakout room feature, the attendees were divided into small groups to discuss analytics-related questions such as: “What does the ‘analytics world’ look like for you today? How has it changed in the past few months?” and “Given the accomplishments witnessed today and the current environment, what do you predict to be the next major contribution to or use of analytics?”

We hope all attendees enjoyed the first-ever virtual Business Analytics Conference – from presentations to thoughtful Q&As to meeting a new colleague or two – and we look forward to the next conference! Virtual or otherwise.