Like Cupcakes? Go to the 5th European Design of Experiments User Meeting!

Today I want to share a few of my impressions from the 5th Design of Experiments User Meeting in Cambridge. After being organized by Statcon for the last three times (Berlin,  Luzern -in cooperation with CQ-Consultancy -, and Vienna), PRISMTC from the UK was the host in Cambridge.



Before I start: What is the "DoE User Meeting" all about? Well it is an incredible event to get in touch with people using DoE from all over Europe. Actually "from all over the world" might be more precise. This includes not only statisticians but for the largest part practitioners from all areas of the industry.

Howards Building in Downing Collage - Our Accommodation 

The Statcon-team - being Bertram Schäfer (CEO), Claudia Walber (Sales Manager) and me - arrived on monday. Thus I was able to take my camera and catch some impressions before the reseller meeting started on tuesday morning.

Cambridge at Night

This was a closed event for the sales departments of PRISMTC (UK), Ritme (France), CQ-Consultancy (Belgium), Statcon (Germany) and of course StatEase. The whole day was full of discussions, ideas and networking.

Wednesday was the first official day of the User Meeting. In two parallel workshops beginners could get a great introduction to DoE from Paul Nelson and Andrew Macpherson while the advanced DoE-users could learn about "Robust Designs and Tolerance Analysis" from Mark Anderson and Pat Whitcomb.

Thursday started with the talk of Mark Anderson (Cofounder of StatEase) giving an overview over important new features of Design Expert in version 9. It was a must-hear for everyone using version 9, as it was not only about the major features (Split-Plots) but showed a huge number of small improvements. The time passed quickly with a long number of fascinating talks about applications of DoE in the real world.

The Eagle Pub

Of course the highlight was still coming. Right after the talks we split up into four groups to experience the scientific history-tour of cambridge. My tour guide Toni did an fantastic job allowing us to feel the touch of history while walking through the historic center of cambridge.

Conference Dinner

The tour ended in Magdalene College where Paul and Andrew started a beer tasting experiment. I'm regretting it so much that I could not stay long enough to hear the results of this study on friday afternoon. The day ended with a delicious candle-light-dinner.

Venue

Friday started with Pat Whitcomb (Cofounder of StatEase) discussing the pros and cons of split-plot designs. Right after him I gave my best to show why we need split-plots designs so badly and how we apply them in DesignExpert 9. As a showcase I used the example of baking cupcakes. Of course: After talking so much about cupcakes I had to provide some to the audience!

Again multiple great talks about applied DoE followed! Finally I would like to conclude with saying thank you!

Thank you PRISMTC for doing an incredible good job in organizing a perfect event!

Thank you StatEase for caring so much for your customers and giving us the change to interact with you!

Thank you all participants and speakers for enabling an event like this with that many options for networking and sharing of ideas!