Featured Presentations
Dave Barry
Humor Columnist"Remarks by Dave Barry"
Keynote Presentation
8 a.m., Monday, March 23
No two speeches of Dave Barry's are exactly the same. Dave Barry brings his hilarious sense of humor to the stage and offers up his wacky point of view on relationships, work, kids, technology and life in general. For 25 years, he was a syndicated columnist whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad.
He is the author of 25 books and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary. Two of his books were used as the basis for the CBS TV sitcom Dave's World, in which Harry Anderson played a much taller version of Dave.
He plays lead guitar in a literary rock band called the Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson and Mitch Albom. He has also made many TV appearances, including one on the David Letterman show.
George A. Milliken
Senior Consulting Statistician and Professor"Designing Experiments for the Process"
Statistics and Data Analysis Featured Presentation
10:30 a.m., Monday, March 23
Most experiments are a part of a process, not an entity unto themselves, and designs that do not account for the restrictions of the process end up with inferior data sets. In this presentation George will discuss the design of experiments as a process. A design must first be approached by stepping back and evaluating how the experiment fits into the whole process, then identifying the process restrictions and, finally, using the information to develop an appropriate design.
Basic design structures are the building blocks of complex designs. The identification of these four basic structures and their restrictions is the basis of a successful experiment and resulting analysis. This approach is a change to the paradigm for designing experiments and the methodology is applicable to all areas of research from agriculture to manufacturing to social sciences. George will discuss the design of experiment tools and will present several examples from precision agriculture, semi-conductor manufacturing and the social sciences.
Greg Schwem
Comedian and Motivational Speaker"Comedy with a Byte"
Lunch and Featured Presentation*
12:30 p.m., Monday, March 23
Technology used in business can be downright hilarious! Nobody knows that better than Greg Schwem. For more than 14 years, Greg has brought his wholesome, energetic brand of stand-up comedy, motivational speaking and corporate video presentations to business functions from coast to coast. Greg laces his routines with hilarious observations that business people can relate to. Laugh along with Greg as he jokes about technical support lines, frequently asked questions, acronym overload, cluttered PowerPoint slides and that office employee who loves sending two-word e-mails.
Chicago Magazine calls Greg Schwem "America's favorite corporate funnyman." The Chicago Tribune proclaimed Greg "king of the hill" in the growing world of corporate comedy. Indeed, Greg's client list includes such corporate heavyweights as McDonald's, Microsoft, Motorola, IBM, Verizon Wireless, United Airlines and Cisco Systems. Greg's show provides a hilarious look at today's corporate environment and the latest tools used to conduct business.
* Extra-fee event. Included in the Meal Deal
Arthur Benjamin, PhD
Professor of Mathematics"Mathemagics"
Lunch and Featured Presentation*
Noon, Tuesday, March 24
Dr. Arthur Benjamin is a mathematician and a magician. In his entertaining and fast-paced performance, he will demonstrate and explain how to mentally add and multiply numbers faster than a calculator, how to memorize 100 digits of pi, how to figure out the day of the week of any date in history and other amazing feats of mind. He earned his Bachelor of Science at Carnegie Mellon University and his PhD in mathematical sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Benjamin is now a professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, where he has served as department chair.
He is co-editor of Math Horizons magazine, published by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). Benjamin is the author of several books, including Secrets of Mental Math and the DVD course The Joy of Mathematics, produced by the Teaching Company. He has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including The Today Show, CNN and National Public Radio, and has been featured in Scientific American, Omni, People and the New York Times. In 2005, Reader's Digest called him "America's Best Math Whiz."
* Extra-fee event. Included in the Meal Deal