Thinking about room preferences...

[fullcontactmuse]

One of the ideas I'm implementing in "Pros and Cons", the scheduling application for Norwescon, is that of rooms preferences. Simply which rooms go best together and represent this in some numerical value for comparison purposes;rooms that are closer together are going to have a higher value than those that are further apart. 0 is neutral, a postive value is preferable and a negative value is not.

The questions I am asking to determine this number are:
Are the rooms on the same floor? 1 for yes, -1 for no
Are the rooms more than 2 floors apart? -1 for yes, 1 for no
Are the rooms next to each other? 1 for yes, -1 for no
Do the rooms share an air wall, those accordian walls that open up for more space? 1 for yes, -1 for no
Are the rooms easy to access for people with disabilities, are there no stairs or elevators that have to be taken? 1 for yes, -1 for no
Are the rooms in the same wing? 1 for yes, -1 for no
How many wings apart are the rooms? 0 or more wings

You then add up all of those numbers, except for the last question, which you subtract, and that is the room preference value.
Here are some examples of what I am thinking so far, in which we set the preference value for Cascade 1 versus other rooms located around the convention center.

Room Preference Questions
Rating for:	Cascade 2
Location:	Tower, 2nd Floor
Preference	6		yes	no
Same Floor:	yes	1	1	-1
More than 2 floors apart:	no	1	-1	1
Ajoining Room:	yes	1	1	-1
Airwall:	yes	1	1	0
ADA Access Ease between rooms:	yes	1	1	-1
Same Wing:	yes	1	1	-1
Wings Appart	0	0

These two rooms are right next to each other and can be combined to make a bigger room.

Room Preference Questions
Rating for:	Cascade 10
Location:	Tower, 2nd Floor
Preference	3		yes	no
Same Floor:	yes	1	1	-1
More than 2 floors apart:	no	1	-1	1
Ajoining Room:	no	-1	1	-1
Airwall:	no	0	1	0
ADA Access Ease between rooms:	yes	1	1	-1
Same Wing:	yes	1	1	-1
Wings Appart	0	0

With this room, we're further down the hall, but still on the same floor. The Preference value is still a positive number.

Room Preference Questions
Rating for:	Evergreen 1
Location:	NW Ballroom, 2nd Floor
Preference	-2		yes	no
Same Floor:	yes	1	1	-1
More than 2 floors apart:	no	1	-1	1
Ajoining Room:	no	-1	1	-1
Airwall:	no	0	1	0
ADA Access Ease between rooms:	no	-1	1	-1
Same Wing:	no	-1	1	-1
Wings Appart	1	-1

Evergreen 1 is on the same floor as Cascade 1, but it is in a different wing of the hotel, over the Northwest Ballrooms, and if you cannot use the stairs which lie in between the two rooms, you have to go to the elevator, go down to the first floor, cross the lobby, and then go to the elevators that service those rooms, and rates a "no" in "ADA Access Ease between rooms".

Room Preference Questions
Rating for:	Grand 1
Location:	Tower, 1st Floor
Preference	-1		yes	no
Same Floor:	no	-1	1	-1
More than 2 floors apart:	no	1	-1	1
Ajoining Room:	no	-1	1	-1
Airwall:	no	0	1	0
ADA Access Ease between rooms:	no	-1	1	-1
Same Wing:	yes	1	1	-1
Wings Appart	0	0

Room Preference Questions
Rating for:	Olympic 5
Location:	Wing 7, 1st Floor
Preference	-5		yes	no
Same Floor:	no	-1	1	-1
More than 2 floors apart:	no	1	-1	1
Ajoining Room:	no	-1	1	-1
Airwall:	no	0	1	0
ADA Access Ease between rooms:	no	-1	1	-1
Same Wing:	no	-1	1	-1
Wings Appart	2	-2

For this room, I counted it as two wings away, down through the lobby, and down the hall.

Room Preference Questions
Rating for:	The Salon
Location:	Tower, Maxi's
Preference	-3		yes	no
Same Floor:	no	-1	1	-1
More than 2 floors apart:	yes	-1	-1	1
Ajoining Room:	no	-1	1	-1
Airwall:	no	0	1	0
ADA Access Ease between rooms:	no	-1	1	-1
Same Wing:	yes	1	1	-1
Wings Appart	0	0

Same wing, just separated by many building floors.

Room Preference Questions
Rating for:	The Rotunda
Location:	Wing 5, 2nd Floor
Preference	-7		yes	no
Same Floor:	no	-1	1	-1
More than 2 floors apart:	no	1	-1	1
Ajoining Room:	no	-1	1	-1
Airwall:	no	0	1	0
ADA Access Ease between rooms:	no	-1	1	-1
Same Wing:	no	-1	1	-1
Wings Appart	4	-4

For all intents and purposes, this "room" is out in the boonies, so travel time is considerable.

I don't think I am missing anything in my "calculations" here, but I am always open to feedback. Though I haven't quite figured out how I want represent this data in UI yet.

Comments

[corwynofamber.livejournal.com]

So the question is how would this be applied?

[fullcontactmuse.livejournal.com]

My first thought is to set use it as warning mechanism in the UI to warn schedulers about pro's who have to haul tail between far flung locations. One complaint I've heard from pro's since I've started attending Onions and Roses was that people were scheduled in, for example, Olympic 4 and the scheduled in Cascade 10 immediately following.

I'm certain that more uses for the data will present itself as time goes on.

[corwynofamber.livejournal.com]

That particular issue is more a problem with not providing proper guidance to the moderators than an issue with the room scheduling. "Back in the old days" (tm), when we had enough volunteers to actually have a stage manager per room, it was not as big a problem since you had people who would make sure the panels ended on time (5 to 10 minutes before the hour) and panelists had time to get to the next room (when it was close like the stated rooms). Now if the rooms are in diffent functional areas, I can see that as a benefit.

[fullcontactmuse.livejournal.com]

Rooms that are nearby have a higher preference, becuase they are functionally in the same area. For Cascade 1, Cascade 2 has the highest preference (6), where as the Rotunda has the lowest preference (-7) for Cascade 1. Grand 1, since it's on a different floor to Cascade 1, has a preference of -1.

Does that make sense?

[corwynofamber.livejournal.com]

It makes sense, but what I am saying is that it is applying to much granularity / precision to the problem. cascades should be grouped together, evergreens, etc... That is the granularity that should be applied.

[fullcontactmuse.livejournal.com]

Continuing to pick your brain further. :D

Why do think that much granularity would be a problem?

[corwynofamber.livejournal.com]

It adds complexity and false precision. Room two doors down from where the person is and one door down is all most all cases going to be adequate for the person going from one room to another but the rooms may have different scores. For any real scenario they should be scored the same.

[lbnell.livejournal.com]

I'd say making sure everything ended on time would be of great benefit. Yeah, ideally people shouldn't be running all over the place, but I had that problem even as an attendee.

Of the stuff I attended, the zombie panel needed a larger room, and one of the GM panels (don't remember which atm) needed 2 hours. Most everything else was well placed/scheduled.

[rebelliousuno.livejournal.com]

I'd say be careful with the airwall lark I'd say

you don't want the situation of someone being booked into

one room then next expecting it to be opened up into two rooms for their next thing and someone expecting to be in the other room

also will this be a

"You're in room a now where do you want to be next?" sort of thing

or is it going to become a full on event management type system

[fullcontactmuse.livejournal.com]

The end goal of this is to manage the scheduling of events at a convention, in particular Norwescon.