Sawtooth Software: Online Surveys, Conjoint Analysis, and Quantitative Marketing Research

May 26-28, 2008 - Barcelona, Spain
European Training and Conference

Jul 30-Aug 1, 2008 - Monterey, California
CBC Modeling Workshop

The joint SKIM/Sawtooth Software European Training and Conference will be held 26-28 May at the Hilton Barcelona Hotel in Barcelona, Spain. The event consists of two days of tutorials and workshops followed by a day of conference papers that follow the Sawtooth Software Conference format. We’ve now been holding these annual joint conferences with SKIM since 2001. It has been a successful event, drawing about 60 participants, with past meetings held in Holland and Germany. While the majority of the attendees have been from the European area, some of our US-based customers have attended and delivered papers.

Presenters were recruited through a general call for papers. Authors will deliver approximately a 30-minute presentation at the conference, with a follow-up 2-5 page written paper to be published in a summary proceedings directly following the event.

Please visit http://www.skimgroup.com/event_2008 for registration and further details.

Come for an intensive 2.5-day workshop and training on the most popular and very effective discrete choice modeling approach: CBC (Choice-Based Conjoint). You'll also be introduced to MaxDiff (best/worst scaling), a related and widely applicable importance/preference scaling method.

Monterey is a picturesque northern California town nestled on the stunning Monterey Bay. Our venue for this event is a few blocks from Old Fisherman's Wharf and the marina. Some of our favorite things to do in Monterey include strolling along the bay on the well-developed walking path (you'll often see dozens of sea lions sunning themselves and playing, sea otters frolicking in the kelp beds, and numerous sea birds), visiting the aquarium, shopping, and scuba diving. There are also whale-watching tours that leave from the wharf. The famous Pebble Beach golf course is nearby. If you decide you cannot afford the green fees, visitors can take a driving tour through the gated community surrounding the course. The weather in late July will be ideal, as the cool northern California ocean will ensure that the evenings dip to a comfortable temperature for strolling, jogging, and more sightseeing. Plan on bringing a sweater or light jacket.

Outline:

Introduction to CBC (8:00 AM July 30 to 12:00 PM July 31)

This session introduces participants to discrete choice (CBC) analysis through an interactive, hands-on workshop. The course will include an overview of conjoint analysis techniques and methodology, with specific attention to CBC/Web.

Attendees will also receive practical experience creating surveys in Sawtooth Software’s SSI Web system and analyzing the results.

Conjoint methodology overview.
Formulating attributes and levels.
Designing conjoint experiments.
Analyzing CBC data using Counts, Logit, Latent Class, and hierarchical Bayes (HB).
Using market simulators to estimate preference for competitive products in market scenarios, including price sensitivity.
Best practices / common mistakes related to CBC.
MaxDiff (best/worst scaling): Resembles a one-attribute CBC project.

Participants will create several conjoint surveys and analyze sample data using a team-oriented case study approach.

Intermediate CBC (1:30 PM July 31 to 1:00 PM August 1)

This session builds upon concepts learned in the introductory segments of this training. We'll go beyond the basics of CBC to cover:

Choosing among the four questionnaire design strategies: Complete Enumeration, Shortcut, Balanced Overlap, and Random.
Prohibitions: are they universally bad? Testing the impact of modest to severe prohibitions.
Design Testing: Quick Test vs. more advanced test using simulated respondents. How the advanced test can help with sample size decisions.
Conditional Pricing: customizing price ranges without the use of prohibitions.
Partial Profile, Constant Sum, Alternative-Specific Designs.
Advanced Topics: .CHO file modification, dual-response None, constant-sum and volumetric response, custom layouts for CBC questions.
Plus, a look at the latest research on cutting-edge Adaptive CBC questionnaires!

The workshops will be held July 30 to August 1 at the Monterey Marriott Hotel, Monterey, California, USA. Book with the hotel by July 9th for the special $259/night room rate.

Attendees will use free demo software to perform all in-class exercises (must bring laptop PC running Windows 2000 or later). The cost for attending is $1,500. Continental breakfasts and lunches included.

Registration open soon!