2008 session descriptions
back to the training sessions and the main agenda page
Session Tracks
This year's sessions were devised with your job function in mind. Attendees may mix and match which sessions they attend - follow your interest!
Call Center Operations and Systems Administration
General Sessions
Wednesday, March 12th - 6:00pm - 8:00pm
President's reception. Come join your fellow CfMC'ers for an evening of introductions and hors d'oeuvres.
Thursday, March 13th - Day One
Welcome! Introductions and anniversaries.
G1. Keynote address and CfMC development report. Charlie Yarbrough, acting CfMC president, will update the audience on recent CfMC software development breakthroughs and in-the-works software capabilities and features.
Special Sponsored Session, Thursday 12:30 - 1:30pm. Dave Homer, President of ATP Canada will be presenting Rosetta Studios, a tool for automated project reporting.
G2. portal preview. Lead developer Charlie McKinney will share our vision and progress of this industry-leading and ambitious development designed to provide users one place to track and manage all CfMC software operations.
PRC Credit: 1 PRC contact hours in Project Management
G3. The Future of the CfMC Users' Conference - an open discussion. This is our 25th Annual Conference and we're looking for ways to update the conference to better fit your needs. Please bring your suggestions - or e-mail them to Brian Fowler.
G4. the 2008 Squeaky Wheel Meeting and creativity with CfMC software. We will first present awards for the best entries in the CfMC Developers' Contest. Following, Please bring your big picture ideas for CfMC to consider! We're looking for guidance on our product offerings, our support capabilities, our pricing and other ideas that would help make CfMC more relevant to you. More information on this session is on the main Users' Conference page.
CfMC Client Appreciation Party in the French Quarter, 6:30pm - 8:30pm - spouses and guests welcome!
Friday, March 14th - Day Two
G5. the CfMC Squeaky Wheel Response and The Wish List . CfMC's acting president responds to your top requests and concerns from Thursday's Squeaky Wheel meeting. Our development staff will present the current list of Wish List development items. Users are encouraged to provide feedback and guidance during this session as we refine and update your list of ideal features and functions.
Special Sponsored Session, Friday 12:30 - 1:30pm. Benjamin Rietti, CEO of E-Tabs, will be presenting the E-Tabs Automated Charting package.
G6. Beyond Survey and Reporting Scripting. A round table discussion with users and staff about their creative use of CfMC software to tackle operational as well as 'fun' challenges.
PRC Credit: 1 PRC contact hour in Computer Skills or Business Operations-HR
G7. Closing Remarks
business and sales sessions
Thursday, March 13th
Recommended for business managers and sellers of research services
B1. selling CfMC capabilities. About CfMC software and services. This session will give you the answers and tools to promote why your company depends on CfMC software and services for data collection and analysis. Demos, marketing materials, sales tools to be provided.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Client/Supplier Interaction or Business Development/Sales
B2. The Near Future of Survey Research. Survey research continues to evolve. A recap of the issues and how CfMC can help you address them.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Client/Supplier Interaction or Business Development/Sales
Friday, March 14th
B3. ramping up with new capabilities. What to expect when adding new capabilities to your shop; i.e. adding sound, multi-modal and sharing jobs. Session will include pitfalls, timelines and hardware specifications.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Technical Knowledge or Strategic Thinking
B4. CfMC Communication, Feedback, and Conference Review - How can CfMC better serve you? This year, we have made a few adjustments to our conference and our company communications. How are we doing? What can we do better? What other topics are you interested in hearing more about on a regular basis?
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Problem ID/Resolution or Client/Supplier Interaction
PRC credit
All of our training and breakout sessions have been approved for Professional Researcher Certification credit! A total of 33 hours of PRC credit are available to attendees.
programming and reporting sessions
Recommended for those writing CfMC specs or managing survey systems.
Thursday, March 13th
P1. Automated Presentation Tools: featuring: ATP Canada and E-Tabs. Representatives from E-Tabs and ATP Canada will present their respective packages for automating the presentation of data collected in Survent and other packages.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Report Writing/Presentation Skills
P2. transitioning from v7.x to v8.1. What to look out for and plan for when transitioning to Survent v8.1 from earlier versions of Survent, for CATI or Web.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Spec Writing
Friday, March 14th
P3. Save The Specs! Saving, porting and utilizing specs (Mentor and Survent) for efficiency. Also includes an example of using a Web survey to save and query your specs and a review of example specs provided with CfMC software.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Data Processing
P4. CfMC keeps on giving - pure value adds. RDD sample creation, sharing tables, charts, and reporting capabilities with clients
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Sampling or Presentation Skills/Report Writing
call center operations and systems administration sessions
This track is designed for call center supervisors and project managers. Learn how to better utilize the supervisor utility and tips for managing sample and more!
Thursday, March 13th
C1. transitioning from terminals to Web-based. What to consider when going the Web route. Includes a DOS to UNIX transition overview.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Technical Knowledge or Technology Trends
C2. using webSuper in your operation. This session includes a demonstration of our new browser-based webCATI management and reporting tool. Learn how this point and click module can easily manage interviewers, access production reports, manage sample and help to easily manage your shop.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Business Operations-HR or Customer Service
Friday, March 14th
C3. collaborating and sharing jobs in terminal Survent and webCATI operations. Session will include an overview of the technical and operational issues to consider when sharing data collection duties across multiple locations. To be covered: quota, sample, version, management, dialer integration, multiple dialers, !sound handling and more.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Sampling or Data Collection Method
C4. intro to CfMC training. All the options for training your staff on new and existing CfMC software.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Problem ID/Resolution.
all things webSurvent sessions
Further develop your webSurvent skills.
Thursday, March 13th
W1. what's new in webSurvent v8.1. What's been improved in webSurvent - including new Java Scripts and new formatting commands.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Problem ID/Resolution.
W2. CfMC multi-modal projects. Tips on creating and managing multi-modal surveys in CfMC software.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Questionnaire Design.
Friday, March 14th
W3. CfMC multi-lingual overview. New 8.1 language features including UTF-8 support.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Computer Skills.
W4. styling and branding your Web surveys. how to add a touch of style to your Web surveys.
PRC Credit: .75 PRC contact hours in Research Design.
