FastStats User Group Conference 2011

• 230 delegates attended the FastStats User Group Conference on Friday 18th November at The Royal Institution of Great Britain in London. The day started with a science demonstration from one of the venue's technicians followed by a practical session lead by actress Annie Farr to demonstrate adaptability, collaboration and positivity when communicating with others.

• Apteco had exclusive use of the whole venue, which is renowned for its science events and research, being the home of Michael Faraday and the Christmas Lectures. This full day event was exclusive to FastStats partners and clients who had the opportunity to enjoy the venue and visit the exhibition area. Go to www.rigb.org to learn more about the venue.
• The conference provided delegates with demonstrations of new functionality and future development plans, the opportunity to learn how others are using FastStats within their organisations and the chance to vote for the 2011 "Best use of FastStats" award winner. Members of the Apteco team ran focus group sessions during the event and were on hand throughout the day so that users could meet with the individuals who develop the software. 

Conference highlights:  

Range of focus group sessions

Delegates were given a range of focus group sessions to choose from, enabling them to tailor their day around the topics that were most relevant and interesting to them. Topics included Collaborative Multi-Channel Campaigning using FastStats PeopleStage, Three Sequels & a Premiere: a movie themed tour of recent and upcoming developments, a technical session about Reporting on Variable Usage for FastStats administrators and finally, some tips and tricks from a real actress on how to deliver your message with flair. 

Case study presentation from TUI UK 

TUI UK is part of TUI Travel PLC, the world's leading leisure travel company operating in over 180 countries with more than 30 million customers. Delegates discovered how Alexandra Bontoux (Senior Database & Analytics Manager) and Steve Gardner (Customer Database Manager) at TUI UK use FastStats to create predictive models and gain insight to promote the Thomson and First Choice holiday brands.  

Museum

The Royal Institution was founded in 1799 as a centre for scientific education and research and has since been home to 14 Nobel prize winners and the discovery of 10 chemical elements. Delegates had the opportunity to visit the brand new museum in the basement of the venue where for most of the Royal Institution's history the science laboratories were located. 

Networking session - vote for the 2011 "Best use of FastStats" winner

For the first time at this event we allocated additional points to each shortlisted entry for the "Best use of FastStats" award based on peer appraisal by delegates at the conference. All delegates were given the opportunity to take part in an informal networking session where they could speak to the authors before voting for their favourite entry. 

Award winner announcement & celebratory drinks

Congratulations to coffeehouse chain Costa Coffee and their FastStats partner Aszent on winning this year’s Best use of FastStats award. In second place came leading UK veterinary charity PDSA, followed by Macmillan Cancer Support with their partner Qbase. The remaining two finalists were Baillie Gifford and Euromoney with their respective partners Matrix Solutions and The Purple Agency. Click here to learn more.

The two authors of the winning entry each won a Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device AND either an Aston Martin vs Lamborghini Driving Experience or a Personal Shopping Experience from Virgin Experience Days. The winning company was also awarded a licence to use a preview installation of the new iFastStats mobile reporting application free of charge for a year, including up to 2 days free consultancy from Apteco to configure the installation.