(ASQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) -- Ever wonder how quality relates to a slice of New York-style pizza? Or how to use lean tools at home? The American Society for Quality is offering innovative “After 5” sessions that cover topics on how to incorporate quality in day-to-day life at the 2008 World Conference on Quality and Improvement, May 5–7, 2008, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

The “After 5” sessions will take place May 5, from 5:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. They’ll include a social component to generate interaction between the facilitator and the participants. The sessions include:

• DOE and Pizza: The trick to the perfect piece of pizza is to find the right combination of ingredients and styles that satisfies expectations. What to do? Make one. The session will cover tips in replicating real New York-style pizza via a not-so-heavily-statistical pizza analysis design of experiments (DOE). ASQ’s own pizza man promises that if attendees are left empty by the data, there will be a real slice or two for the taking.
  Session Leader: Elias Monreal, chair of ASQ’s Tucson Old Pueblo Section 0707
  
• Lean for Your Life: The “lean lady” from ASQ’s Women in Quality Network will share her secrets to using lean tools at home. Get the clutter out with quality spring cleaning. There will be something to share and something to test from this idea potluck for the professionals and practitioners, from the tiny apartment renters to palatial estate owners, for men and women.
  Session Leader: Aimee Siegler, ASQ regional director and global compliance manager at Benchmark Electronics
  
• Slow Food and Quality: Two movements to savor—where do the many paths of continual improvement, sustainability, farming, organic food, eating, entertaining, and cooking come together and thrive? This open dialogue focuses on practices and opportunities to improve the understanding of the sources and substances of food, locally and globally. It will help you begin making better choices every day.
  Session Leader: Kay Kendall, ASQ regional director, Master Black Belt, and director at Sun Microsystems Inc.
  
• Reduce Stress: Yoga at your desk. Do you feel like you start to get shorter and more slumped as the day goes on? Try yoga stretches at your desk. Attendees will relax, regenerate, and learn simple techniques to clear their heads and refresh their nervous systems.
  Session Leader: Janet Raddatz, director of quality systems at Sargento Foods Inc.

For more information, visit www.asq.org/media-room/press-releases/2008/20080130-quality-everyday-life.html.