How to maximise socialisation to the SGP if the number groups/people/weeks is fixed?

[david-sitsky]

Many thanks for posting the very interesting video on the "Social Golfer" problem! A similar problem is organising table positions for people over a multi-day conference / business meetings where you also want to maximise socialisation, but the days + table numbers (groups) are fixed.

How would you change your approach to the "social golfer problem" if the number of groups / people / weeks is fixed and even if the optimal solution is not possible, how can you minimise duplicate player pairings over the entire schedule to maximise socialisation?