Archive for October, 2010

Months before we attend, the process of preparing is near complete. Someone on staff has chosen the location of our exhibit booth. Probably nothing could be tougher
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When we arrived to set up our booth, our space had been occupied by another company and the sign spelling out who we were had not been created. No worries—it was an easy fix.

As the day went on, we were scalded by the sun as it forced its way through the window adjacent to our booth. No one could come near us in the afternoons for fear of being blinded or boiled.

Traffic at our end was shamefully light, everyone went the other direction. I told you it was tough.

It can be tough waiting for the right person to walk by when few are headed your way.

If you want content in your area of specialty, we recommend that you go to the conferences dedicated to your interest. Usually you will find more about data quality or online sampling at the conferences who play the tune. The big conferences often bring big talent but lack the focus you might find at a more targeted event.

This ESOMAR was no exception. While value could be found in just about every talk, our areas of interest were treated rather lightly.

The best part of ESOMAR content is that the presenters are all required to file a paper. These papers remain available from ESOMAR for years to come. This is a practice that we wish was employed by all the others. Unfortunately it is rarely done.

We rarely write what it is like to stand around in a trade booth for days at a clip.
The expense on the wallet is only exceeded by the punishment one feels physically. After a few days, everyone has a bad back, feels exhausted, and yearns for home. The conference circuit can be rough.

Exhibiting at ESOMAR can run a middle of the road exhibitor $7-10,000 just for the cubicle sized space that they allocate to us. The travel and time spent away is only worth it if the traffic is there.

The Congress costs quite a bit to attend, even if your only objective is to listen to the many speakers. Thus those who do attend are serious in the interest. This drives more serious players to the exhibition floor. In our view, ESOMAR is worth the costs because of the overall quality of the attendees.

We attend more than a dozen conventions a year: from the content packed academic “POR’s” (Wapor, Mapor and Aapor) to the beefy blockbusters (IIR, ARF and ESOMAR Congress). It has been suggested to us that we begin reviewing the various venues with an eye toward what to expect and the like.

We may take up this task at a later date but for now we will report on ESOMAR Congress held in Athens.

ESOMAR has finesse. Often their events have more panache than the ARF or the IIR, two of the other big bruisers. There is always an international flavor and the venues are some of the best. Last year ESOMAR Congress was held in Montreux Switzerland and the year before in Montreal, Canada.

Online data is cheap, fast and hard to interpret. The lack of structure is commoditizing market researchers. It is an uneasy feeling. We must examine the theoretical underpinnings that have served us well in the past, adapt them and put them back to work. If we do, we will make great music out of what seems to be just a lot of noise. This novel presentation shows how the freedoms of jazz became the foundation of a new structure and of course relates it to our own dilemma. Let’s make new music together.

Online Research…and all that Jazz! The practical adaptation of old tunes to make new music: DOWNLOAD PDF HERE

Winners – Best Presentation ONLINE 2010 from ESOMAR on Vimeo.

There are  those who think that they can’t afford to provide complete disclosure in their  analysis because of the fear that the next guy will not be so forthcoming and will steal their client.   Remember, the probabilities are in your favor.   With a little bit of luck the umbrella will keep you dry as well.

Given that we begin to sort out the sampling challenges before us we can also begin to estimate the risks in using the data that we generate from it.   We have to begin to view ourselves as risk managers.  When we hand out advice we have to provide an umbrella to protect for a rainy day when that advice doesn’t hold.   Surely there will be those who lay out claims that their sample taken from the voice of the crowd is a better estimation of the voice of a structured population.  Over time they will get mighty wet.  Bring umbrellas to your next meeting.   Transparency and knowledge will be the best way to rebuild the credibility we need to preserve our profession and our way of making a living.