The Future Place Blog

What can gaming teach market research?

“What can gaming teach market research?“ This was one of the questions that came out of the recent Festival of NewMR. At the Festival, two of the papers which elicited the greatest interest were on the topic of the potential of gaming for market research, namely Tom Ewing's Game On: How game mechanics are changing the consumer world, and how researchers can play and Brian Fine's "Serious Games" has a place in future MR-it will ensure respondent engagement, focus and therefore validity, and help with panelist retention. It will also increase participation from the elusive 18-24 year olds!

Since the Festival there has been a growing amount of discussion about what do we mean by gaming, is gaming relevant to all types of MR or just to gamers, what might the cost implications of gaming and MR be, and how many different ways might synergies be found? There has been a suggestion that there ought to be a conference on gaming and MR, perhaps a virtual conference and perhaps traditional event.

In order to gauge the interest in this field, and to assess the breadth of ideas, I am going to host a collaborative, virtual event on January 20, 2011. Rather than go for something structured, such as a conference, the idea is based on “bring and tell”. The event will be a discussion space of three hours, with up to ten people presenting their ideas briefly, combined with lots of discussion time.

If you have an idea you’d like to put forward at the Gaming and MR event, let me know by posting a comment on the NewMR.org page set up for this event. The first ten to register their interest will be allowed to present (subject to their ideas not being sales pitches and provided they can ensure that they will have the right sort of connection on the day).

If you would simply like to sign up for the event, visit the registration link here.

 

Measuring the NewMR Buzz

During the Festival of NewMR, Nigel Legg of Trevanian Legg was monitoring the buzz and writing an update on his findings. You can access of copy of his report HERE.

Today Nigel gave a webinar which summarised his findings and engaged in a Q&A session. You can see a recording of the webinar by clicking on the video below.

 

Festival of NewMR – Where Next?

Wow! What a week it was. If you were able to catch the events of last week, especially the 22 hour Main Stage Webinar, I am sure you would have found it fun, engaging, and thought provoking (if you did attend the webinar you should have receive a link and password to allow you to access the slides and the recordings of the presentations).

Other key highlights included

The winning Poster by Tanvi Gupta

The winning video by Alison Macleod

 

Last two events from the Festival
Two items have been carried over from last week.

Nigel Legg’s Webinar on the buzz about NewMR. Nigel Legg conducted a study measuring the discourse about NewMR (click HERE). Nigel had planned to produce a webinar last week to talk about his findings, but due to technical problem this was not possible, so he will now be holding his webinar at 3pm (GMT/London) Wednesday 15 December. You can sign up to the webinar HERE.

The HOSMR Website. The handbook of Online and Social Media Research was published in August, but it was mostly written about a year ago and parts of it of getting out of date. Therefore I am launching a website (HOSMR.com) to complement the book. I will be holding a webinar to explore the best way to develop the webisite at 3:30pm (GMT/London) Thursday 16 December. You can sign up to my webinar by clicking HERE.

What Next?

We are currently conducting the post event survey and engaging in discussions including via the NewMR LinkedIn group.

However, we have made a few decisions already, including:

1. There will be a Festival in 2011, and it will last a whole week.
2. We are moving the event forwards to avoid the Christmas party rush, the end-of-year crush, and the disappearance from the grid of the US during Thanksgiving week.
3. It is likely that the Festival will take place in the week commencing 7 November or 14 November and we are seeking thoughts and suggestion (for example, we have noted that in 2011 Eid al-Adha is on November 6, so the week commencing 14 November may be best).
4. The week will include free events, charged for events, and third-party events.
5. We will be preparing a pack for potential sponsors over Christmas and we expect to be able to circulate this in January. If you are interested in being involved in sponsoring the 2011 project, please email [email protected]
6. The programme will include a mixture of collaboration and design.
7. The event will be designed to reach a global audience, with one of the key target groups being people who cannot attend ‘regular’ events.
8. The NewMR paradigm is intended to work with existing MR structures, e.g. organisations, groups, and companies. If somebody is already doing something, we don’t need to.

We have created a discussion on NewMR.Org to help define and create the 2011 event, if you’d like to make a comment or suggestion please join us HERE.

 

Don’t miss the NewMR boat!

Next week is the Festival of NewMR and it promises to be a diverse and fun event.

Friday is Deadline Day!
This Friday is the deadline for several of the Festival’s events, including:

• The Video Competition
• The Poster Competition
• Entering the RLF Challenge
• Buying a $24 ticket (after Friday on the $50 tickets will be available)

Other Events
As well as the events mentioned above there are other great events

1) Nigel Legg’s monitoring of #NewMR, including a FREE webinar to be held on Friday 10 December

2) The Clash of the Titans Debate, being organised by BAQMaR, discussing the merits of online and offline qualitative research, and you can take partLaunch of the HOSMR website.

3) The Handbook of Online and Social Media Research was published in August (slightly later in some countries) and the sales have been very encouraging. However, any book on NewMR is bound to be quickly out of date, so we are launching the HOSMR (Handbook of Online and Social Media Research) site to act as a supplement and complement to the book. The FREE webinar, being conducted by Ray Poynter, will outline the vision for the site and some upcoming projects.

Remember, you can keep up to date with NewMR news and events by following #newmr on Twitter.

 

How many messages is too many in cyberspace?

Over the past week we have been sending out quite a few messages on several different social media channels to help create and support the interest in the Festival of NewMR. One thing that has worried us is the balance between making sure the message gets out there on the one hand and annoying people on the other.

Today I have had nine interesting messages that relate to this question. I have received two messages from people who think they have received too many messages, one of whom has already bought a ticket to attend and is planning to take part in one of the activities on the website. Which suggests there might have been too many messages.

On the other hand, I have had five messages today from people thanking me for reminding them about the Festival, or for highlighting some specific aspect, such as the Research Liberation Front page in the Fringe.

And finally, there were two messages from people who were thanking for telling them about the Festival, because they had not heard about it before today/yesterday’s message.

So, how many messages is too many?

I suspect part of the problem is due to the scale-free nature of social networks. If I send out some form of message so that it reaches everybody who has asked to be in contact with me, across a range of social networks and channels, then people who connected to me in many ways are likely to receive that message many times. I suspect the ratio may even be ten-to-one, i.e. if the occasional contact is reached once, the close contact is reached ten times. And, the real challenge is that it is probably more important to reach the distant nodes in a network than the closer nodes (sorry, by nodes I mean people, but in the context of being in networks), as the more distant people are have fewer shared knowledge pools.

So, if you are one of my closer contacts, please accept my apologies. I will try harder not to bombard you, whilst not at the same time leaving the rest of the network in the dark.

So, to come back to the question in the title, how many messages is too many? How should one reach one’s network with a message that might be of interest to them without bombarding the close contacts? What is the right balance between receivers filtering what they receive and senders holding back on what they send?

Some Great Fringe Events!

The Festival of NewMR is getting really close now and the buzz is beginning to build, including some great Fringe events, i.e. event organised by other people.

What’s best, online qual or in-person qual?
This is the question being debated online on Friday 10 December. The debate is being organises by BAQMaR (the exciting organisation based in Belgium) and has some great speakers for and against. Find out more by clicking here.

Under 30, Find out about the RLF challenge
The RLF (the Research Liberation Front) are a great example of a British phenomenon, people pretending to be joking, whilst actually engaged saying something serious, usually something that can’t easily be said in polite society. At the moment the RLF is focusing on how the MR industry should attract and develop new talent and is organising a great event to coincide with the Festival of NewMR. Find out more by clicking here.

Measuring the Discourse about NewMR
Nigel Legg is conducting a project to find out and report what people are saying about NewMR and will be presenting his findings here.

The LonBono Fund
Henrik Hall is a Swedish researcher who is trying to make a difference and has created a project that is helping market researchers from less developed markets to attend conferences and events, so that knowledge and contacts can be shared. Find out more here.

More Fringe Events?
There are other events being developed and they will appear shortly on the Fringe’s main page. If you have an event you would like to contribute, contact me as soon as possible to discuss.

 

 

 

A free webinar on Cluster Analysis

As a follow up to my previous post (on Cluster Analysis) and as part of the warm-up (and practice) for the Festival of NewMR I am running two free webinars on Friday 12 November on the topic of Cluster Analysis.

The Webinars will last about 30 minutes and there will then be a chance for Q&A after each one. 

The first ‘sitting’ will be at 10am and the second at 4pm (both UK time). Places will be limited to 99 for each one, so if you want to attend please register as soon as possible.

The link for the 10am one is here (Friday 12 November, 10am)

The link for the 4pm one is here (Friday 12 November, 4pm)

Note, both of the links will let you know what time that would be in your location. I am planning to record the webinar and make it available on my site and on the NewMR website.

 

Why should people want to work in Market Research?

That is the question posed by the Video Competition being hosted by the Festival of NewMR and being sponsored by Nipo. If you would like to submit a three minute video extolling the benefits of market research and the reasons for working in this industry visit the Videos page of NewMR and share your creativity.

The Festival of NewMR – the shape of things to come?

The Festival of NewMR is a new type of event, all online, largely free, with the focus being on accessible, global, innovation, and collaboration. 

The Festival is happening from 6th December to 10th December and will include:

The Main Stage, a webinar conference which will begin at 2pm in New Zealand and finish at 2pm in California, with big name speakers such as John Kearnon (Chief Juicer at BrainJuicer), Diane Hessan (CEO Communispace), and Mark Earls (author of Herd). Tickets for the Webinar will be on sale in a couple of weeks.A large part of the programme for the Main Stage will be selected by participants in the site. The call for synopses is open until midday (London time) 7 October. The following week, everybody who has signed up to the NewMR website will vote on the presentations they want to see on the Main Stage.

The Poster competition has a prize of $1000, for the best poster answering the question “What is the next BIG idea in understanding consumers' needs and wants?” This competition is designed to be of particular appeal to younger researchers and students.

The Video competition also has a prize of $1000, for the best three minute video in terms of making the case of “Why somebody should choose to work in the market research industry?”.You can keep in touch with NewMR on Twitter by following #newmr.

The Fringe is an idea modelled on the Edinburgh Festival. The Fringe is a vehicle to allow other people to organise event during that week, the NewMR website will publicise the events, but they will only happen if people make them happen.

The idea is to make conferences presentations, fun, and networking accessible to all those people who find it hard or impossible to get to traditional conferences, perhaps because of cost, distance, or because their boss won’t let them go. The Festival of NewMR is intended to blend the best of the traditional (e.g. great presentations) with new ideas such as the Unconference movement.

If you want to find out more about getting involved in the Festival of NewMR there are two free webinars being held on Tuesday 5th October, one at 10:00am London time and the other at 4:00pm London time. 

To register for the 10:00am webinar click here

To register for the 4:00pm webinar click here

 

Great Festival opportunity for students and junior researchers

The Festival of NewMR is gathering speed and will be held (virtually) 6-10 December.

One of the features of the Festival, which may be of particular interest to students of market research or junior researchers is the Poster competition. The Poster competition is free to enter and has a prize of US$ 1000. More important than the prize is the chance to catch the eye of people you might want to work with and potentially to influence the shape of market research.

The challenge is to create a Poster that best answers the question “What is the next BIG idea in understanding consumers' needs and wants?"

So, if you work with students or junior researchers, please forward this article to them.