After Event Conclusions

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙎𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙮, 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚. 𝙏𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙚, 𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙙!" says 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘂 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝘂, our 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿.

This article compares the experience of Best of ESOMAR Romania and Succeet22 where he met two different types of audiences, but his the conclusion remains the same. 💬

I had the pleasure to attend in October two marketing research events, each of them catering to marketing research industry in its own way.

The first one was Best of ESOMAR Romania 2022, jointly organized by SORMA (Romanian Marketing and Public Opinion Research Association) and ESOMAR. Beside the research agencies showing off something of the interesting stuff they are doing, the event was also happening around research professionals themselves, from both sides of the “barricade” –research agencies and client companies.

The other was Succeet22 in München, an international Insights Industry trade show, more on the business side, where various companies from the research supply chain are looking for customers and partnerships.

As you might expect, Best of ESOMAR is a focused event – one stage, one presentation or discussion at a time – the kind of event easy for one person to follow through. There was, of course, a lot of networking during the breaks.

On the other hand, Succeet22 is at the opposite side, with many things happening at once – lots of exhibitors on the show floor, lots of people walking around or stopped at one of the many booths – and a lot of discussions. And, at any moment, there were quite a lot of presentations taking place simultaneously (too many, if you ask me, as it was almost impossible to choose from).

While is clear these 2 events are very different, there are also some commonalities. And I’m not talking about the fact that both are about research industry.

No, it’s about something else.

During both Succeet22 and Best of ESOMAR breaks, when people were able to freely mix together, there was not a moment's rest.

People were swarming and buzzing all over the place – just like in a bee hive.

I cannot show you proof; I have no research data to back me up, but I had an overwhelming feeling people were just happy to be together, trying to catch up after 2 years of pandemic resulting in cancelled, virtual-only or toned-down events. Everybody looked busy to reconnect with old acquaintances, make new ones and in general enjoying each other’s company. It seemed to me that research professionals sorely missed the human connection, much like everybody else did. Might this mean they are humans too…? Who knows, we definitely need a thorough research to establish if that’s the case or not.

There was also another connection between those 2 events: Dr. Parves Khan, the new ESOMAR Director General & CEO, had a presentation about the marketing research future at each one of them. I had the pleasure to attend both presentations, as I was curious to see how the 2 different audiences will respond to the message. And, of course, it made me thinking – what do I really make of it?

Here’s my take:

The industry is changing. Slowly, gradually, but is changing, like anything else. Technology will continue to alter the landscape, as it always did.

We need to pay attention to new tools, in order to stay as relevant as possible. That doesn’t mean the technology will turn research on its head, although some technology evangelist might want to make you believe that.

There will still be plenty of work for those who will stick to the old ways. It’s just that those who will be able to mix old & new tools will have more opportunities.

To the future and beyond.