MRIA 2010 Toronto Conference Highlights

The MRIA annual conference was held from May 30 to June 2 at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Hotel. The conference was a research-packed event with record attendance by market researchers from across Canada and abroad. This year’s conference was an important milestone as the MRIA celebrated its 50th year anniversary.

The conference theme “A Futurespective” focused on the future of market research, particularly how new research protocols are challenging the traditional role of market researchers. The format of the conference was a combination of plenary, concurrent, and panel sessions which offered attendees flexibility in presentation format.

Highlights of the conference were:

• Michael Adams (Environics), Darrell Bricker (Ipsos), and Allan Greg (Harris/Decima) took the stage in a session titled “Canada 1960-2010 and Beyond Are We Getting It Right”. They shared their insights on the changes over the past 50 years, the changes in Canada’s increasingly diverse social environment, and how these changes impact the market research environment.
•  Joel Rubinson (ARF), Peter Blackshaw (Nielsen Online) and Donna Goldfarb (Unilever) session “Future of Marketing Research” focused on the need to innovate as traditional market techniques must be incorporated into the new world of social media.

Unlike previous conferences, the focus for most of the presentations has shifted from online panel methodologies to incorporating new market research techniques/protocols such as social media platforms.

For more details on the conference please visit  MRIA Conference Website

Inside the Summer 2010 General Newsletter:

* 2009 NADbank Product Release
* 2010 NADbank Fieldwork Update
* Fall 2010 Interim Report will be released
* NADbank Breakfast Event in Toronto
* MRIA 2010 Toronto Conference Highlights

Return to Summer 2010 General Newsletter

About MRIA

The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) is a Canadian not-for-profit association representing all aspects of the market intelligence and survey research industry, including social research, competitive intelligence, data mining, insight, and knowledge management.