Over the years, ESOMAR has been a strong supporter of helping young professionals enter the market research industry. At this year’s Global Data and Insights Summit in Edinburgh, we were thrilled to have 6 students from around the world help out and immerse themselves in the conference. One has decided to write about his experience. Jack Curry was our YES Press representative, and here is the first in a two-part series about ESOMAR’s Global Data and Insights Summit 2019.
This year I participated in the Young ESOMAR Society (YES) Student Initiative. I was given the fantastic opportunity to attend the Global Data and Insights Summit in Edinburgh to capture the experience of young professionals attending for the first time. It gave me the opportunity to attend presentations, meet a wealth of interesting people from in and around the industry, and even party at the National Museum of Scotland! I couldn’t recommend it more. Anyone who wants to get involved or find out more about the wider YES initiative should visit the website here.
As it was my first ESOMAR event, I wasn’t sure what to expect, or even what I should go and see. Cramming in as many presentations I could, there were countless insights, takeaways and inspirations. However, there were two that really stood out to me as a first-time attendee and someone looking to enter the industry.
1. Not-for-Profits
A highlight for me was the ‘Making a Difference’ Not-For-Profits session.
All 4 presentations were truly fascinating, and provided concrete proof that market research can – and indeed, is – make a real difference to literally millions of lives around the world.
Natasha Francesca Jimenez told of how the UNFPA sought to uncover the truth about gender-based violence (GBV) in Mongolia, with specially trained interviewers making the journey across Mongolia — a country of over 1.5 million square miles — and conducting thousands of interviews.
I found this particularly inspiring, as it showed that market research for its own sake is valuable. The statistics generated from the project have led to the Mongolian government acknowledging the problem of GBV, and begin to address the problems that, until this project, had been unreported.
2. YES Awards
The YES Awards invite young research professionals to take the stage and deliver a 60sec pitch of an idea they have. Delegates attending the summit then vote for their favourites, with the winners pitching their idea the following day in full Pecha Kucha style. As one YES Award presentation put it, the brain categorises humans within 150 milliseconds. With that fact in mind, 60 seconds must have felt like a lifetime!
The three finalists included Sky’s Live Lens, taking advantage of the 80% of us who double screen when we watch TV (and contributing to the TV highlight of the year, Chernobyl). SKIM dissected Facebook’s new reactions, and highlighted a major flaw in the way engagement is quantified for most social media measurement. Kantar’s use of priming to catch liars before they lie also managed to find a purpose for memes other than clogging up your newsfeed!
I’ll be checking out the other Pecha Kucha presentations of the YES Awards finalists when they are published online in the coming weeks, and who knows, maybe I’ll be up on stage in the coming years (not counting my cameo at the closing presentation).
Too Many to Mention
The reality is I saw far too many engaging and educational talks to mention them all in one article. I could have mentioned the keynote speeches from Oobah Butler, Dame Stephanie Shirley, Claire Lomas MBE, and Chris Burggraeve, but I have a feeling most of you saw them, heard about them or accidentally ate at one of their restaurants anyway.
What I have taken away from this summit is a heightened awareness of the scope and possibilities of the market research industry. This has made me even more determined to make my own difference in the industry.
My next article will take a new tack, focusing on everything but the presentations, from the people to the party to the behind the scenes moments. I’m very thankful for having had this opportunity to attend and participate this year, and I hope to see many of you again in Toronto next year!
Thanks to the ESOMAR team for putting together a wonderful program and pulling off a spectacular Data and Insights Summit! Special thanks to Danika for arranging my YES Press experience
