By Giulia Fabrizi
What are our industry’s core questions?
- How to informally connect people with the same business objectives?
- How to gather market researchers that generally do not have opportunities to meet?
- How to spread the value of market research?
How can we answer them?
We at ESOMAR Italy recently used the ‘Speed Date’ formula where everybody interacts with all the participants (research buyers and providers) to do this.
The event stared with an introduction about ESOMAR as the worldwide association for market research, opinion poll and social research, including:
- Activities involving young students, young professionals (YES – Young ESOMAR Society, career events at Universities) and start-ups (Research Rally)
- Best of ESOMAR initiatives
- Local activities already activated, such as the monthly newsletter (ESOMAR Italy News) where ESOMAR members can publish links, suggestions about books, new methodologies etc. as well as activities to be carried out in the coming months
Then, in 6 minutes of interaction (3 minutes for each one of the couple) attendees introduced themselves, expressed what he/she does and is looking for, making all the information essential and straight to the point. It is a great exercise because we are obliged to select the relevant information and skills useful for that potential client. After an average of 15 interactions, marked by the sound of a bell, a networking moment of about one hour allowed participants to go more in-depth on issues that emerged during the ‘speed’ interaction. By the end of the event everyone knew the other attendees, what they are doing, what they are looking for and what kind of synergies that can arise from the combination of the different expertise.
Why did we do this?
Speed Date Events are a good occasion to create connections and develop innovative ideas amongst research buyers and research providers, as well as keeping all up-to-date with the methodologies available in our industry and client needs.
Because each of us is unique, with our own background, personality traits and skills, attendees learned a lot one from one other. Researchers are like chefs, all cook but each one uses specific ingredients and blends personal tastes with their own experiences and background, creating a unique result.
By Giulia Fabrizi, ESOMAR Italy Representative
