It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when we realized it. Early in the morning of the first day, there was a palpable energy, a buzz in the exhibit areas and in the hallways and meeting rooms. And then the wonderful stream of exhibitors and attendees began stopping by our booth to confirm what we were hoping was true: The inaugural Quirk’s Event was a rousing success.
Thinking about it later, I likened it to the feeling of hosting a huge party for all of your friends – you’re surrounded by people you really want to sit and talk with but you have to keep running off to fill the punch bowl or refresh the chips and dip. And then, just when it seems like things are under control, people are packing up to go home and thanking you for the great time they had.
Of the many gratifying aspects of the February gathering in Brooklyn, perhaps the most was its inclusive, convivial feeling. We had intended it to be an event for the entire industry and, in addition to the exhibitors and attendees, we had representatives on site from other major industry conference organizing bodies along with groups from CASRO, the QRCA, ESOMAR and the research education programs of Michigan State University, the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Georgia’s Principles of Market Research course.
True, we had some stumbles. Food was an issue and we need to improve our signage to help people find the meeting rooms a bit more easily. But for a first iteration, things went remarkably well.
One of our main goals was to try to re-create, in conference form, the value proposition that we’ve always tried to deliver with our various Quirk’s entities: practical, useful information that helps researchers do their jobs more effectively and that promotes the use and understanding of marketing research across a wide range of industries and applications.
As I’ve said many times, I’ve long been proud that we offer most of our resources free of charge, thanks to the support of our advertisers. And while we weren’t able to offer free admission to The Quirk’s Event, we heard over and over again that our low-cost registration rates for client-side researchers were a major draw. Companies were able to send their entire departments to the event and several client-side attendees said ours was the first MR industry conference they had ever attended.
That point about having several first-timers at our event brings me to the one criticism that I heard most often: some of the presentations were too basic. In every case, this opinion came from veteran research vendors who have a wealth of knowledge and who attend conferences to learn new things. I would respectfully disagree with their view on the presentations – as a whole I think the workshops addressed a range of interest areas and offered something for everyone. But the comments did get us thinking about things we can do a bit differently at future events by gearing or labeling a track or a series of talks for specific audiences or experience/knowledge levels.
No matter who a presentation is aimed at, we always hope that it is educational, as educating researchers was one of Tom Quirk's primary goals when he started the magazine in 1986.
That aim was further advanced at The Quirk’s Event by the launch of the Marketing Research Education Foundation (MREF), the mission of which is to “unify, inspire and activate the marketing research community to focus its collective financial and human resources behind the goal of transforming the lives of children worldwide through education.” Quirk’s was proud to donate $10,000 of the Event profits to MREF. (Contact Don Marek at djmarek@gmail.com for more information on the organization.)
We’ll be back in Brooklyn next February. If you couldn’t make it this year, we hope you’ll join us then. In the meantime, as always, we welcome your ideas and suggestions on how we can make the next Quirk’s Event even better than the first one.