Thoughts from the AQR Annual Event in London
I attended the UK AQR (https://www.aqr.org.uk/) 2016 Annual General Meeting and Summer Party this week in London.
What was the mood post-Brexit vote, I wondered?
It was a first for me - despite having been a member for a while now, contributed to AQR publications, being based in Germany I had never actually attended an Event, got to know other members - the cost and time investment is higher, and it doesn't seem absolutely necessary business-wise to "be there".....time to test that hypothesis, and with this event being free to members, perhaps no better place to start - so I signed up!
I returned energised - it was absolutely worth going. The Event was well attended, around 80 - 100 People present, in the august surroundings of the British Medical Association House on London's Tavistock Square (http://bit.ly/29kV44g)
Here's my take-out:
Qualitative Research is alive & thriving in the UK.
One of the areas I wanted to explore was how UK qual. business sentiment had been affected in the wake (excuse the pun) of the "momentous" Brexit Referendum last week. Well, early days for sure - but it seemed like the seismic political changes hadn't registered negatively - there was a palpable sense of business confidence or "anti-fragility" in the room.
Most - not all - people I talked to reported positively on their business outlook , AQR Chairperson Simon Patterson informed of an increase of 60 new AQR members in the past 12 months alongside a very busy Marketing agenda, the Company Secretary Liz Sykes reported of a robust financial year, co-operations with other MR organisations were flourishing - Debrah Harding, MD of the the MRS UK Research Society was present as a guest of honour.
All in all, there was a very positive vibe, a sense of momentum - great for a segment of MR that often gets overlooked in the bigger scheme of things. Perhaps our voices should be heard more broadly.
2. Continuity - with a sense of Youthful Buzz
Looking across the faces in the room, and listening to the various "thank you's" to those who had performed an AQR function, I was struck by how elegantly an Organisation which has been in existence more than a couple of decades has kept itself fresh.
There was a very comfortable sense of a thriving, evolving tradition - lots of Young Researchers were present, chatting comfortably with founding members.
It was impressive and reassuring - if the atmosphere and picture of the AQR evening could be taken as "what it's like working in Market Research", then I would imagine that many budding Graduates might listen carefully and re-think their plans to do an(other) internship in a numbers-dominated environment.
3. Face-to-Face is King
As an industry, we increasingly dance to the tune of digital - and in many senses that's totally right, embracing the opportunites the www. has to offer. Still, I came away with the strong feeling that nothing beats face-to-face.
Meeting people in the flesh is simply so much more intuitively rich, it's more fun, it sticks in the mind far more vividly than digital alternatives - yes, it takes a lot more effort, is more costly, but real-life experiences resonate in a way that digital very seldom does.
There was plenty more that captured my imagination - including the wonderful Fieldwork Event planned for October 2016 (http://bit.ly/1MRybnD) - at the London Zoo! What a brilliant idea - life is indeed sometimes like a zoo, and we should always be reminded that the act of observation is a two-way thing.....
If anyone is thinking of joining/ attending an AQR event, on the basis of this one I can honestly say: go for it.
Just take your umbrella ;)
Curious, as ever, as to others' views.