Hot Off the Press!

	March 18, 2013 – CMRP Program Update As some of you may know, the CMRP designation is going through an evolution and we wanted you to be aware of the progress made to date. [read more...]
	March 4, 2013 – Mississauga, ON Congratulations to the new CMRPs who successfully passed the 2013 Winter CMRE!
	November 19, 2012 – Mississauga, ON Another course just added! MRIA-IPD is proud to announce the inclusion of another Professional Development course for 2013. To be held in Vancouver, Advancing Your Career Through Social Media will teach professionals how to leverage the power of social media to advance their own careers, and businesses. Don't miss it!
	July 25, 2012 – Mississauga, ON 2012-2013 is going to be HUGE! We have released our 2012-2013 academic calendar and the year is going to be a stunner! With roughly 60 core and professional development courses on offer, we have greatly increased the learning opportunities for professionals of all levels of experience. Don't forget to check the site regularly, or watch your inbox for updates in our twice-monthly newsletter (you can sign up by emailing dborok@mria-arim.ca) as there are even more brand-new professional development courses in the works for release later this year.
	June 11, 2012 – Mississauga, ON Congratulations to Abhay Tiwari! MRIA-IPD would like to congratulate Abhay Tiwari once again on winning the A.B. Blankenship Award. Abhay received his prize and was publically recognized during the recent 2012 National Conference in St. John's Newfoundland.
	April 27, 2012 – Mississauga, ON Congratulations to our awards finalists! MRIA-IPD would like to extend a hearty congratulations to the three A.B. Blankenship Award finalists in this year's National Academic Awards Competition! Laura Greidanus of Conestoga College, Garrett Hilborn of Georgian College, and Abhay Tiwari of Algonquin College all submitted excellent case studies and the future of Marketing Research looks bright indeed with individuals such as these soon entering the industry. The winner will be announced during the Awards Gala Dinner at the 2012 National Conference in St. John's Newfoundland.
	April 19, 2012 – Mississauga, ON MRIA-IPD has revised our site! MRIA-IPD hopes the minor facelift isn't a shock to anyone! Please feel free to share your opinions with us directly by emailing education@mria-arim.ca
	March 22, 2012 – Mississauga, ON Another in-class core course added for 2012! MRIA-IPD has just added 202-Questionnaire Design to the spring 2012 lineup. It will be held in Ottawa on June 18. There is limited space so register early!
	March 21, 2012 – Mississauga, ON Congratulations to all the new CMRP's of 2012! Another group of marketing research professional accepted the daunting challenge of writing the CMRE on February 3, 2012. We are very proud of our new CMRP's! Click here for a complete listing.
	March 21, 2012 – Mississauga, ON Congratulations to Mr. Gyan Harshvardhan! Gyan earned the highest cumulative grade for the past two sittings of the CMRE, and as such has been identified as the 2011/2012 recipient of the Joseph Doyle Award. Click here for a complete listing of previous recipients.
	March 20, 2012 – Mississauga, ON Moderating Tool Box is nearly sold out! – Only 3 spaces remain for this great course being held in Winnipeg on April 23-24. So don't delay any further and register now!
	March 15, 2012 – Mississauga, ON 302-Market Intelligence in Regina on March 22 has SOLD OUT. Couldn't attend? Consider taking the course online!
	February 9, 2012 – Mississauga, ON Moderating Tool Box in Winnipeg on February 23-24 has been POSTPONED. The course will now run on April 23-24. Register early and save $100!
	February 2, 2012 – Mississauga, ON 402-Advanced Analysis Techniques in Toronto on February 15-16 is SOLD OUT! If you missed it, then consider attending the course in Ottawa on April 26-27.
	December 19, 2011 – Mississauga, ON Moderator Training: Basic is SOLD OUT! The professional development course, Moderator Training: Basic that will be taking place in Toronto on January 23-25, 2012 inclusive, has SOLD OUT and registration has now closed. If you missed this opportunity but would like to attend, then please contact the Education coordinator at dborok@mria-arim.ca. Should there be enough interest, we may be able to offer an additional run of this course. Alternatively, attend the course in Ottawa on May 14-16, 2012!
	December 5, 2011 – Mississauga, ON Another PD course added for 2012! MRIA-IPD has just added SPSS: Analyzing Survey Data: An Advanced Workshop to the winter 2012 lineup. It will be held in Toronto on March 28-29 inclusive. There is limited space so register early!
	December 2, 2011 – Mississauga, ON New PD Courses added for 2012! MRIA-IPD is proud to announce two more additions to our 2012 academic lineup! On March 1 in Toronto, we will be offering Conjoint Analysis: Design, Analysis and Reporting that Leads to Better Marketing Strategy and on March 2 in Toronto, we will be offering SPSS: Analyzing Survey Data: An Introductory Workshop. Register before February 2, 2012 and save $100 with our early-bird rates!
	November 30, 2011 – Mississauga, ON Winter CMRE Prep Workshop & CMRE Exam. The CMRE prep workshop to be held on January 19-20 in Toronto is now open for registrations in the MRIA Portal. Individuals wishing to write the CMRE may download an application form here for submission. Deadline for applications is January 6, 2012 so don’t delay! Get CMRP’d in 2012!
	November 28, 2011 – Mississauga, ON All online courses under review for v2.0 development. With the impending launch of our final online course, MRIA-IPD has undertaken an exhaustive review of all online courses. If you have any comments, suggestions, or recommendations, we are happy to hear them! Please contact dborok@mria-arim.ca
	November 9, 2011 – Mississauga, ON 302-Market Intelligence Released Online - MRIA-IPD is pleased to announce the launch of our newest online course, 302-Market Intelligence. This is now the 11th core course that is offered online!
	November 3, 2011 – Mississauga, ON Two MRIA Academic Awards Have Gone National - The MRIA Institute for Professional Development is pleased to announce that two of our Association’s prestigious academic awards have gone national, with recipient eligibility extended to students at higher education institutions across Canada. read more...

The MRIA Institute for Professional Development has openings for the following positions:

We want to hear from you if you are:

• an enthusiastic and cooperative team player
• able to meet deadlines
• a creative thinker

Clearly indicate the position you are interested in. For instructor positions, please state which courses you are interested in teaching.

Please submit your resume and cover letter in confidence to: Fania Borok, Manager Professional Development and Certification, at gwoo@mria-arim.ca

MRIA Partners With McGill University For Online CMRP Course Development

The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association is pleased to announce that it has partnered with McGill University’s Department of Continuing Education, Career and Management Studies for the development of online Certified Marketing Research Professional (CMRP) core courses.

Under a contract recently signed by the two organizations, McGill, an internationally recognized educational institution and one of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities, will design and deliver 10 customized learning modules for the MRIA’s CMRP core curriculum. Read complete article...

Change:
It's More Than the Stuff That Rattles Around in Your Pocket

When I look back at the changes that the previous two deans of the Institute for Professional Development have implemented, I am in awe. Cam Davis and the team built the institute, and they worked with the MRIA board to develop the Maintenance of Certification Program (MCP).

Jeannette Bellerose and the team moved our course offerings online, further developed the MCP and created the very easy to use MCP tracker website (www.CMRP-MCP-Tracker.com). Jeannette also put in place a number of processes that make the job of dean much easier. I come in to a position with clear processes for developing the Comprehensive Marketing Research Exam (CMRE) and for marking protocols, as well as for collecting and using feedback from course participants and exam writers. For these advances, I am forever in her debt.

I am left wondering what there is for me to do. Luckily, the board continues to place education at the forefront of its strategic plan. A wider and more diverse set of course offerings has been requested and is being developed – courses for mid-career professionals, to help them move up the ladder, and courses that focus on some of our specialty areas. The CMRP structure is being evaluated with the goal of making the CMRP designation even more desirable.

My main goal as dean is to increase the number of CMRPs. On a personal note, I decided a couple of years ago that I should get the CMRP, so I wrote the exam (I missed out on the grandfathering by one year). The exam was challenging, but the end result was well worth the effort. The CMRP is beginning to gain some traction. Clients – some but certainly not all – are beginning to ask for CMRPs to work on their projects, and suppliers are beginning to look for the CMRP designation when making hiring decisions. Over the next two years, I would like to see these trends become more and more apparent.

As Marty Goldfarb used to tell me, "Marketing is a force for change," meaning that the dean is really a marketer. I will be that force for change, the voice that transforms the so often heard "What's in it for me?" into "I'd better get my CMRP."

The CMRP is about so much more than "me." It's about our industry, our professionalism, our future. It is the way each and every one of us says that we know what we are doing, and it tells the world that we are keeping up to date with the latest changes in research.

I am a firm believer in luck, and luckily I am working with a wonderful team that includes Fergus Gamble, CMRP, the portfolio chair; Fania Borok, manager; Daniel Borok, coordinator; and the members of the Certifi cation Advisory Committee: Margaret Brigley, CMRP; Alain Choiniere, CMRP; Tawnya Crerar, CMRP; David MacDonald, CMRP; and Carol Wilson, CMRP. I couldn't ask for a better group of people, and we are going to have a lot of fun these next few years.

So I leave you with this warning: When we next meet, be it at a conference, a meeting or a street corner, I will ask you either when you are going to be writing the exam or what you are doing to promote the CMRP.

Stephen Popiel, PhD, CMRP, is manager of Marketing Research for TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank. His career in marketing research spans more than twenty years and includes work for Environics, Goldfarb Consultants, Millward Brown, Synovate and Hotspex. Stephen is an active volunteer leader within MRIA, serving as the newly-appointed dean of the Institute for Professional Development, and as the chair of Publications (since 2009). He can be reached at Stephen.Popiel@td.com.

The Dean Bids Farewell ...

Musing on the Duality of Time and the Bittersweetness of Goodbyes

The dean of MRIA's Institute for Professional Development from 2010
to 2012 says her farewells, refl ects on her years at the helm of the
institute, and welcomes the incoming dean.

Jeannette Bellerose, PhD, CMRP

Ah, the strange duality of time! You know the feeling: You feverishly await a signifi cant date while, during the same intermin-able time, you are unable to fi nd enough hours in your days to accomplish all your tasks. My two-year term as dean of MRIA's Institute for Professional Development comes to an end at the next AGM, in March 2012. Looking back at the depth of the relationships I've established and at all we have accomplished together, it seems more like ten years. Looking forward at what still needs to be accomplished, I'm left wondering where all the time went.

Of all the institute's activities I've overseen during my term, the better-known ones are likely (hopefully!) the online core courses and the implementation of the Maintenance of Certifi - cation Program (MCP). By now, many of you have taken one or more of our online courses. Some of the most recent writers of the Comprehensive Marketing Research Exam (CMRE), on February 3, might in fact have been able to do so precisely because of the fact that core courses are available online and on demand. CMRPs can now easily keep track of their learning, their sharing of knowledge, and their honing of leadership skills – on the excellent MCP point tracking tool (www.CMRP-MCP-Tracker.com) developed by the MRIA staff.

What might be less familiar to members is all the work accomplished behind the scenes. In preparing the CMRE for the June 2010 sitting, it became evident to me that some information and processes required updating. The core curriculum was still largely based on MRIA's School of Marketing Research syllabus, conceived in 2001. It was thus revised and, among other updates, now includes marketing intelligence as one of the key areas. There is now a better alignment between the core courses and the core competency requirements. The study guide provided to CMRE candidates was thoroughly revised, to refl ect the updated core competency requirements, and augmented with more practical examples. More systematic processes for tracking CMRE writers' feedback on the exam and students' evaluation of our courses were put into place. The CMRE content was revised to ensure a good balance in assessing key marketing research areas and consistency across exam versions. In addition, the CMRE marking process was totally revamped; it now includes clearer guidelines, marking keys, and a process for calibration across markers.

There is still a lot to be accomplished. Fortunately, the new dean, Stephen Popiel, PhD, CMRP, is both extremely capable and strongly supported by Fergus Gamble, CMRP, the portfolio chair; Fania Borok, the manager; Daniel Borok, the coordinator; and the six members of the Certifi cation Advisory Committee. What lies ahead for Stephen will be a mix of consolidation and innovation, as was the case for me. He is very well equipped to take on these challenges.

I'll admit that I'm looking forward to being able to attend to my day job during daylight hours again. However, the strong relationships I've established with other portfolio leaders, the Advisory Committee members, and the MRIA offi ce staff – as well as the knowledge acquired in the process of this volunteer work – will last forever.

To all members contemplating putting in some volunteer time with MRIA, I say: "Get involved and give it your 110 per cent – it's worth it."

Jeannette Bellerose, PhD, CMRP, served as dean of MRIA's Institute for Professional Development from 2010 to 2012. She is a co-founder of Arcturus Solutions, a research consulting fi rm based in Ottawa. With over twenty years of experience in applied social and marketing research, Jeannette has worked on both the client and research supplier sides. She can be reached at deanmriainstitute@mria-arim.ca.