Speaker’s Event
A Comparison of Survey Methodologies and the Feasibility of Continuing to Apply Probability-Based Research Methods

Mr. Graves will update some of EKOS' ongoing experimentation and testing across Interactive Voice Response (IVR) methodologies, probability based online panels, opt in online panels, and live CATI.  At the same time, he will compare sample composition, correspondence to known external benchmarks (e.g., past vote, readership, passport ownership) and the relative quality of respondent survey behavior. This presentation will focus on the role of incentives, call backs, and selection within the household while looking for solutions to problems of applying probability based methods in the current context (declining response rates, systematic coverage challenges, declining budgets/willingness to pay for accuracy/quality, and declining statistical literacy).

Presenter: Frank Graves, President EKOS Research Associates Inc

Mr. Graves is one of Canada’s leading public opinion, social policy and public policy experts as well as being one of its leading applied social researchers. In 1980, he founded EKOS Research Associates Inc., an applied social and economic research firm. Under the leadership of Mr. Graves, EKOS has earned a reputation for creative and rigorous research in the areas of public policy, social policy and program evaluation and as a leader in innovative survey techniques and methodology. In recent years, Mr. Graves has advised some of Canada’s most senior decision-makers on many of these topics. He also lectures and has published widely on program evaluation, research design and related methodological topics.

Date:	Thursday, June 13, 2013
Time:	noon to 1:30 pm
Location:	The Sheraton Hotel, O'Connor Room 150 Albert Street (corner of Albert and O'Connor in downtown Ottawa)
Cost:	Early bird registration through MRIA Portal before end of day Friday, June 7, 2013: Members: $20 Students: $8.85 Non-members: $40 Members can invite one non-member guest at the member’s rate; please use Promo Code: OTTGUEST at the time you register, and provide your guest’s name in the comments field on the final screen of the registration process. Late registration through MRIA Portal closes end of day Tuesday, June 11, 2013: Members: $30 Students: $8.85 (with student ID) Non-members: $48 Same day registration at the door: $20 (incl HST) for members $10 (incl HST) students (with student ID) $30 (incl HST) for non-members.

How to Register

Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

Speaker’s Event
Tools for change: participatory research methods reveal the value of performing arts

More and more, clients want research partners who make strategic contributions to their business. At the same time, researchers are working to retool their practice by looking beyond surveys and focus groups toward providing deep insight.

This interactive presentation will showcase an effective action framework for research and consulting by sharing the backstory - the process and its outcomes - on The Value of Presenting: A Study of Performing Arts Presentation in Canada.

Released in April 2013, this large-scale, national study was charged with identifying, understanding and communicating the value and benefits of performing arts presentation for Canadians in close collaboration with the performing arts sector across Canada. It also served to illuminate the complex and fluid eco-system of this sector.

Frédéric Julien, Canadian Arts Presenting Association, and Inga Petri, Strategic Moves, will weave together the compelling story of this landmark study: from initial considerations and methodology selected, to co-creating new insights on the value and benefits of the performing arts. The presentation will discuss challenges encountered and how they were resolved. It will explore how ordinary data was turned into fascinating insights that are informing strategic decision-making for a presenting sector as a whole. And it will show, how counter-intuitive findings became a powerful catalyst for new thinking and refined decision-making.

PRESENTERS: Frédéric Julien, project manager at Canadian Arts Presenting Association (CAPACOA) and Inga Petri, CMRP - President, Strategic Moves

Frédéric has been active in the performing arts for twenty years, as an artist, cultural manager, and consultant. He has held positions at Canadian Heritage and at Réseau Ontario, and he is currently project manager at the Canadian Arts Presenting Association (CAPACOA), where he manages research and development activities. Frédéric has a keen interest in partnership development and cross-sector collaboration.

Inga is a seasoned researcher, strategist and marketer with more than 20 years’ experience in arts and culture and sectors ranging from telecommunications, international trade to economic development. She led this two-year study on the Value of Presenting beginning in 2011 and continues to work with performing arts organizations across Canada to turn insights into action, from audience development to organizational strategies.

Date:	Thursday, May 16, 2013
Time:	8:00 am to 9:30 am
Location:	360 Albert Street, 2nd Floor Algonquin College Corporate Training Centre
Cost:	Early bird registration through MRIA Portal before end of day Friday, May 10th, 2013: Members: $15 Students: $8.85 Non-members: $25 Members can invite one non-member guest at the member’s rate; please use Promo Code: OTTGUEST at the time you register, and provide your guest’s name in the comments field on the final screen of the registration process. Late registration through MRIA Portal closes end of day Wednesday, May 15th, 2013: Members: $20 Students: $8.85 Non-members: $30 Same day registration at the door: $20 (incl HST) for members $10 (incl HST) students (with student ID) $30 (incl HST) for non-members.

How to Register

Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

MRIA President's Tour and Town Hall Meeting
Sandra Janzen, President, MRIA

Sandra Janzen, President of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association will stop in Ottawa on April 3, 2013 on her cross-Canada tour to discuss the direction and the future of the MRIA.

Association members and interested non-members are welcome to attend a lunch session at the Sheraton Hotel. This event will be an information and discussion session with MRIA members and those in the marketing research, insights and competitive intelligence industry in Ottawa to discuss issues of importance with our President.

We invite you to send us in advance the questions that you would like addressed by the President of MRIA. 

How to Register

There is no charge for this event however we need to plan for food and seating – kindly RSVP on the MRIA Portal as soon as possible, as seating is limited.

Questions/Contact:
Randa Bell, 819-770-2651 or rbell@surveysampler.com

Speaker’s Event
The Challenges of Measuring Canadian Identities and Multiculturalism

There is considerable interest in attachment to Canada on the part of the Canadian population and much analysis directed at how citizens engage with their country. What is the state of research on attachment to Canada and the challenges associated with its measurement? Are Canadians favorable to multiculturalism? Do ethnic attachments undercut national identities? Dr. Jedwab will offer insights into avenues for further research around the importance Canadians assign to their identities. 

Presenter: Jack Jedwab, Executive Director of the Association for Canadian Studies

Jack Jedwab is currently the executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS). He has served as director of the ACS since 1998. He previously served as executive director of the Quebec branch of the Canadian Jewish Congress (1994-1998). Mr. Jedwab graduated with a BA in Canadian History and a minor in Economics, from McGill University, and went on to do an MA and PhD in Canadian History, at Concordia University. Between 1983 and 2008, he lectured at McGill University in the Quebec Studies Program and in the sociology and political science departments, as well as at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, where he taught courses on official language minorities in Canada and sports in Canada. Dr. Jedwab is one of Canada's most quoted public intellectuals and his analysis of demographic and public opinion data appears regularly in print and electronic media, He is currently in the process of establishing a Canadian Association for Social Research.

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Speaker’s Event
Product Innovation in the Youth Market

Shane Skillen, CEO of Hotspex, will present a case study based on this youth-oriented methodology.

Hotspex, a Toronto-based research firm in partnership with a leading consumer products manufacturer, has developed a mobile data capture and analysis platform that asks consumers to help develop research/insights content the same way they develop content in social media.

Consumers take pictures of their consumption occasions and send them to Hotspex where they are time stamped and geotagged. Hours later they are invited to “tag” the key elements of the photo similar to how they would on Facebook. Hotspex combines this with a comprehensive emotional measurement solution to deeply understand unarticulated consumer needs at the moment of consumption. The analysis is where the magic happens as analysts can deeply look into the lives of thousands of target customers to look for new brand growth opportunities.  The platform helps inform decisions across the brand management process with a particular focus on new product innovation.

Presenter:  Shane Skillen, CEO at Hotspex Inc.

After graduating with an HBA in 2000, Shane founded Hotspex with the vision of using the Internet to involve consumers globally in designing and developing new products and services for leading, global brands. He always dreamt of being an investment banker but after a summer working at a top firm on the Street he decided being an entrepreneur was more his calling.  After 12 years, 15 million survey completes and projects in over 19 countries, Hotspex is one of the most innovative marketing research and innovation companies in the world, specializing in helping clients make the right strategic decisions that will grow their business. Hotspex focuses on emotional measurement to deeply understand why people do the things they do. Shane and his team of 80 staff have worked on projects for over 100 global brands including RIM, P&G, Kraft, Toyota, Visa and Nestle.

BONUS!  MEET THE MBIR CLASS OF 2012-13
The graduate students in the Algonquin College Marketing Research and Business Intelligence (MBIR) program for 2012-13 will be joining us, and they will make a brief presentation about their curriculum and their client projects. You will also learn about the Internships and field work placements needed by these students to meet their graduation requirements and about the skills, energy and fresh ideas they can bring to your MR team! They are looking forward to mingling with MR professionals working in Ottawa.

We've extended the duration of the February 15th event somewhat in order to enhance networking and information sharing opportunities for everyone. The February luncheon begins at 11:30 am to give everyone a chance to meet.

How to Register

Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

Net Gain 7.0 - Live Streaming
LITTLE, BIG DATA

NetGain7.0 is an all day MRIA innovative and transformative conference held in downtown Toronto and streamed online across Canada on Jan 31. This marks the 7th annual conference and this year the theme is Little Big Data, which addresses the question: "Is Big Data a Threat or Opportunity?"  

Big Data refers to the firehouse of information that is produced at warp-like speeds from devices such as mobile phones, which provides expanding data points every second. Little Data refers to the traditional analytics of relatively small samples. This conference will explore the impact of Big Data in the context of the traditional market research of Little Data. The conference is co-chaired by Sandy Janzen (Ipsos Reid) and Cam Davis (Social Data Research) and will have 12 speakers including presentations from Google, IBM and Aeroplan. Some of the questions that will be addressed included:

• Is Little Data losing its credibility and lustre?
• How can traditional market research take advantage of Big Data?

This will be an all day webinar format, starting at 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with a lunch break from 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.

Seating is limited to 20 attendees. Click here or more program scheduling details.

How to Register

Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

Speaker’s Event
A Pollster's Victory: The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election

Elections provide excellent opportunities for research organizations to show the world how well they can predict public opinion and behavior. "The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election provided Ipsos Public Affairs with just such an opportunity, and in the words of the Washington Post, we “nailed it.” While this is a source of tremendous pride, and continues a tradition of highly accurate political polling in elections worldwide, we couldn’t have done it without a rigorous, science-based approach to both sampling the voting public and measuring the credibility of those samples."

In this presentation, Will Daley, Vice President of Ipsos Reid, will provide an overview of the blended online sampling approach Ipsos employed in its U.S. election polling and will discuss its approach to measuring confidence in its sampling through Bayesian credibility intervals – and approach that has attracted considerable attention in the North American market intelligence community. From this perspective, the presentation will also look at some of the factors animating the 2012 race, including Obama’s decisive success in turning out the ethnic vote which promises to be a challenge for the Republican Party in the years ahead as the U.S. electorate grows ever more diverse.

The Presenter: Will Daley
Will Daley is a Vice President with Ipsos Public Affairs and has served as a key part of Ipsos’ elections research team in Canada and the U.S. Apart from political and media polling, Will’s areas of focus have included ethnic and multicultural research, new and social media research and how one’s identity and media behaviors impact perspectives on public policy and political behavior. Before joining Ipsos in 2002, Will spent several years working as a journalist in New York City.

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Speaker’s Event
The 2012 AmericasBarometer: Views on Democracy by Canadians and 25 countries in the Americas

Dr. Keith Neuman, Executive Director of the Environics Institute, will present the Canadian results of the 2012 AmericasBarometer survey in comparison with the results from 25 other countries spanning the western hemisphere.

The AmericasBarometer (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/) is a unique public opinion survey on democratic values and major public issues conducted every two years in 26 countries in the Western Hemisphere, including Canada, the United States, the Latin American countries and the larger Caribbean countries. It is the only survey that examines public opinion across the entire Western Hemisphere.

The presentation will focus on the Canadian results of the 2012 AmericasBarometer, and how they compare with other parts of the hemisphere. Issues to be covered will include:

• Civic and political engagement
• Confidence in democracy and political institutions
• Civil rights and tolerance for political dissent
• Confidence in the justice system
• The Federal Government’s role in economic and social policy

The Canadian portion of the 2012 AmericasBarometer survey was conducted online in May 2012 and is based on a sample of 1,500 adult Canadians.

Read this article on pre-release to the Globe and Mail: "Harper among least trusted leaders, poll shows" - then join us on November 15 for the full presentation.

The Presenter: Dr. Keith Neuman
Dr Neuman was formerly Group Vice President—Public Affairs of Environics Research and responsible for that firm's public opinion research. Dr. Neuman has done landmark public opinion research with many parts of Canadian society, including Northerners, Urban Aboriginal people and Muslims. The Environics Institute http://environicsinstitute.org/ was founded in 2006 to promote relevant and original public opinion and social research on important issues of public policy and social change.

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Speaker’s Event
Filling the gaps in a globalized world: Learning about perceptions and attitudes of Central Asians

A globalized world demands knowledge from every part of the planet.
The five countries that make up Central Asia have 64 million inhabitants (almost double Canada’s population), who live in an area spanning 4 million km2 (about two-fifths the size of Canada), with a nominal GPD of $166 billion (about one-tenth of Canada’s).

Have you ever wondered what people in Central Asia are thinking about? What are their attitudes and perceptions in terms of the social, political, and economic issues they are facing? Canadians by and large have little awareness of this region of the world, unless they are policy wonks, NGOs or voyagers who prefer the road less travelled.

M-Vector is an international research firm believes that there is a profound lack of systematic, objective and comparative data about perceptions and attitudes of the people in Central Asia. In this presentation, they will share the results of their 2012 survey undertaken in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on a wide range of topics: the performance of government institutions; support of political parties and politicians; which social, economic or political issues are priorities for citizens; international relations and attitudes toward immigration.

This rare presentation will be of particular interest to Canadian and international organizations, universities, NGOs, social and foreign policy makers and anyone interested in learning more about this diverse and rapidly changing region.

The Presenter: Yury Gerasimchuk
Yury Gerasimchuk has more than 15 years’ experience in market and public opinion research, management and marketing. He is co-founder and a director of M-Vector, an international market research and consulting firm with offices in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) and in Canada. Yury has been involved in consulting and research projects for a wide range of non-profit and business organizations, including The World Bank, UNDP, USAID, Coca-Cola, The Global Fund, Schwarzkopf & Henkel, FAO, EBRD and UNICEF.

He has completed an International MBA and is a member of ESOMAR and the Canadian Institute of Marketing.

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Speaker’s Event
Canada Revenue Agency's Taxpayer Attitudinal Segmentation Research

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has conducted research aimed at understanding the motivations of Canadians related to taxation system and the roles of government.  CRA also identified specific subgroups with common values, attitudes and believes and their effect on successful communications related to taxation, compliance and voluntary reporting.

In this presentation, Stefan Gieselmann will share highlights of the findings from this research. We will learn about the size and scope of specific segments of Canadians in terms of their awareness and understanding of taxation and compliance and how to effectively communicate with Canadians about these issues.

One application of the research was to help CRA determine which communications products, and which messages would be most likely to encourage voluntary compliance through this representative, segmented portrait of Canadians. Within this research, CRA also looked at how Canadians define compliance with the aim of uncovering knowledge gaps or misconceptions that may be contributing towards non-compliant behaviour.

Ultimately, this research informs a process of driving social change to shift Canadians’ overall compliance profile.

The Presenter: Stefan Gieselmann
Assistant Director, Public Opinion Research and Environmental Analysis Division, Canada Revenue Agency

Stefan graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics in 1995. In 1996 he joined Revenue Canada in its Collections department. In 1998, he was selected for the Management Trainee Program and completed a series of assignments across the agency, now known as Canada Revenue Agency.

Stefan graduated from the program in 2003 and spent five years working as a Senior Advisor in the Public Opinion Research and Environmental Analysis Division before becoming its Assistant Director. In 2010-2011, Phoenix Strategic Perspectives was contracted to conduct the CRA’s Taxpayer Attitudinal Segmentation Research (TASeR).

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MRIA Ottawa Event
Beyond the Headlines: An Open Forum with Leading Researchers and Journalists

You’ve seen the headlines.

“Canadians believe ‘green’ oil development possible: poll” (Postmedia News, May 3, 2012)

“Hallelujah! Canadians Agree It’s Time to Legalize Marijuana” (Vancouver Sun, January 19, 2012)

“Wildrose Party set for sweeping majority, latest poll shows” (Globe and Mail, April 22, 2012)

Polling firms are under renewed scrutiny for not calling the 2012 Alberta election correctly. And with four federal elections in only seven years (2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011) resulting in three minority governments, Canadians may have seen more “horse-race” headlines than at any time before.

This unique forum seeks to shed new light on the intersections between research organizations and the media.

Researchers have been busy discussing the merits of different methodologies while journalists are working to make sense of an unfolding and shifting world.

Journalists work in the pursuit of fact and truth so that Canadians have the information they need to make choices for themselves and understand the world in which we live. Researchers like to think that “polls strengthen Canada’s democracy by giving voice and influence to Canadians on products, services and issues that directly affect their lives.”

Hear from some of Canada’s leading voices through presentations and an interactive panel discussion. This forum will also give participants ample opportunity to ask their own questions and discuss implications.

Researchers: Michael Adams, Frank Graves, Greg Lyle
Journalists: Glen McGregor, Éric Grenier

About the Presenters/Panelists

Panelist:  Michael Adams
President, Environics Group of Companies 

Michael Adams is the president of the Environics group of research and communications consulting companies which he co-founded in 1970. He is the author of six books, including: Sex in the Snow: Canadian Social Values at the End of the Millennium (1997); Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values (2003); and Unlikely Utopia: The Surprising Triumph of Canadian Pluralism (2007).  In 2006, Michael founded the Environics Institute for Social Research, a non-profit entity whose mission is to sponsor relevant and original public opinion and social research on issues of public policy and social change. Mr. Adams has written two recent articles on public opinion polling in Canada, available at http:// www.environicsinstitute.org.

Panelist: Frank Graves
President EKOS Research Associates Inc.

Mr. Graves is one of Canada’s leading public opinion, social policy and public policy experts as well as being one of its leading applied social researchers. In 1980, he founded EKOS Research Associates Inc., an applied social and economic research firm. Under the leadership of Mr. Graves, EKOS has earned a reputation for creative and rigorous research in the areas of public policy, social policy and program evaluation and as a leader in innovative survey techniques and methodology. In recent years, Mr. Graves has advised some of Canada’s most senior decision-makers on many of these topics. He also lectures and has published widely on program evaluation, research design and related methodological topics.

Panelist: Éric Grenier
ThreeHundredEight.com

Mr. Grenier is the author and creator of ThreeHundredEight.com, a political website focusing on polls. He is a weekly online contributor to The Globe and Mail, author of "The Pulse" at The Huffington Post Canada, and columnist for The Hill Times. He also wrote for Le Devoir during the 2011 federal election and contributes periodically to Le Huffington Post Québec.

Panelist:  Greg Lyle
Managing Director, Innovative Research Group Inc.

Mr. Lyle is the founder and Managing Director of Innovative Research Group Inc. (INNOVATIVE), a national public opinion research and strategy firm with offices in Toronto and Vancouver. As a former Principal Secretary to Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon, he has built a career at the intersection of public opinion, communications and public policy. He has provided strategic counsel to public, private and not-for profit clients across a variety of sectors including financial services, insurance, transportation, resource industries, energy, health care, and education. His polls have been highlighted in media across the country: Maclean’s, the Globe and Mail, Postmedia outlets, CKNW, CTV News Channel and BNN.  Mr. Lyle’s most recent campaign polling engagement was for the Alberta PC’s in the April 2012 election.

Panelist: Glen McGregor
Senior Writer, Ottawa Citizen
Mr. McGregor is an Ottawa Citizen reporter covering government, politics and anything else of interest to him. He specializes in data journalism, finding new ways to use social media as a tool for journalism and Twitter evangelism @glen_mcgregor.

He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa.

How to Register

Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

Speaker’s Luncheon

A Sector with a World of Opportunity: Tourism Market Research on Emerging Labour Shortages

Tourism is a highly competitive global sector. Tourism plays an important role in Canada’s economy and international advertising campaigns continue to drive demand. But what are the implications of significant labour shortages that are expected in the tourism sector?

Scott Meis, Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC), will share vital information needed to understand the dynamics within the tourism sector. He will explain how the tourism sector and its labour force are defined and measured and touch on the varied industries that make up the sector as a whole.

He will showcase a range of new statistical instruments that have been developed by CTHRC to measure various labour aspects of tourism. Armed with the latest labour supply/demand projections, demographic profiles and compensation and non-monetary benefit survey results, Scott Meis will share this new knowledge and insights. Key questions of job attraction, turnover and attrition will be explored from the perspective of the challenges of anticipated broad-based shortages of skilled labour in this important sector.

The Presenter: Scott Meis
President, Scott M. Meis Research Associates (SMMRA)
Special Adviser on Program Evaluation & Research to the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council

Scott, formerly Executive Director, Research of the Canadian Tourism Commission, currently serves as Special Adviser on Program Evaluation & Research to the  Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council, Co-Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the International Center of Studies in the Tourism Economy (CISET) at the Universiti Ca Foscari Di Venez in Italy, Adjunct Professor, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Guelph and Professor, Marketing and Business Intelligence Research program, Algonquin College.

In 2006 he formed SMMRA, an Ottawa-based industry and market research firm, specializing in socio-economic and statistical analysis of tourism, parks and recreation based on  more than 30 years of experience in managing,  directing and advising research in tourism, parks and recreation organizations in Canada and internationally. His clients include a range of local national and international public and private organizations.

In June 2007, the Travel and Tourism Research Association recognized his industry contributions through a Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Speaker’s Luncheon

Market Research on Steroids: Where Competitive and Security Intelligence Meet

There are many important aspects to market research.

This compelling presentation will demonstrate the significance of intelligence research and, more importantly, how to incorporate security intelligence assessment into market analysis. This is what we could quite simply call “a complete Market 360°.”

It is quite common for academic studies and work experience to lack a focus on assessment of risk and threat from a security point of view. Long-standing views exclude this component from market analysis, deeming it “cop work” instead. However, the consequences can be disastrous when risk indicators or “threat agents” are missed or ignored.

Competitive and security intelligence are complementary and corporate executive officers and leaders in public and private organizations should consider injecting a risk/security reflex into their DNA.

This presentation is a rare opportunity to get the inside story on corporate applications of this research from one of Canada’s pre-eminent experts in the field.

The Presenter: Michel Juneau-Katsuya, CEO, the Northgate Group
Michel Juneau-Katsuya is internationally recognized as one of Canada’s foremost experts in international and national security and intelligence, and economic and industrial espionage. A frequent media commentator on security and intelligence, Michel, as CEO of Ottawa-based The Northgate Group, is in demand across the world to perform Threat and Risk Assessments and security audits for a wide range of clients.

He began his career with the RCMP before transferring to the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS). There he advanced to Chief of the Strategic Analysis Unit, Asia/Pacific where his unit became focused on issues of economic and industrial espionage against Canada, and the ramifications for Canadian society and its economy. This work led to his team becoming rapidly recognized among international intelligence services for their expertise in that domain.

Michel is the co-author Nest of Spies: The Startling Truth About Foreign Agents at Work Within Canada’s Borders, (Harper-Collins 2009) and Ces espions venus d'ailleurs (Stanké 2009). He is currently working on two new books.

How to Register

Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

Speaker’s Luncheon

Gone Camping: Research on Turning Grasslands National Park into a Family Destination

Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan is one of Canada's great treasures, but with its 'rustic' facilities and few amenities for tourists in the area, it attracts fewer than 10,000 visitors each year.

Aided by research, Grasslands has been developing infrastructure like trails and a campground in order to turn itself into a tourist destination and attract more visitors. Through new research in 2011, Parks Canada Agency wanted to understand whether these new amenities would be attractive to a key market segment: urban families with younger children.

The 2011 research design went beyond traditional survey and focus group modes to learn what urban families expected and to learn how Grasslands could become an attractive destination to this important segment.

Six families with children under 12 living within a four-hour drive of the Grasslands were recruited to spend two nights camping at the park. Each family completed a diary during their camping trip and participated in a telephone interview the week following their experience.

This presentation will discuss why this research method was chosen, how it was developed and share highlights from the report of findings that combined information from both the trip diaries and the interviews. Any organization looking to understand and attract families to their services or products will benefit from these insights.

The Presenter: Frank Grigel, CMRP
Frank Grigel, CMRP, is a Social Monitoring Specialist with Parks Canada in Calgary. He has been with the Social Science Unit for the last 10 of his 30 years at Parks Canada. In his current role, Frank monitors the relationship between people and park ecosystems through a wide range of research throughout western and northern Canada. He completed his graduate studies in sociology, specializing in research methods and statistics, at the Universities of Calgary and Alberta.

Frank was the senior researcher for the Grasslands Family Experience Study. He readily acknowledges the insights and work by Rachel Cooley and Jennifer Aragon (Social Science Analysts with Parks Canada). Without their research design skills and ability to adapt to constantly changing circumstances, this research would not have been completed.

Special Bonus: Meet the Marketing and Business Intelligence Research Class of 2012

Meet Algonquin College's Marketing and Business Intelligence Research students at this month's Speaker's Luncheon. The 24 graduate-level students, who represent a wide diversity of backgrounds and skills, will attend this presentation. They will bring examples of their workplace skills along to show the breadth of their training, education and experience.

We've extended the duration of the February 27 event somewhat in order to enhance networking and information sharing opportunities for everyone. The February luncheon begins at 11:30 am to give everyone a chance to meet. The MBIR students will be there to demonstrate their familiarity with current technologies, describe their experience with project work for clients, and provide CV's if requested.

Lunch will be served promptly at 12 noon and our speaker will commence his presentation shortly thereafter.

Following the speaker's presentation, the students as well as some of their internship employers will take over the microphone.

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Speaker’s Luncheon
From Environmental Scans to Mystery Shopping

Organizations in the public and private sectors are continuously evaluating ways to position their services and products in a dynamic marketing landscape.

Do you need to reach your audiences with important service messages?
Do you need to achieve results with fewer campaign resources?
Do you want to establish some kind of competitive edge in your market space?

David Lithwick will draw on his broad experience to showcase the methods and outcomes of successful competitive intelligence assessments.

Whether you are concerned about reducing marketing expenditures, increasing revenues or pre-empting a competitor threat, environmental scans, competitive analysis and mystery shopping empower managers and decision makers to chart a way forward. These methods often rely on project managers or frontline staff who define, gather, analyze and distribute critical information in an ethical manner using the proper tools. This is no small undertaking. Bringing together disparate bits of data, looking for patterns and producing relevant intelligence is a challenging task.

About the Presenter:
David Lithwick is principal at Market Alert Limited, a Toronto based consultancy, specializing in competitive intelligence, competitor benchmarking and mystery shopping.

With 25 years providing intelligence support to business leaders including Bell Mobility, CIBC, General Motors, Home Depot, Pepsi, Petro-Canada and Pfizer, David delivers a presentation loaded with real life examples and one that is easy to follow.

David has written “Competitive Intelligence Manual for Marketing Practitioners”, authored 35 articles, and lectures on behalf of MRIA, Canadian Marketing Association and Canadian university executive development programs.

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Speaker’s Luncheon
International Research: Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing World Economy

The dynamics of the world economy are changing: the industrialized developed economies are welcoming a new set of players into what was once an exclusive club. As new economies emerge and the North Atlantic basin, which was once a small pond around which all the world's major economic and financial decisions were made, is now increasing rivalled by multiple centres to the south, the east and the west. And while this presents challenges for the industrialized countries' traditional industries, the new dynamics also beget new opportunities for the marketing research industry worldwide. And along with new opportunities for international researchers come different challenges.

Our speaker, Ilda Islas, ProGlobal Fieldwork, will guide us through these new opportunities and challenges of the new era.

About the Presenter:
Ilda Islas is President of ProGlobal Fieldwork Ltd., a research firm devoted to international data collection for quantitative and qualitative research projects via telephone, face-to-face, online and mixed methodologies. Ms. Islas regularly balances schedules among 20 to 30 research suppliers for several multi-country projects simultaneously. She has developed strong professional working relationships with research organizations in over 60 countries around the world. Ms. Islas is accustomed to working in international settings and is understanding and respectful of cross-cultural sensitivities. She is an expert in research protocols in most countries and can provide accurate and realistic recommendations on project feasibility, budget and timing.

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Mini-Conference & Networking
The 2011 Federal Election: Lessons Learned for Public Opinion Researchers

Mini-conference held Thursday, September 22, 2011
Le Salon – National Arts Centre, Ottawa

MRIA Ottawa convened a timely forum of leading public opinion research professionals who tracked the pulse of public opinion during the 2011 federal election campaign. This blue-ribbon panel of knowledge seekers candidly shared with us what they learned during one of the most exciting election campaigns in Canadian history.

See highlights and links to presentations.

Speaker’s Luncheon
Mobile Research: best practices in design, maintaining participation, incentives and more…

Although Mobile research is still considered an emerging mode of data collection, it is delivering new and surprising insights to those who are experimenting with the mode. Expanding our ability to track thoughts, movement and behaviours in real-time, mobile research enables point of experience engagement like never before.

While current penetration and incidence of Smartphones concerns methodologists, impressive growth of Smartphone adoption is exciting research visionaries. After all, about 1 in 4 wireless subscribers are already Smartphone users, with Canada projected to reach 50% penetration in 2014. The presentation will highlight a range of case studies as a backdrop for discussing best practices in mobile research design, maintaining participation, incentives and more.

About the Presenter:
Sean Conry, VP, Business Development, Techneos Systems Inc, specializes in implementing mobile technology-driven research solutions for global research organizations and brands. A frequent speaker at industry conferences, he is one of the market research industry’s leading experts on the topic of App-based mobile research. Sean is a past President of the BC Chapter of the MRIA, the inaugural recipient of the MRIA Award of Distinction, and was selected in 2010 receive the Next Gen Market Research Award for Disruptive Innovation in Market Research for work in Mobile Digital Ethnography.

How to Register
Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

Speaker’s Luncheon
E-Business in Wine Industry SMEs: Research based on the Web and Social Media

This research was begun in 2006 when the authors developed a research instrument designed to gather data concerning how well small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the wine industry provide information, facilitate online purchase and develop customer relationships via their websites. Based on a content analysis of a randomly selected sample of Canadian, American, French, Australian and Chilean winery websites, the research team found that a high proportion of SME wineries utilise websites to provide information to consumers; a range of purchase facilitation models exist; and the proportion of wineries that utilise their websites to develop customer relationships varies across countries, with Californian and Chilean wineries leading the way. Interestingly, a low proportion of winery websites facilitated customer-to-customer or ‘community’ contact.

In 2010, the team went back to each of the members of the earlier sample to gather data concerning how much has changed both in use of websites by these SMEs as well as their use of social media. The presentation will discuss the challenges of conducting this research as well as highlight key findings concerning the use of both company web sites and social media by wine SMEs internationally.

Presenters
Judith Madill, Ph.D.
Professor, and
Holder of the Paul Desmarais Professorship in Marketing,
Telfer School of Management,
University of Ottawa

Leighann C. Neilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Marketing
Sprott School of Business
Carleton University

George Haines, Ph.D.
Professor (ret.)
Sprott School of Business
Carleton University

How to Register
Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

Speaker’s Luncheon
Media Scans: Where Sister Social and Brother Traditional Team Up to Provide Enhanced Content Analysis

Michael Sloboda, Director of Media Intelligence for MediaMiser, will give a presentation revolving around both social and traditional media scans, content analysis and how to combine tone, attention, and prominence to derive a metric for Media Visibility. This will apply to print, online, and broadcast media.

This concept (Media Visibility) is being used both private and public companies and departments as a surrogate for primary market research such as surveys and to corroborate other types of analysis in activities such as program evaluations and benchmarking. The presenter will review the method, tools, and present a case study.

This presentation will provide the audience with a new approach to get an understanding of public opinions on issues, programs, or brands via media scanning and content analysis.

About the Presenter
Michael Sloboda, Director of Media Intelligence for MediaMiser, has more than twenty five years of experience in the fields of market research and business intelligence. At MediaMiser, Michael is responsible for developing new products and enhancing existing product offerings.

Michael holds a B.Eng. from Concordia University in Montreal, an M.A. Economics from the University of Ottawa, a Graduate Certificate in Marketing and Business Intelligence Research from Algonquin College in Ottawa and a Canadian Securities Certificate from the Canadian Securities Institute.

How to Register
Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

Speaker’s Luncheon
Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR): The past, the present and into the future...

Frank Graves, CMRP, President of EKOS Research Associates, will present a candid and practical review of the use of Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) in marketing research. He will examine the history and evolution of IVR with a view to considering its strengths and weaknesses, both for the collection of survey data and as an input device to probability panel construction.

The discussion will consider issues of statistical representativeness, size, and patterns of nonresponse. IVR will be critically evaluated against alternative data collection technologies with a view to where the approach can and should be cost effectively applied to contemporary survey problems. Technical issues of nonresponse, response burden, social desirability bias and other factors will be considered along with non-technical issues such as reputational issues of IVR. The presenter will argue that while IVR has clear technical and reputational limitations, it also has significant strengths and advantages, particularly for some important, albeit defined, areas of application.

The presentation will also consider the unique Canadian context, in particular the differences vis-à-vis the United States with respect to the numbers and accessibility of cell-only respondents. The presenter will conclude that IVR is an underutilised solution – even though partial – to the array of formidable threats and opportunities confronting survey researchers in this period of enormous transition.

About the Presenter
As founder of EKOS Research Associates Inc., Frank Graves is one of the country's leading applied social researchers, directing some of the largest and most challenging social research projects conducted in Canada. Mr. Graves is an expert in a number of substantive fields and has advised some of Canada's most senior decision-makers in both the private and public sectors. He is also a regular commentator on many national issues, and has been described as Canada's most influential pollster.

Mr. Graves graduated from Carleton University with a B.A. in Social Anthropology, M.A. in Sociology and has completed doctoral coursework in Sociology.

How to Register
Please log in to the MRIA Portal (non-members using the Portal for the first time will be prompted to create an account); in the left hand navigation select “Events & Publications” and then “Process an Event”. Locate the event title in the list of events and proceed with your registration.

To view the entire presentation archive click here.

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