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, 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.

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
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.

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
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.

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.

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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