Youth and experience

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said

'Youth is wasted on the young'.

He was probably an old fart whose mind still wanted to party long after his body stopped turning up. A common retort is that

'wisdom is wasted on the old'

which is a variant on the theme of 'if I knew then what I know now'.

The research industry has a long tradition of mentoring and passing on our wisdom to the next generation. As well as old farts turning up to the Conference dinner and dancing like it's still 1975, they do redeem themselves with the generous sharing of knowledge whenever approached by our young talent.

In another first, the 2009 Conference has a dedicated stream for young researchers at heavily discounted prices, giving our industry's young talent access to some wise mentors such as Barbara Jones, Martin O'Shannessy, Tim Bock, Donna van Bueren and Hugh Mackay.

Hugh is of course one of Australia's best known and much respected social researchers and media commentators. Hugh continues to draw an audience for his evidence-based social commentary and his more recent work as a writer of fiction.

Young researchers are very much encouraged to attend the YRG stream to learn from the successes and mistakes of our industry's achievers.

And if you are a manager of a talented young researcher, send them along, encourage them to attend, and definitely avoid saying or even thinking "they didn't have this when I was a young researcher". No, they didn't have the internet, and mobile 'phones were the size of a briefcase, and as for acetate slides, punch cards...!

If John Winston Howard was a journalist...

As a journalist of some renown, you get the feeling that George Megalogenis (Dream Panelist in Thursday's closing session) would probably get asked a lot of questions about the journalistic profession.

As a political commentator who’s quite adept at analyzing political personalities, he probably also gets asked a lot of questions about political personalities. Given the predilection of current and former Australian prime ministers towards dabbling in journalism, it’s only natural that the two occasionally overlap.

This video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVKgeNp6qD8) is a great example of George’s thinking applied to politicians as journalists. (It's an excerpt from a longer clip from a
Centre for Advanced Journalism panel session.)

In short, he asks himself (and answers) what kind of journalists Hawke, Keating, Howard and Rudd would be. Who would get too big for the newspaper? Who would make himself available to every type of media that will take him? It’s a good example of the quality of thought we can look forward to at the 2009 AMSRS Conference (without even mentioning entertainment value).

Perhaps an interesting question to raise at the Conference could be what kind of researcher might Hawke, Keating, Howard and Rudd be?

Scotland’s best/worst export

Few things polarise the punters as much as golf. For some people it’s the ultimate combination of relaxation and challenge – for others it’s the perfect way to ruin a nice walk.

Either way, the 2009 AMSRS golf day is coming, and you’re invited!

Where? Moore Park Golf Glub.
When? Tuesday 29 September (the day before the AMSRS Conference).
No, I mean what time? Tee off from 12pm.
Free drinks? Open bar at the 19th hole from 5pm (non-players welcome).

Anyone associated with the market and social research industry is welcome to register – you don’t have to be attending the conference, and all standards of golf will be catered for.

AMSRS members will compete for the much-coveted John Cowl trophy, and suppliers will compete with research users for a separate trophy.

The event is being hosted by the good folks at Cint (http://www.thecrowd.com.au/) and Taverner Research (http://www.taverner.com.au/).

To register, go to www.taverner.com.au/AMSRSGolfDay2009.htm.

Looks like a fun day out!

Turn and face the strange

I'm not much for reading leadership and management books. I tend to eye them off in airport bookshops and then settle for the SMH crosswords instead.

However, a friend from work recently lent me Tribes - Seth Godin's 2008 offering.

Some of it I can do without, but some of it rings nice big bells:

"Change isn't made by asking permission. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later."

The theme of change runs strongly through the Conference this year - not just because we've changed things about the Conference, but because it's integral to many of the stories that our presenters are telling. Stories about what they've changed (and how, and why), calls to arms as global environmental and economic change bears down upon us (or lifts us up), and dreams of what the future might hold.

When we selected the papers earlier this year we were excited by the amount and nature of change in the air. Seeing the papers come in for review over the last six weeks has confirmed our suspicions - this Conference is one not to miss.

Research moves in mysterious ways

Michelle Pascoe will be speaking in the Retailing stream on Day Two, with her session: "Mystery shopping in the clubs industry: the first 11 years".

Michelle is the current President of the NSW Chapter of the National Speakers Association of Australia (NSAA). I approached her to speak at the Conference this year as she is an excellent communicator and I thought we could learn from her.

Michelle then started telling me about her research. I said 'what research?'. It turns out that Michelle has been doing research for years, focusing on the 'clubs industry' with a really interesting, integrated approach to customer perceptions research, mystery customer research, strtategy development, staff training, etc for continuous improvement and periodic transformational change.

It's always refreshing to talk to someone who is not 'mainstream'. When Michelle gave me a copy of her book - "Igniting Potential" - I thought:

This is a really interesting way of writing up research. Why don't more researchers do this?!

If you want to buy a copy of Michelle's book, go to: http://www.oops.net.au/mybook.html.

Anh Do - saving the best 'til last!

When we started planning the Conference, we all agreed that having a big finish is important, ideally someone with a message of substance who can also entertain. We considered many high profile personalities and decided to go with Anh Do.

And I'm really glad we did.

I saw his show at the Sydney Opera House this weekend, and it was the best gig I've been to since I arrived in Australia in February 2005.

Anh himself arrived in Australia as a 2-year old on a Vietnamese refugee boat.

He weaves together his fascinating life story and his very funny comedy material to create an engaging and inspirational show.

For more information about Anh Do, go to his website: http://anhdo.com.au/ .

So when you plan your timings for the Conference, make sure you see every minute of Anh Do.

At the show I went to on Saturday, Anh was making a DVD, and that should be out in time for the Conference. I would expect many of those attending the Conference to be snapping up the DVD for more laughter therapy when they get home.

Best bang for debt

Another of our conference speakers is in the press today: George Megalogenis, The Australian's self-declared 'resident nit-picker', and one of our Dream Panel members (the final session on Thursday 1 October).

George is known for his canny use of research findings and published stats to challenge the status quo.

In today's edition of his Meganomics blog, he weighs in on the federal stimulus debate - to tweak or not to tweak? A mildly academic question, perhaps, given that only $17.7bn of the $66.7bn can realistically be altered (http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/meganomics).

One of George's other claims to fame is having successfully got under PM Rudd's skin a few months ago about his much-celebrated 'bloke act'. Quoting from his June 11 post:

KEVIN, mate, hate to break this to you but this bloke bender you are on at the moment is not a good look.

The more you try to sound like a regular fella, the more you invite the punters to laugh at you.

... And while I’ve got your attention, mate, stop trying to have an opinion on everything. You can’t be a know-it-all and a bloke at the same time.

A bloke knows when to say: “Dunno; don’t care.” Equally, a man in your position should be able to say: “Sorry, I don’t have time to watch Gordon Ramsay - can’t you see I’m running the bloody country?”

Looking forward to see what George has to say about the future of the research industry...

State of the Union

Peter Harris (AMSRS's very own Mr President) has quite the open door policy. Today he invited members of the Conference group on Linked In to feed through 'any ideas for content, tales or trends' into his preparation for the Conference, where he's been asked to talk about the state of the profession and industry in Australia.

Come on, don't be shy! If you're not on Linked In, just leave a comment on his Blog (http://aussieresearcher.blogspot.com/) or shoot him an email - peter.harris@cbr.com.au.

Are you Linked In?

Lots of people in the research community are on Linked In (http://www.linkedin.com/). It’s kinda like Facebook but focuses on work rather than babies, holidays and inane quiz games.

My recent survey of researchers on Linked In found that some people use it for head-hunting, but most people use it for nothing at all.

So let’s give this thing some life. Join the 100 Stories group on Linked In (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2181687&trk=anet_ug_grppro) and you’ll be able to connect with other delegates or members of the research community – before, during and after the conference.

Happy social networking!

@ 10 Aug - 30+ ppl in the group already - c'mon, you know you want to

'Nasty bogans'

The suspension of The Kyle and Jackie O Show has taken up more than its fair share of the airwaves, broadsheets and bandwidth since the ‘lie detector’ segment went so horribly wrong a week ago. Egos and exploitation, mortgages and moral high ground, cops and boycotts – there’s a lot to say, and a lot being said.

Adam Ferrier, one of our keynote speakers at the Conference (Wednesday 10.30am), is well outspoken on this matter. Check out his initial post on 30 July (http://consumerpsychologist.blogspot.com/)

“Everyone has a right to freedom of speech. However, society would be nicer if those who had the loudest voices did not represent everything base, banal, pathetic and sad about humanity. Kyle and Jackie O are harmful.”

This escalated to an open letter to the Ad industry on Friday 31 July, calling for : http://mumbrella.com.au/an-open-letter-to-the-ad-industry-dont-sponsor-kyle-jackie-o-8183#more-8183.

I’m bracing myself for some challenge (and solid Q+A) at the conference, where Adam is speaking about the kind of ‘human understanding’ needed for tomorrow’s brand building landscape. The title of his paper – Sorry, insight is not enough.

Downturn? What downturn?

Funny what happens when you put clever people in a blender.

Andy Dexter (Founder of leading UK agency Truth and keynote speaker on the Wednesday morning) is all about the idea that the current recession / economic downturn can be a great time for re-thinking, re-invention and renewal – a creative stimulus to end all creative stimuli.

Meanwhile, Rigas Harblias (Bannertyne House) reckons talk of downturn (and future upturn) is a joke.

“Upturn?? Who said anything about an upturn? There is no upturn because there was no downturn. All that happened is that we all hought we had money for a few years. But, as it turned out, we didn't. We just thought we did. See what I mean by understanding the perceptual field of the consumer? Two years ago we thought we were rich. Now we think we are ‘poor'. What changed? Nothing really. Just our perception. But perception is everything.”

Fortunately for us, these two fellas are both on the Dream Panel (Thursday arvo of the Conference). Good luck chairing this one Chris!

Check out http://www.mrsa.com.au/index.cfm?a=detail&id=3392&eid=172 for the source article in Research News.

Reel to reel

Check out this great little video from the 2007 Conference held at Luna Park: http://www.vimeo.com/5871861.

The video was shot and produced on-site by the good folks at ikon film (http://www.ikonfilm.com.au/) - Dominika Ferenz and John Nikolakopoulos. Thanks guys!

PS – Can someone remind me why I have a dummy in my mouth at 4:40?

Have you heard the buzz?

No, it’s not a bee plague. It’s the Conference – only 8 weeks away (30 Sep – 2 Oct), and shaping up to be a real heart starter.

Hot venue, cheap tix, challenging papers, big names, even bigger party – it’s got the lot.

Here’s the program: http://www.amsrs.com.au/files/Conference%2009/website/Conference09_Program_FINAL.pdf.

And you can register at http://www.amsrs.com.au/index.cfm?a=detail&eid=139&id=2941.

Early bird rate cuts out 4 Sep.

See you there.