CONGRESS 2009
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RESEARCH IDOL
You’ve got to see it to believe it
The serious side of Research Idol
Increasingly researchers are asked not only to present their findings but to convince both external and internal clients about the data collected and the insights generated. This is not an easy task. It requires creativity, a sense of presence and a host of other soft skills which are not always taught to aspiring or established market researchers. This Congress session gives researchers the chance to show that they have these skills and are not afraid to use them.
There were some at the Congress who were asking “this is a fun session isn’t it – not to be taken seriously?” Well yes it was serious because learning to present differently is a key part of coping with the digital age.
What the press had to say
One great innovation at this year’s Congress was ‘Research Idol’. A host of people submitted their ideas and six competed, for three minutes each, on Thursday in the semi-final. The final was held in the main hall on Friday morning, with three contenders. All of whom had been given just a few hours to prepare a three minute presentation on the topic of where research needs to go, without the aid of visual aids. One of the three was Philip de Wulf, who gave a highly competent, engaging, and witty exposition. Philip’s performance was a great example of a ‘normal’ approach, done very well. But the other two presenters opted for an approach that was performance art. Pravin Shekar used his three minutes to give a bravura combination of stand up comedy and motivational session, using his body and the full range of voices as tools in his performance. I was sure Pravin would win until Namita Mediratta took to the stage. Namita gave us three minutes of pure Bolywood, acting the part of first the consumer, then the researcher, and finally the client, using the metaphor of a marriage on the rocks to make her point, adding verse and song as part of the communication. The session brought home two messages to me: a) We can push the boundaries much, much further than most people had assumed, and to a higher standard, and b) this sort of session is not just for wannabees, Philip is a major thinker and led a great Master Class on decision making, Pravin is a widely respected speaker and runs an outsourcing company based in India, and Namita (who, by the way, is client side, working for Unilever Indonesia) not only won the Research Idol competition, but she was also one of the three authors of the paper that won the Congress’s ‘Best Methodological Paper’ award.
(Ray Poynter, The Future Place Blog)
Other testimonials
“...Great fun all round and the most effective way to illustrate how research presentations can be improved”
“Play is an important element in any innovation process and, according to Dan Pink, even a core competence for the next generation.”
“...Research Idol helped showcase the creative talent we have within the industry. It displayed what makes a good researcher – Thinking on your feet, communication skills, making things simple for clients / consumers, empathy, listening skills, a thick skin and knowledge….In addition it showed that MR can be such fun.”