The Market Research Technology Event kicks off tomorrow morning and I for one, am looking forward to three days of progressive thinking presentations and panels interspersed with some lively discussion and debate among those of us attending the conference. The over arching theme focuses on the changes we are seeing in the market research industry; changes resulting from the convergence of big data and new technologies. This is the second year of the event and if I can use the inaugural conference as a measuring stick, get ready for some unfamiliar ideas that will continue to move us away from the traditional research methods that seem to be the norm.

Reading through the final agenda I’ve created my focus list for the next three days…

• Use of mobile in gathering market data
• Big data – managing the overload
• Gaming as a means of gathering data
• Social media and crowdsourcing in market research
• Growth and adoption of real time data

On another note, something that surprised me last year (and at other industry events over the past 12 months) is the resistance I’ve seen to trying new technologies for gathering market data. One would think that as technology evolves and changes so must the market research industry or we risk not being able to connect and engage with our audience. If we aren’t using the technologies and channels where our audience actively lives (and I do mean lives… as in where they communicate, shares their lives, seek information, basically connect 24/7) how can we expect to get their feedback?

I wonder, has a year made a difference? Is there more openness to new ideas or is the market research industry largely entrenched in the same place it was last year? It should be an interesting three days; I invite you to follow the discussion.  You can catch the highlights on Twitter using the hashtag #TMRTE and of course via my blog posts… more to come.