Quirks London: What's it all about?

We are not an industry starved of opportunities to attend seminars, webinars and conferences. Seemingly every day there is an advert on LinkedIn or an email trailing a tempting topic or headline speaker. Indeed, industry bodies such as AURA, the MRS and ESOMAR have a well established programme of online and in person events. So, you might quite reasonably, be asking yourself, is it worth my while, taking at least 1 day out of the office??Here are my reflections after attending Quirks London earlier this month.

As a client-side researcher, I think there are 3 clear benefits of attending Quirks

Networking

Regardless of how long you have been in the industry, Quirks is undoubtedly a great networking platform, whether that is the chance to meet up with colleagues (past and present) or suppliers (current and potential). Post COVID, in person events seem have an extra air of novelty & excitement. If attending on your own, there are plenty of ways to engage: at the AURA stand at the event and members are welcome to come and seek out a friendly face. AURA also have a dedicated space at the event for members to use where you can grab a coffee and catch up with fellow members or take a break from the busy conference agenda. ?This space provides the opportunity to catch up with work calls and emails too.

Plus this year, AURA members were invited to attend networking drinks after day 1 of the conference which provided a much-welcomed chance to take in some stunning London views whilst chatting with members and the lovely people from VERVE.

Getting the low down on key industry hot topics

A wide range of topics were covered in the 70+ sessions that spanned the 2-day Quirks conference, including 8 sessions curated from amongst the AURA membership. Whilst there were sessions focused on previously favoured topics such as the impact of COVID, Storytelling, working with Big Data and research in the Metaverse, the themes that were most prevalent across the 2 days were AI and ChatGPT. The sessions that tackled these seemed to demonstrate how the technology had the potential to transform and disrupt some well-established market research practices, add value and complement what we do today. Lots of discussion was generated in the sessions I attended, good to see such a high level of engagement from the industry.?

Inspiration

In between the sessions I had a chance to wander around the exhibitor area. There was the refreshing blend of big established and new/smaller market research suppliers spanning different disciplines. I had some interesting conversations and enjoyed discovering some of the new tools and capabilities on display. I even made some new connections.

I am hoping these reflections may have inspired you to put Quirks at the top of your list when it comes to conferences you will earmark for future attendance. Don’t forget that if you are an AURA member you get free tickets!

I am looking forward to next year already!

Written by Louise Sharpe