Recap: Quarantined Virtual Insights Conference (#QVIC2020)

On April 14-15, 2020, Accelerant Research hosted the Quarantined Virtual Insights Conference (#QVIC2020) as a welcome distraction from the chaotic newsreel about the coronavirus outbreak and quarantine. Conference speakers, moderators, and attendees all tuned-in on Zoom and YouTube livestream from the comfort of their personal workspaces for an opportunity to hear from, and network with, industry professionals on a variety of subjects. Session topics ranged from behavioral economics and influencing insights with storytelling to timely discussions about why we hoard toilet paper and job hunting in the time of Covid-19. The 1,000+ insights professionals that attended the virtual conference were respectful of any disruptions that occurred. Though there was an appliance delivered in the middle of a speaker talk and dogs barking in the background, everyone took the interruptions in stride and made the most of the interaction.

​All archived conference presentations are available by clicking here.  Some of the speakers that had people talking:

• Dr. Paul Zak, founder of Immersion Neuroscience, opened everyone’s minds with his talk about neurologic immersion and how positive feelings toward content does not necessarily correlate to impact and action. Through extensive research, he has developed biological metrics that can measure a person’s attention and emotional resonance, which can be utilized by researchers for more accurate predictions. It will be interesting to see how these types of metrics are integrated into the market research industry in the future.

• Providing a window into Mars Petcare’s approach to Shopped Based Design, Karen Lee (Senior Shopper Insights Manager) brought to life the work of a cat researcher. The attendees got to see the breakdown about how Mars Petcare thinks about cat food buyers, and the ways that they gain insight on what’s important to their clientele. No doubt that many researchers were jealous of the testing facilities that Mars Petcare has available in Nashville. Those look amazing!

• Dr. Marcus Cunha discussed his research about Behavioral Economics at the University of Georgia as a professor of Marketing. His thought-provoking presentation displayed the various ways question syntax and/or content order can influence responses. For example, simply showing a completely unrelated number that is low or high can influence a respondent’s estimation. Even though general economics ideologies assume people to be rational beings, Dr. Cunha reminded the audience how complex humans are!

• In this new world of social distancing, Dr. Jenny Callans, UX Senior Design Researcher at Ford Motor Company, discussed her approach to building rapport at a distance. As an anthropologist, Dr. Callans explained her preference for sharing space with participants and learning from their environment. But, in the current situation where we cannot physically interact with interviewees, she discussed the tricks and logistics of how to build trust and gain insight from virtual and telephone interviews. It was fascinating to hear that being forced by the current pandemic to make the shift from in-person to virtual methodologies may bring about a more long-term preference for remote research, and researchers may be required to provide a detailed justification of why research should be in-person in the future.

Feedback from the conference confirmed the appreciation that both speakers and attendees felt for an opportunity to engage with like-minded colleagues in the research/insights industry and a break from the routine of working in their home silos. The question and answer sessions after each talk were lively and engaging. It was uplifting to see the attendance that the conference garnered when many people are craving connection and mental stimulation. All the videos from the conference are freely available to view (link), and Accelerant Research hopes to keep the conversation flowing about how researchers are coping and thriving in this life in a time of coronavirus.
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Accelerant Research is a full-service marketing research and consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC, which specializes in customer loyalty, product development, customer satisfaction measurement, modeling, tracking, qualitative research, and brand analytics. Contact at 704-206-8500 and [email protected].