First-Timers Scoop B2B Conference Awards

BIG, the UK's B2B research association, held its summer party and annual presentation of conference awards last night in a hotel in Bloomsbury, central London. Adam Blunt from NOP World Business won Best Paper for a talk on bulletin board groups and BPRI's Anna McAvoy won for Best Presented Paper.

As last year, the Montague-on-the-Gardens hotel provided a novel setting for the get-together, nestling flower trellises and tall trees amongst the backs of houses, with a patio and barbecue format catering for a capacity crowd of nearly 60 researchers.

Although the conference's web site describes the awards as 'never an easy decision', the conference committee has recently followed the Eurovision Song Contest in abandoning a panel of judges in favour of vox pop. Blunt's paper received the highest overall mark from conference attendees who rate each paper they see, while McAvoy's was a clear winner in the separate marking for presentation style. So in fact it must have been quite easy, unless of course the adding up was done by a quallie? No doubt the important point is that the quality of papers at this year's Conference was exceptionally high so the winners are the cream of a good crop.

Both winners were speaking at the conference for the first time. Blunt used case studies to illustrate the use of web-based bulletin boards for B2B research, with 'groups' conducted over several days and a moderator setting daily discussion topics to which respondents submit responses and debate issues. Results are impressive among busy respondents who find it hard to commit two hours to a more orthodox group, but can contribute to the more flexible format. It also allows larger groups, real-time transcripts and cost savings, among other benefits which trade off against the loss of non-verbal communication, the difficulty ( / impossibility) of protecting confidential stimulus material and the greater ease of dropping out.

McAvoy's paper on the challenges of researching in emerging markets was reviewed in DRNO immediately after the conference, www.mrweb.com/drno/news4079.htm . Further details and summaries of all other sessions and papers can be found on the BIG Conference web site at www.bigconference.org . The winners received certificates and travel vouchers.

BIG, which stands for Business Intelligence Group, is online at www.b2bresearch.org

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.