Future of Insights 2024: Top Takeaways from UGA’s MMR Summit

by Heather Sutphin

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Future of Insights Summit at the University of Georgia. This biennial event, hosted by the Master of Marketing Research (MMR) Program at the Terry College of Business, brings together a broad spectrum of marketing research professionals, including suppliers, clients, and academic insights professionals. The programming highlights what’s new in the industry and what’s currently driving business success. Following a full day of engaging sessions and networking at the Future of Insights Summit, here are my key takeaways:

Future of Insights Takeaway #1

AI is here and if we don’t embrace it, we will fall behind

As with other industry events this year, AI was a big focus of the Future of Insights Summit. Even in sessions not dedicated to AI, it often became a topic of discussion. From writing emails to reviewing reports to analyzing open-end data, it’s now clear that leveraging AI can help us perform better at our jobs. The keys are learning how to leverage the tools, and understanding when to use them and what level of trust to put into them. Using AI tools to drive efficiencies, to get us 75% there, enables us to spend our time adding real value elsewhere. Bottomline: we can choose how to utilize it, but it’s evident that opting out is no longer an option.

Future of Insights Takeaway #2

Tools and technology are important, but so are people

Two Future of Insights sessions focused on broadening our assumptions about respondents, and making research more accessible and applicable. The approach the industry has traditionally used in demographic questions, for instance, needs to expand as we understand more deeply that people are more than just one thing. Simply allowing “select all that apply” as an option for an ethnicity/race question can help respondents feel valued. Additionally, adapting our surveys so that visually or hearing-impaired respondents have a better experience can make the process better for all of our respondents. These things aren’t just the right thing to do, they make our work better.

At the end of the day, we are all human beings interacting with each other, and trying to understand why consumers behave the way they do. Yes, we love our numbers and PowerPoint slides, but we still care about people. This came through across presentations, showcasing not only how we approach inclusion in our research, but also in how we interact with each other as peers. Within our jobs and industry, we still yearn for connection.

Future of Insights Takeaway #3

As much as things have changed, not much has changed

Some of the Future of Insights sessions dealt with age-old issues, noting that it is critically important to understand the context of our research and to pay attention to timing and market factors when fielding studies. As an industry, we still struggle with trying to “sell” our ideas to stakeholders, and we all deal with data discrepancies that threaten to undermine confidence in our results. Presentations highlighted some of these evergreen challenges, such as stakeholders questioning sample quality and teams balancing resource management with requests. Though the proliferation of research and market challenges may be evolving, at the heart of it all, we have many of the same issues that we did in years past.

However, it’s evident that connecting at industry events, like the Future of Insights Summit, is essential for on-going collaboration with our peers, and with the next generation of researchers, to drive solutions to the shared issues that impact our industry.

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Source: Feature Image – ©Jacob – stock.adobe.com