|
Save the Dates!
GLC Fall Conference
Sept. 9-10 2010
Columbus, Ohio
Joint Chapter Conference
January 2011
Key West, Florida
(See Upcoming Events article below)
|
|
GLC President's Message 
My head is spinning with information...
By Ginny Kevorkian, PRC
With the amount of information, ideas and "to dos" I received during the Chapter Leader Training during the national conference in Boston in June, my head was spinning.
Jason Scott, our President-Elect and I attended all of the training National provided for Chapter leaders. Lisa Lockwood, Membership Manager and Hilary Fischer organized a very full day and a half of information and activity. On Friday, Sherri Dansby (GLC Director of Communication and Media), Lori Kolde (GLC Treasurer) and Dan Rangel (GLC Director of Programming) joined Jason and me for breakfast with the national board. Merrill Dubrow and Ed Sugar both presented more valuable information.
 The bottom line is there are numerous activities to stay on top of in order to keep the chapter running smoothly! The economic issues over the past year have made life especially difficult for the industry overall and have made keeping things running smoothly for the MRA more challenging. This year seems to be looking up and here are a couple of ideas I picked up in Boston to help us along:
Ø Networking! Are you LinkedIn? There are many ways to use this tool to build your personal network and to strengthen our Great Lakes Chapter at the same time. Use vehicles like LinkedIn to let people know about events you are attending. Spread the word about the educational value of the sessions; invite your contacts to go. You must have heard about the power of social media; use it.
Ø Membership! All chapters lost membership last year; that's bad news for everyone. This year, National has challenged all of us to increase membership by 10 percent. This will take some effort and National is taking a look at re-structuring and simplifying the membership tiers. We are hoping for more information on that in the near future. The Great Lakes Chapter is the second largest Chapter of the 12 that make up the MRA; let's do what we can to retain and recruit so we can remain strong.
The vitality of the MRA and all of the chapters depends on all of us: chapter members, chapter leaders, national board and staff. What do you want from your chapter? Is there something new you would like to see? Contact any board member and let them know. Is there something you would like to do to be more involved? Please make it a point this year to dialogue with the GLC, make your membership in the MRA work for you. If it works for you, it works for everyone.
Email Ginny at Ginny.kevorkian@comcast.net or call 574-250-3738. |
|
| Welcome 2010-2011
GLC Board Members
The 2010-2011 GLC Board was installed at the MRA National Conference on June 9, 2010. Thanks to all GLC members who voted during the April 2010 elections. The board members are as follows:
 (Pictured in front from left to right): Membership Director: Jim Ransom Director of Communications and Media: Sherri Dansby Treasurer: Lori Kolde Immediate Past President: Ken Strunk Programming Director: Dan Rangel President: Ginny Kevorkian President-Elect: Jason Scott
Secretary: Sharon Lally (Not pictured)
Programming Senior Director: Bob Graff (Not pictured)
Programming Committee Chair: Damon Jones (Not pictured)
Communication and Media Committee Chair: Adam Jolley (Not pictured)
On behalf of the membership, the GLC Board congratulates Barb Hurt (shown below center), for winning the GLC Chapter Service Award. Barb is a long-time member, former GLC President and tireless supporter of GLC and the board. Barb, we thank you for your continued efforts.
|
City Forum inspired all
By Damon Jones, Programming Chairperson
On May 7, 2010, the Great Lakes Chapter had an enjoyable half-day City Forum at Burke Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. James T. Cowan, the Tri-Health Manager of Communications and Diversity, started the program with a very interesting case study titled "Leveraging Market Research to Market a Service that Nobody Wants" which covered how his organization looked internally at their strategies surrounding marketing their hospice services. The attendees were very involved and intrigued by a topic that is not generally talked about, and definitely not a top of mind subject for the research industry. James was followed by Renee Murphy and Justin Masterson of Seek Research who presented very new information surrounding utilization of social media with their presentation titled "Social Media and Online Methods for Insight Gathering". Renee and Justin shared with the group the many different ways they have helped their client base gain insight into the thoughts of their customers by utilizing social media sites. They prefaced their presentation with the reminder that it was a new challenge for everyone in the industry and a new challenge for them. Based on the information they provided, Seek seems to be ahead of the curve for experimenting with social media research. To close our educational sessions, we had Michael Jones, Director of Client Service at Cooper Research, discuss using research as a strategic advantage in new product development and innovation among medical device companies. While the topic sounds daunting and very specific, Michael used medical devices as his example in the forward thinking that we can apply to any client. His major point to the audience, "What makes the most sense?" He emphasized cutting through all of the layers of "issues" and finding out what was most important to the client and to their bottom line. If you direct your research initiatives towards those important items, you will have a happy and appreciative client. Click here to access the City Forum presentations. We had a drawing for our attendees and Brad Franz of Burke won a new MP3 player (courtesy of SIRS) and Karen Wilson of Advance Insights won a registration to the GLC Fall Conference in Columbus. After a very educational program, we enjoyed each other's company at the Bistro on Elm, catching up with old friends and meeting new friends. The GLC would like to thank the title sponsors, EMI Online Research Solutions and StrataMark Dynamic Solutions, as well as MarketVision Research and Focus Groups of Cleveland. Thanks for all of the attendees and their companies for the great turnout. We will see you at the Fall Conference in September in Columbus, and we will be looking for host cities for next year's City Forum. |
Look forward to upcoming GLC events
By Bob Graff
Senior Director of Programming
Well, we find ourselves mired in the dog days of summer - grilling out, taking vacations, spending time at the pool, and of course watching the first place Cincinnati Reds play baseball (let's hope that's still the case when you read this). While our planning for fall and winter months couldn't possibly be further from our minds right now, before you know it, we'll find ourselves on the other side of Labor Day and back to the routine.
Before we move onto what's coming, I'd like to thank those of you who were able to attend the Installation Reception of new GLC board members in Boston at the MRA National Conference. The venue turned out to be a great place for a night together and we're happy you were able to join us as we welcomed our new board members.
Fall Conference in Columbus, Ohio
The next GLC event will be our Fall Conference and this year Columbus, Ohio will be the destination. Circle September 9-10, 2010 on your calendars for this fall event and keep an eye out for more information. Last year's fall conference in Indianapolis was a tremendous success and we're sure this year will be much the same. Please join us in Columbus in September!
Joint Chapter Conference in Key West!
Where better to hold our Annual Joint Chapter Conference (GLC, ATL/SE, and Florida Chapters) than the southernmost tip of Florida. The details of this upcoming event are still in the works, but we are targeting the last week in January 2011 once again for the occasion.
Let's make this a great second half of the year and commit ourselves to earning more PRC credits, networking with fellow researchers, and continue to promote the high standing of the Great Lakes Chapter.
...and Go Reds!
|
You're not just a member of MRA...
By Jim Ransom, Membership Director
Fantastic, for all of the newbies, congratulations; you are now members of the Marketing Research Association, a strong industry organization that provides many benefits to its members! But guess what, based on your location, you are also a member of a local chapter, in this case, THE GREAT LAKES CHAPTER, which includes states touching the "Great Lakes" as well as all of Canada. It's a bit of a stretch with Canada but it does make us the only chapter which can call itself international.
(GLC President, Ginny Kevorkian, and Immediate Past President, Ken Strunk, welcome all members with the "Big Wheel.")
I would encourage you to take advantage of getting involved with the local chapter. Actually, it would be better that you do it on your own, otherwise you'll be barraged with requests by the Membership Director (that's me). We normally have three events during the year to facilitate both education and networking. One in the winter that's always somewhere warm, done in conjunction with a couple of our related southern chapters. In 2010, it was in Clearwater. We have a one day City Forum event in the late spring and then a one and a half day fall conference. We have had great teams over the years pulling these events together, and the 2010-2011 term is no exception.
For all you new members, we look forward to seeing you at least at one of these events. And I know there are a few of you who have some great ideas and some unique skills that you don't get to practice during your day jobs. If that's the case, please reach out to anyone on the board and you can be sure we will find a spot for you. |
|
|
