Good Vibrations – QRCA Vegas Wrap-Up

By Thaddeus Thaler

CETRA attended the QRCA conference for the 2nd year. This year was no ordinary conference, as it took place in Vegas! We exhibited at booth 214 and had a lively bunch of Qualitative Research gurus visit our table and participate in our guessing game to win an iPod Shuffle and exercise wrist band. How many paper clips were in a jar? The answer related to the number of languages spoken in India. The four most common approaches to guessing were to blindly guess, reach for smart phones, pick up and manipulate the container, and to estimate based on knowledge of paper clip boxes. Ethnologue estimates there are 452 different languages in India, which we doubled to get 904 paperclips. In the end, only one got the closest… congratulations, Dorrie Paynter of Leapfrog Marketing Research! 

The conference was a great opportunity to see old friends and make new ones as well. We couldn’t help but keep thinking what a group of just all around good people there are in the MR industry. And being in Vegas, good conversation and sharing of libations accompanied the after-hours events of the show. A great evening event at the Lavo Nightclub let all exhibitors and attendees substitute the hustle and bustle of the trade show for the hustle and flow required on the dance floor.

CETRA’s main goal in attending the event was to reach out to focus group facilities and let them know how we can help them with their language needs. CETRA supplies Qualitative Research support in online survey and bulletin board translation, focus group interpretation, and foreign language transcription of IDIs and focus groups.

Thank you very much to QRCA for their excellent organization of the conference! We look forward to seeing you next year.