We just wanted to let everyone know that the membership challenge has been updated. The winning Chapters will receive awards which can be raffled off at a future event to raise money for the Chapter, presented to a member or local company for outstanding service, etc.

The awards are as follows:

• Winning Chapter with 10 or more new members will receive a full conference registration to the 2010 Annual Conference in Boston.  This is a $900 value.
• The 2^nd Place Chapter with at least 5 new members will receive a National MRA eNews banner ad for one month (2 issues).  This is a value of $175.
• The 3^rd Place Chapter with at least 5 new members will receive one MRA archived or live webinar.  This is a $65 value.

So please reach out to your colleagues and urge them to join today. SoCal membership form available here.

Read more from

the National MRA site.

We’ve been getting a number of requests to push back the early bird registration period, so we did! You now have until the end of this week to signup for the Holiday Party. The signup forms are available here and on the website. We’ve picked up and moved from the Sofitel a few blocks down the street to the SLS Hotel, as recently seen in Entourage and Top Chef, where Marcel from Season 2 is now a chef. We’re having a cocktail hour and a tapas style dinner.

Early Bird: Register by November 13^th for $75/ticket
Special rate for party of 10 – $700

Regular admission $85/ticket after November 13^th
Special rate for party of 10 – $800

Special thanks to our sponsors for making this event possible:

• Research Now
• Greenfield Online
• e-Rewards
• Adept Consumer Testing
• Schlesinger Associates
• LA Research
• PeekABoo Research
• Taylor Research
• Frank Magid Associates
• Focus and Testing
• I/H/R Research
• United Sample
• Universal Studios Hollywood
• Directions in Research
• Peanut Labs

Click here to download the registration form: SoCal MRA Holiday Party Registration 2009 Form

If you’re interested in sponsoring please contact Shelia Thompson.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Hello So Cal Members,

Due to unforeseen circumstances and to accommodate the schedule of the majority of our prospective attendees, we have decided to postpone our Education Day to a future date that is yet to be determined. We will be working to reschedule our Education Day and will send details as soon as possible.

For those who have signed up for this event, please contact Shelia Thompson at sthompson@magid.com for your reimbursement.

We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and look forward to seeing everyone in the near future. Please continue to visit our website for the latest updates and Calendar of Events.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to gather comments from you for the types of information you would like to see at upcoming SoCal MRA Events. Please feel free to leave information in the comments section.

Sincerely,

Rudy Yu
President
Southern California Marketing Research Association

Hope everyone is doing well.  Just wanted to send out our first reminder for our 5th SoCal MRA San Diego Meet & Greet.  The Meet & Greet will be at  BASIC, on Thursday, February 26th.  ”Converted from a circa 1912 warehouse, Basic is left open and raw with original brick walls, high ceilings and industrial garage doors.  The atmosphere is relaxed, attracting a cool urban crowd that live, work and play in Downtown San Diego.” www.barbasic.com   (Located near Petco Park.) This is an informal get together, so there is no registration, no tickets to purchase or cover charge.  It will be Dutch treat!

We have managed to reserve the “VIP” section, which is exciting!  There will be special drink discounts and free sampling of their famous brick-oven pizza, until 6pm and then we will also have pizza available after 6pm.  So far there’s been a lot of interest and we have received quite a few RSVPs, including an attendee who is coming from as far as Nebraska!!!

You can show up anytime between 5:30pm & 8:30pm, earlier if you want (Happy Hour starts at 4pm.) However, I would appreciate an RSVP, just to let me know that there is a possibility that you can make it, so we can ensure we get an area that will suit the number of people.  (Remember – All members and non-members are welcome.)  Please note that your response will not be “set in stone”.  Thank you to those who have responded so far.

So come join us!  This gives us all the first opportunity in 2009 to catch up with each other!

Our final event of the year was the Annual Holiday Party held in December at the Sofitel Hotel in West Hollywood.  It was a wonderful evening filled with good conversation, great food and dancing.  A special thank you goes out to the Board Committee that dedicated a lot of time to put together a wonderful event…including the massive leather-boxed tequila centerpieces that were given away throughout the evening.  Congratulations to Ed Sugar who received the 2008 “Research Pillar” award for his outstanding dedication to the field of market research both as a businessman and MRA volunteer. 

Tobin Bailey, Irene Gustaitis, Lee Nizani & Jerome Bettis

We would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest members who have joined our Chapter since November 2008.  We are looking forward to meeting you at our upcoming events and having you active in our Chapter.

Lisa Gulino                               California Marketing                           San Diego, CA

Sebio DelaPena                      California Marketing                           San Diego, CA

Joe Andere                              American Survey Company                Chula Vista, CA

Julie Peggar                            Ethnographic Research, Inc.               Kansas City, MO

Michael Howe-Fontes              Nielsen NRG                                         Los Angeles, CA

Jamie Quider                           Interviewing Service of America          Sherman Oaks, CA

Sarah Meyers                           Taylor Research/GroupNet                  San Diego, CA

Gustavo Mendoza                  Data Solution Group                           San Diego, CA

In October, our first Hispanic Research Event was held at Café Sevilla in the beautiful coastal city of San Diego – tapas, flamenco and knowledge – all in one evening!  The event received rave reviews, so much so that we may be similar event in the Los Angeles area this year.  According to the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, Hispanic purchasing power is expected to hit $992 billion by 2009.  Event attendees heard from Hispanic market research specialists and gained valuable insight on the future trends for this important segment of the population.   We would like to give a special thank you to Dr. Mary Beth McCabe, President of Sun Marketing, who was our keynote speaker and presented her insights into the “US Hispanic Market – Past, Present, and Future.”