Thanks to everyone who came out for our education event last week. We had an amazing turnout and learned some really great stuff.

Greetings members,

Our sister chapter in the great Northwest is hosting  a riveting education day up in Napa Valley.  Information below, or check out the details on their website.

Silverado Resort, Napa Valley
April 29th-30th, 2010

Pairing the Perfect Vintage:
Cultivating Partnerships in Market Research

In this discussion we will talk about how to be seen as a resource in a competitive business environment. How to provide value through smarter engagement practices, by learning the steps to get prospects and clients to return your calls and respond to other communication efforts. We’ll explore how operations staff and sales staff, alike, can benefit from creating more engaging communication. Guests will be participating in an exercise that will help unfold their company’s core strengths and weaknesses in order to make them stand out from the crowd.

Presenter: Paul Kirch, ActusMR

Paul Kirch has a passion for entrepreneurship, sales and sales coaching. He is President & CEO of his own sales management consulting firm, ActusMR, Inc., specializing in the marketing research industry. Actus is a Latin word meaning “perfection, determination and compliment.” These words define his company’s overall philosophy. In addition to his role within ActusMR, he is an active volunteer within many industry organizations, including the Marketing Research Association (MRA), as a former President of the NorthWest MRA chapter.

Wine Reception Sponsor:		Event Sponsors:

Please welcome us in congratulating Monica Brown of Loyola Marymount University as she has been awarded our annual scholarship of $1,000. She is currently working on her MBA with an emphasis on marketing. Congrats Monica !

March 3rd through 5th, 2010 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV.

Tentative Schedule

Thursday, March 4

Peter Summersgill
Director Consumer Insights, Sony Computer Entertainment

Chris Robson & Scott Laing
Principals, Parametric Marketing

Lunch – Round Table Discussions

Bart Steiner
CEO, Bulbstorm, Inc.

Meredith Lind, Partner, Definitive Insights
Aaron Lee, Research Director, Definitive Insights

Friday, March 5

Frank Stagliano
Group EVP/GM, Entertainment Custom Research, The Nielsen Company
Presentation will focus on work conducted at Nielsen’s Digital Labs/CBS Television City Research Center will include tour of the facility at the MGM Grand. 

Panel Discussion:

Moderated by:  Patrick Howley, President, The Howley Group, LLC

Includes Panel Members:

• Rudy Yu, Consumer Insights Manager, NBC Universal
• Karen Manne, Vice President, ABC Disney

Costs include: All seminars – Opening Reception (6:00 pm on Wednesday, March 3rd). Thursday Breakfast & Lunch,

and Friday Breakfast & Lunch. Conference concludes at 2:00 pm on Friday, March 5th.

Registration Options:

• Early Bird Registration – Deadline: Monday, February 1st, 2010 – $329 Members (Southwest, SoCal & Northwest)
• Regular Registration – Deadline: Thursday, February 18th, 2010 – $379 Non-Members (All Others)
• Late/ On-Site Registration – (After February 18th ) – $399 Members (Southwest, SoCal & Northwest),  $449 Non-Members (All Others)
• Reception Only / Additional Reception Tickets – $125 (All)

Registration and payment must be received by deadline at 5:00 pm MST- either faxed or postmarked.

Cancellation policy – A cancellation fee of $25 will be applied. No refund will be issued after registration cut-off February 18th.

Click to download the 2010 Vegas Conference Registration Form

Fax or Mail Form To: Vaughn Mordecai, SWMRA Treasurer, 6975 Union Park Center, Suite 450, Midvale, UT 84047

Phone (800) 678-3748 Fax (801) 565-7137

Register early for the conference by February 1st and have a chance to WIN a 2010 MRA Annual Conference package for Boston, June 2010.

Register early at the MGM Grand 877-880-0880. Rates are $109 Tues – Fri. Use code “Market Research Association Las Vegas. Rates good through Feb 3rd or until room block is full.

Greetings and happy new year to all our SoCal MRA friends. We hope you all had a joyous and prosperous holiday.

We’ve had a sleepy start to the year and have now picked up full steam heading into March, kicked off by our Joint Conference Chapter Event in Las Vegas, March 3 – 5. We’re putting it on with the Northwest and Southwest Chapters of the Marketing Research Association. Receive an early bird rate by registering before February 1st, at the Southwest Chapter website.

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.

Just a reminder that the Annual Holiday Party is only 10 days away. You now have until the end of next week to signup for the Holiday Party. Tickets are available at the door and 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. Valet parking is complementary provided by our friends at e-Rewards.

You asked for it and we deliver: The Raffle is back, in a bold new way! Please let us know if you’re interested in sponsoring a raffle prize.
Current raffle prizes include:

• Amazon Kindle from Research Now
• Nintendo Wii
• And others…

Special thanks to our sponsors for making this event possible:

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

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.

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.

Just wanted to inform you that the signup forms are available for the upcoming annual SoCal MRA Holiday Party. We’ve picked up and moved from the Sofitel a few blocks down the street to the SLS Hotel, as recently seen in Entourage.  We’re having a cocktail hour and a tapas style dinner.

You asked for it and we deliver: The Raffle is back, in a bold new way!

Date Friday 12/4/09
Time: 6pm

SLS Hotel
465 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles,California 90048

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.

Download the Pub Tour Flyer

There will be maps available, in case you want to stay longer at one place and meet up at another.  

Wear comfortable walking shoes & bring a jacket or sweater. (November has a normal max. temperature of 70 degrees & an average min. of 54 degrees)

Transportation from the hotel to the 1st stop will be included.  Return trip is not included – options are a cab ride $4 – $5 or leisurely walk (.62 miles)

Cost: $40

For those who are not too tired, we’ll meet up with other conference attendees at the Hilton Bayfront for a nightcap at the Fox Sports Grill.

June 3-5: 2009 MRA National Annual Conference  

When:     June 3-5, 2009                              

Where:    Marriott Chicago Downtown, Chicago, IL

Web:       www.mra-net.org/edevents/conference.cfm