Edinburgh, Scotland, September 2019

Last week ESOMAR organized its Annual Summit, gathering 1, 000 data & insight professionals from 70 countries. The perfect place to share knowledge, to get inspiration, and for business networking. I have been a regular attendee of ESOMAR events and to be honest this one was a huge success!

The week started by our Council Meeting on Saturday, followed by Local Associations and Representatives Meets-up. We had a bright presentation by Quentin Dunstan, BSI, on how organizations can survive in our fast changing environment, with strategic and very operational tools.

Our Industry, for profit and for nonprofit organizations, our Societies, Human Beings have massively evolved in this era of digitalization. In this context, Esomar in its 2019-2010 plan has endorsed a new statement, positioning the association as the “Global community for Insights & Analytics to drive business, to support and improve societies” with the leitmotiv “Building bridges between practices, people and regions”.

The conference started on Monday morning with the opening by Finn Raben, Esomar Director General and Joaquim Bretcha, President: “I do believe that a new role is emerging in our profession: the role of the Insights and Data Translator, the one responsible for building the bridge between the heritage of 100 years of profession and the new data analytics capabilities” before concluding “professionals have all the key elements to lead the current #data Revolution”.

Jane Frost CEO of MRS – Market Research Society – then shared the CEO Pledge “We believe that a sector that provided insight and evidence needs to be representative of the world it serves. We are committed to creating an environment where the only barriers to progress are personal choice and professional competence”.

The tone was given!

Over these three days, the main theme was articulated around redefining our Industry and our Profession through Technology & Human Being, Ethics and Skills. Very challenging but fascinating!

I really got inspired by very quality papers and a key question & answer: “What do we need?” We need a mind-set shift”. I truly believe in this. As Data & Insights professionals we are competent, we are curious, we are ethical. We just need to adopt a new vision, to see our businesses and the world with an adapted and new viewing angle.

Monday lunch was dedicated to our traditional “Francophone lunch” organized by our Representatives in France, Isabelle Fabry and Ketty Faivre, gathering people from French speaking countries. We could share the latest news and discover the video edit of our Creative Workshop given at Summer Event in Paris earlier this year. We were offered wine, a must have for our French community!

On Monday evening we organized the Annual General Meeting, my first AGM as Esomar Treasurer. This meeting is open for Esomar Members. We covered the initiated activities for 2019-2020 term and I presented the 2018 financial results with Marie-Agnès Mourot de Lathyle, CFO. Some resolutions were voted.

On Tuesday morning we had our Africa Regional Meeting, with the Sounding Board, a discussion around needs that Esomar should address to this so diverse and fast growing region.

After meetings, conferences, workshops, lunches and dinners, it was time for fun with the party at the National Museum!

This edition was my best experience!

You can find all presentations on ANA, Esomar Online Library, powered by Artificial Intelligence. 

Thank you to all Esomar staff, Programme Committee, Sponsors, Exhibitors, Speakers, Students, Associations, Representatives and last but not least to all Esomar Members to make this happen and see you next year in Toronto.