Following BHI’s attendance at the recent EphMRa conference, Mike reflects on past conferences and how the future might look as the present co-ordinating team makes way for a new team with fresh ideas
Mike Owen 
15 Jul, 2008
EphMRA Conferences: where do we go from here?
Following my attendance at the recent EphMRA conference in Barcelona and with it being the last conference for Janet and her team I have been reflecting on the past and musing on the future.
I have attended most of the conferences in the last 10 years and there is
no doubt that they have been organised with great efficiency and no small degree
of style; we have been to some fabulous locations, attended some memorable
evenings entertainment and been party to lively discussion and debate; there
is no doubt that Janet has done a fabulous job and will be sorely missed.
But increasingly I am led to wonder if the conference is becoming a triumph of style over real substance. That isn’t to say I object to the style per se; but when more overall effort goes into the fancy dress than the content I start to get worried. Perhaps you think I am being a bit dramatic here but it seems to me that an awful lot of the papers presented in recent years are either thinly veiled credentials presentations or recycled and (sometimes) repackaged ideas.
This shouldn’t really come as any surprise. You might argue that this is really the main purpose of the conference; to provide agencies with the opportunity to parade their wares in front of the diminishing number of clients who attend these events. You might also argue that agencies are unlikely to share their best ideas and will present just enough to generate some interest but not enough to give away secrets. Both arguments have some legitimacy but come at a terrible price.
Let us imagine for a moment a scientific world in which academics protected
their findings with such vigour that nothing was ever shared with the broader
scientific community. How then would progress be made? Isaac Newton claimed
that “I have seen farther by standing on the shoulders of giants” and there
is no doubt that those who followed ‘stood on the shoulders’ of Newton himself.
If those who both preceded and followed Newton had simply kept everything to
themselves would intelligent youngsters still be postulating to their friends
the possibility of some ‘magical force’ that causes an apple to fall from a
tree rather than simply learning about gravity and moving on to greater things.
Regrettably this is just the dilemma that scientists now face with the increasing
commercialisation of scientific discovery especially in relation to genetic
science and biotechnology.
What is evident is that in order to progress we need a shared body of knowledge that can be passed from generation to generation with each new generation developing, refining and building on the knowledge and experience of the last. Crucially this body of knowledge needs to be articulated, captured and communicated to others.
If we look forward it is clear to me that we face a major challenge. Somehow
we need to move to a situation where the EphMRA conference becomes a showcase
for new ideas and genuine talent rather than an opportunity for many of the
same faces to parade their increasingly recycled wares. I don’t have an easy
answer for this challenge but at the risk of being provocative I would offer
the following thought: When the glitz fades is there something of real substance
to take away. A Night at the movies is all well and good but, as Elvis and
Marilyn Monroe found out, there’s little glamour left when you are waiting
in the EasyJet queue for the flight back the next day!
If we want to take something more substantial than a hangover away from the
EphMRA conference we need to take a long hard look at what it offers. Perhaps
rather than the traditional 30 or 45 minute paper on the latest ‘technique’
or a vaguely interesting ‘case study’ we should have panels of carefully chosen
experts, including academics, reviewing the current state of knowledge and
expertise in key areas like branding or NLP. Perhaps we should only have client
speakers who have no ‘vested interest’ in a particular approach or technique.
Maybe just maybe we should pick the speakers we want rather than calling for
volunteers and maybe the balance should move from this being a ‘damn good jolly’
to it being a more serious event with just one grand night out rather than
two.
As I said before I do not have the answers but just want to start a debate. Maybe I am a lone voice and just a ‘grumpy old man’; perhaps you all want more synchronised swimming and the chance to dress up as ‘Superman’ or ‘Joan of Arc’. Either way join in the debate and tell us what you think...
Thanks for listening!
Your response:
- koch 22 Jul, 2008
Mike,
very well put in words, indeed. Ensuring a substantial professional take-away is not only a fair expectation of the paying company, but also a personal demand in return for your own time investment.
Regards, Marco Koch
- Magali 23 Jul, 2008
Hello Mike,
I was a first-time attendee at the Barcelona Conference and I also pretty much agree with your essay. The nights at the movies were a great experience indeed - even without the hangover, the participant list was very fine, but the content was a bit dissapointing at some points indeed. Things that were presented as being new and even revolutionary from an agency viewpoint could have been presented 4 to 5 years ago. I feel the organizing committee is not to blame, but that it is up to the attendees to stand up - both customers and agencies - and bring tomorrow's stories.
Kind regards,
Magali Geens
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