"I didn't draw any conclusions, I didn't have time" Tweet

Gill Wildman & Alex McKie, originally uploaded by gorgeoux.

Live blogging: Media Futures Conference 2008. Session: Research in the real world, with Alex McKie, introducing a study (would seem) titled Meet the people formerly known as... users

After the quote above, the researcher (?) went on to say that, you know, she also has a day job, and she couldn't fit in the analysis of her research, and what's wrong with prompting the audience to randomly draw conclusions, and it is, anyway, a problem with clients, because they don't allow (i.e. pay?) time for analysis, but research only. Was there a client issue here? If anything, we were the client, the potential client she could've impressed with her analytical skills. But, nevermind, Gill Wildman has an odd idea of what a professional brings to a conference, and I would like to award her the newly created prize for being bluntly, needlessly, and hysterically honest.

Her colleague, Nick Durrant, the other founder of Plot, didn't seem able to help her out of that situation as he had no conclusions, either, and believed that wasn't the point. Myself, when I read, too late to catch all the talk, that their consultancy is based on the view that every business needs a story, I felt rather bad for having missed it, feeling there may have been ideas in common with my artemis: catching stories. But their apparent unpreparedness as the talk ended can only make me shake my head and bless the inspiration that took me out of the room, and kept me there.

Later edit: I was wrong, this conference is not of a different breed; it only started better than others (in hindsight). Most presenters are not prepared and, either way, unable to propose even a part, at least, of the potential media futures answers, views, or concepts. And the audience? Those who do enter discussions seem strangely out of context. As for thinking that muffins beat croissants and should come countless, or that crisps are proper conference food, hmm. Does the Beeb know how to put an event together? Because it has nothing to do with TV, you know.