M-Lab was commissioned by Research Conferences, along with parent company Munro, to become the official survey partner for 2009; providing research at the Annual Research Conference and up to eight smaller conferences throughout the year. The research aims to:
• Identify conference and event customer needs;
• Gauge how well the MRS are meeting their delegates’ needs;
• Improve response rates in comparison to previous years;
• Generate topics and development opportunities for future years;
• Identify developments and opportunities in the live events market;
• Track some key areas from previous years.

The survey for the Annual Research Conference involved three stages:
• Stage 1: Pre conference survey to help measure the expectations of the conference.
• Stage 2: FlexiHalls® survey to capture responses at the conference.
• Stage 3: Post conference survey to reflect on the conference.

FlexiHalls® is acefieldworks, M-Lab’s sister’s company unique methodology using online surveys through a number of laptops which are connected to a special hub that connects all the computers to a 3G internet connection. Two areas were set aside at the conference with three hubs, the turnout was excellent and delegates were keen to provide their immediate feedback on speakers and conference sessions.

The overall satisfaction of Research Conference 2009 increased from previous years with delegates being impressed with the refreshing formats and variety in topics.
Overall, M-Lab increased survey response rate and provided Research Conferences with key findings and recommendations for next years conference. Reasons for the increase in response rates can be attributed to the use of three surveys and the introduction of the FlexiHalls® methodology.
Recommendations from the survey will be used to develop the structure and topics covered in the Annual Research Conference 2010.