And Now for Something Completely Dickens . . .

• 18.00 - 20.30

2012 marks the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’s birth. By now, everyone is more than aware of that. Adaptations of his work flood the airwaves and new biographies of the great man fill the bookshops.

But is there any significance for market research? MRS & Danny Wain think so.

At the 2010 MRS Conference, a group of industry worthies were asked which historical or fictional character had made, and continues to make, the most significant impact on the research world. Danny won the audience vote, arguing the case for Dickens. Now, on 21st May, he’ll develop his original premise, arguing the case for Charles Dickens as the archetypal researcher. With his insatiable, unquenchable curiosity and candle-burning work ethic, this master storyteller was also a social analyst, political commentator and increasingly sophisticated ethnographer, as well as being among the first to recognise the importance of marketing and branding.

Danny himself has over twenty years’ experience in research, becoming Worldwide Director of Learning & Development at Research International before launching his own consultancy business in 2007. A frequent conference speaker, he won the Best Presented Paper award at the 2006 MRS Conference. He is also an award-winning actor, published playwright and unashamedly lifelong Dickens fan.

His talk, which will be followed by a plenary discussion and Q&A, will also ask what would Dickens say, think and do now? Today, in what seems both the best of times and the worst of times, what would Dickens make of Facebook, the financial meltdown, crony capitalism and coalition government?

This event will be hosted at MRS HQ, a stone’s throw from such quintessential Dickens’ landmarks as the Saracen’s Head (where Nicholas Nickleby first meets Mr Squeers) and Fagin’s lair, just off Saffron Hill. We hope that it will appeal to anyone with an interest in Dickens, literature, storytelling, networking, light-hearted debate, or just something a little bit different to the usual MRS members’ evening.

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