An Intense Programme

In planning this 2003 Symposium we have attempted to combine two organisational objectives, first of presenting a large number of contributions, secondly working within a tight timetable. So there will be some 50 papers as well as discussion sessions, plus some social events packed in to four days, as follows:

Sunday 26 October 10.00 am Welcome Brunch, followed by the Opening Session

Monday 27 October Full day Session

Tuesday 28 October Half Day Session (free from 13.30)

Wednesday 29 October Full Day Session (Symposium closes at 17.30)

Registration will start on the afternoon of Saturday 25th October. For details of other events, see the back page.

We are delighted to be holding the Symposium in Cambridge which is only a short ride away from Boston by car and/or efficient public transport. Cambridge is often described as the spirited, slightly mischievous side of Boston. For those of you who are not familiar with Cambridge and Harvard, you will be able to enjoy the ambience, the river, the bookshops, museums, bars and cafes which are only a step away from the popular Charles Hotel.

The theme of the Symposium’s programme asserts that the consumer is at the centre. It promises to be both packed and exciting. It will include, in eight sessions, over 50 papers. We are pleased to announce the planned participation in our (provisional) programme of the distinguished speakers and session chairmen mentioned in the following. The programme will commence with an “overview of current readership research around the world” and “what’s new”, given by Erhard Meier, this year’s Programme Chairman.

Advertising Effects
In this session, chaired by Andrew Green, we will look at new evidence and thinking about advertising effects with regard to Print compared with other media. Speakers will include Erwin Ephron, who will contemplate “Print’s real value to advertisers”. Beth Uyenco will compare the speed of response to TV and Print advertising. Richard Fielding and Judy Bahary will look at ad positioning in magazines and Uwe Czaia will give us new insights into the ways we can optimise ad positioning. Other papers will be by Geoff Wicken and Graham Page, and by Michael Braun and Rolf Pfleiderer.

Multi-Media
Susan Nathan will chair our multi-media session. Sven Dierks and Rolf Pfleiderer will present us with a new example of media-mix effectiveness from the car market. The media multiplier effect is also the subject of Bruce Gonsalves, Hemant Mehta and their co-authors. Fred Bronner and Wim van der Noort will tell us about a new approach to researching multi-media effects. Peter Masson and Paul Sumner plan to explore modelling in a multi-media environment. Praveen Tripathi and Oliver Rust will investigate single source as a vehicle for media-mix research.

Methodological Issues
Readership research is particularly sensitive to the methods it employs. This year’s Symposium will again be a forum for the discussion of methodological issues, including electronic and online measurement. Chaired by John Bermingham, the sessions’ speakers will include Jean-Louis Marx, Gilles Santini, Katherine Page and Dawn Collis, Michael Walter, Martin Frankel, Julian Baim, Rebecca McPheters, Eric Melton and Marco Vriens. They will be joined by Fred Bronner, Raymond Ross and Costa Tchaoussoglou, and by Xenia Kourtoglou and Maria Silvia Farina.

Quality Of Reading (Part 1)
Judging by the number of submissions to our call for synopses addressing this subject, exploring Quality of Reading is of renewed major interest. The first part of our Quality of Reading session will be chaired by Flavio Ferrari. The consumer-centric approach will be the session’s theme. It will include presentations by Guy Consterdine and Christina Hartley, Cynthia Evans, Carin Hercock and Ted D’Amico. Other speakers will be Dan Jennings, Scott McDonald, Vishikh Talwar and Dupindera Sandhu.

Quality Of Reading (Part 2)
Quality of Reading Part 2 will be chaired by Andy Brown. Reader involvement and the way readers use newspapers and magazines will be the main subjects of this session, as well as print planning “beyond demographics”. Speakers will include Izabella Anuszewska, Wayne Eadie, Bruce Gonsalves, Britta Ware and Christopher Gooley, and also Peter Callius, Carlos de Zúñiga and Alicia de la Macorra.

Internet Effects (And Other Issues)
The final word about the internet and its effects on Print, is not yet spoken. Richard Silman will chair this session, which will also deal with readership accumulation and other issues. Whether the internet is substituting for, or complementary to, newspaper and magazine reading, is one of our main questions. Speakers will include Jochen Hansen, Johannes Schneller, James Collins, Matthew Aaron Gentzkow, Virginia Cable and Valentine Appel. There will be presentations by William Burlace, Nicola Hepenstall, Gregg Lindner and Jane Traub. They will be joined by Julian Baim, Alan Higgs, Neil Shepherd- Smith, Leslie Wood, Ivor Thompson and Raj Matuk.

Fusion
Chaired by Dick Dodson, speakers in our Fusion session are to be Michelle de Montigny and Roland Soong, talking about “fusion-on-the fly” and “foundation of split-sample foldover tests”, Barbara Zack and Peter Walsh “validating Telmar’s multibasing technique”, and Alexandre Crivellaro and Flavio Ferrari, who will demonstrate to us “how to build a panel from a recent reading database using data fusion”. Shinichiro Okauchi will show us “a practical approach to print optimisation”.

Alternatives To Average Issue Readership
Kate Lynch will chair this session, in which we will explore shortcomings of and alternatives to Recent Reading and the average issue readership model. Brian Shields will discuss “the need to re-assess reading and readership”. Andraz Zorko will revisit Recent Reading. Knut-Arne Futsæter, Ingvar Sanvik and Tore Østnes will report on “Pure Recent Reading”. John Faasse and Leendert van Meerem will tell us “what the world needs now”. Stephen Douglas and Richard D Jones will give us insight into “out-of-home audiences”. Michele Levine and Marcus Tarrant will deal with readers-per-copy.

New Approaches
This session will be chaired by Cynthia Evans, who will introduce it with an overview of important key initiatives to readership research. The session will include a presentation by Elisabeth de Langhe and Antoine Moreau, “looking for consumer potential in print consumption”. Rebecca McPheters and Scott McDonald will demonstrate the “impact of circulation and promotion on measured audience”. Liz McMahon and Doug Read will talk about “urban life: research adventures in a changing world”. Theresa LaMontagne will help us “understand how personality affects magazine readership and message receptivity”.