Most People Love To Read, But Do They Love To Write?
Are you getting tired of reading my blog?
- Are you bored with my style?
- Am I not as creative as I used to be?
- Do you have something to say?
- Are you opinionated?
- Have you thought about starting a blog?
- Do you think you are a good writer?
Did you answer yes to any of the questions? Chances are you answered yes to many of the questions. If that is the case now is your chance to pick a subject. Be creative, be opinionated and become a writer…for a blog…for this blog…
We are looking for guest writers on the blog. You can pick the subject. We will work with you on the graphics. The process is very easy. All you need to do is post a comment that you would like to be a guest writer and the subject you might want to write about. We will work with you to make sure the experience is fun.
We are looking forward to hearing from you.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:57 am
honestly, i am not the best writer, so not sure i would be the best guest; however, my two hot topics that i think about daily are Respondent Cooperation and what the industry needs to do to educate the public, and Medical Past Participation and how data collection companies need the support of their full service counterparts to education pharma companies on the amount of research that is being completed vs. the number of physicians that will participate in market research. Bj Kirschner and I conducted a webinar on this topic, and i know HE would be an excellent guest writer on the subject.
I am sure i could blog about my thoughts on our role in respondent cooperation because i would love to take my ideas to the next level; however, when i have to write my “letter from the president” for the MRA Southeast Chapter newsletter, i begin to sweat… so i can’t even image writing for all of your viewers.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Stephanie - I would be interested in learning more about respondent cooperation; as well as the education of pharma/docs regarding research .. I’m that topic sure would carry over to learnings for ‘clients’ in general. By the way, with your (well written) comment you did write for all of Merrill’s readers. See .. blogging is not so hard (smile).
September 27th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Merrill -
I would love to.
I can write on an array of topics, including:
Social interactions
Driving habits
Sports
Food & eating
Things people collect
Those are just a few that popped into my noggin.
September 27th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I’d like to be a guest blogger too. Possible topics could be:
Market Research, A view from the client side
Perceptions of Market Research in Popular Culture
Movies
Sports
Food
October 1st, 2007 at 11:27 am
I am not tired of your style and look forward to the blog. I do wish you would stay close to research questions as there are so many lifestyle possibilities already. Perhaps you can wrap these topics into how we cope with these things within the demands of our industry. For instance, I really have to put in some time seven days a week now. I cringe every time my wife tells me we have something going on over the weekend as I know it will take me away from my computer. And of course there are many team work/leadership examples available to us as managers within the sports questions you frequently ask. Keep up your good work as it is a service to the research community.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:33 am
Merrill -
I would be absolutely thrilled to be a guest on your blog. I’m always willing to give an opinion (shocking, isn’t it?), truly enjoy writing and can be pretty amusing. I can write on just about anything, but I am very passionate about:
Sports cars
Deep sea fishing
International Soccer
Food & wine (ok, really the wine part)
Books & Literature
Roman, Greek & Egyptian history
Quentin Tarantino
October 1st, 2007 at 11:54 am
Merrill,
I would also love to be a contributor. I am mostly interested in MR industry topics, but you have a nice mix of other more social topics too.
Topics in which I would like to participate include:
Respondent cooperation,
Industry methodological innovation,
Sound statistics,
TV & film,
Historical and literary anecdotes,
Travel,
Networking,
Internet, IT and mobile communication developments,
Pets and animals,
Photography (Do we have a place to upload photos?)
Food and cooking - recipes and restaurant recommendations
etc…
October 1st, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I’d love to be a guest writer….my topic of course would be
TRAVEL.
Besides travel, I’ve often thought about writing a Blog on “Awful
TV’. Every time I see an awful show, I want to write to someone in Hollywood to ask “What were you thinking???!!!”
Here’s a question for you Merrill….why is there such a disconnect
between Hollywood and it’s viewers? What research are they conducting to put out the awful television I see on mainstream TV?
Do they not know they are losing viewers every day because of the junk they are producing? Have all the good writers left Hollywood?
I just got off a cruise, and in the course of conversation, everyone mentioned they either watch Home & Garden Network or Food Network (and of course Sports) because there is so little worthwhile to watch on the
3 major TV stations anymore.
Feel free to write on this topic…
October 1st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I like to write- although it can be a struggle to let the ideas come out one at a time without blocking the faucet. I am a scientist by training and inclination so managed to avoid writing a single essay during my college days - and my writing skills atrophied as a result. I think I am back up to grade six now.
Good writing should make you think. One of the best ways to make you think is to try to argue for an extreme point of view. I don’t like ‘conventional thinking’ especially as it often doesn’t involve any thinking. Examples from my blog would include- ‘How to improve business- treat your clients like pigs!!’. ‘ How to satisfy your clients real needs - find out if they want food or sex?’
October 1st, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Karen
That is a good question. I know there is a tremendous amount of research done by the networks so I am not sure why there is a disconnect. In fact there are at least two research studios in Las Vegas that all they do is test new TV shows. I believe it is down almost every week of the year. Maybe you and I are in the minority because I think the TV schedule the past few weeks is very weak.
Thanks for your comments.
Merrill
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:13 am
Merrill — Your blog never ceases to be creative, informative, and entertaining. Thanks for that. While not all topics are of interest to me, you always offer a variety from which to pick and choose. I think that’s your intention.
I would be honored to be a guest writer. I’m especially interested in writing about consumer behavior topics — both interesting and relevant to our industry. Something that comes to mind is the role of research in emerging pop culture trends. (Karen’s TV example above is a good one.)
October 2nd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
A quick thank you to everyone who responded. Some really good ideas to think about. We will review the comments and be in touch with people about being guest bloggers!
Thanks again.
Merrill
November 24th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Please check out our first guest blogger - Ed Sugar.
http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/11/09/attention-music-lovers-who-is-the-greatest-guitarist-of-all-timewritten-by-guest-writer-ed-sugar/#comment-37508
Congrads Ed - you did a really nice job.
Merrill
January 17th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Our second guest blogger was Kelley heatly.
http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2008/01/07/its-a-brave-new-virtual-worldthe-next-frontier-of-market-research-by-kelly-heatly-guest-writer/
Kelly - I hope you enjoyed the experience.
Thanks.
Merrill