BIG Summer Event 2005 - Turning Colleagues into Friends

The sun shone down on the Montague on the Gardens Hotel in Bloomsbury on the evening of Wednesday 13th July for this year's BIG Summer Event. It was barbecue weather and the outside deck of the hotel provided the ideal shade and haven for the 50 of us who assembled there for our annual post conference get together and Awards ceremony.

Organised by BIG in collaboration with those on the BIG Conference committee, the party could not have had a better venue. There were a few brave souls who had a go at the pork ribs but most of us opted for the easier to eat salmon and veggie options; delicious food was not the main draw though. The main appeal of the evening is meeting up with fellow B2B research colleagues again in a convivial atmosphere - such social events being the glue that keeps us together and turns "colleague" into "friend".

Adam Blunt

The big event of the night was, of course, the presentation of the framed awards for best Conference 2005 Papers by Pene Healey to the two winners - Adam Blunt of NOP World Business for best overall paper in terms of content and innovation, and Anna McAvoy of the BPRI Group for her paper in terms of best presentation. They also received travel vouchers in recognition of their achievements. Congratulations to them both.

Anna McAvoy

It was a lovely evening - good food, good company, central location. There was, as always, lots to talk about at this event. Nick Thomas, vice chair of BIG, gave a quick and amusing review of BIG events. Pene, in one of her last duties as BIG Conference chair announced that the title of the forthcoming BIG Conference in 2006 would be "Business Research Means Business". The Montague on the Gardens hotels is so near Russell Square that the events of the previous Thursday, July 7th, were fresh in our minds but we were all grateful that life goes on as usual and that we could enjoy being with friends on what turned out to be a lovely evening, albeit with a smattering of raindrops to cool us down.