It’s been one week since I flew out to Orlando, Fla. to attend the 2015 QRCA annual conference and – as promised – I’ve compiled a few more tidbits (and photos!) from the event to share with you.
If I had to use one word to describe the sessions I attended at QRCA it would be interactive. Many presenters encouraged table-sharing through the form of games, worksheets and role play. I played with LEGOS to help discover my personal brand narrative, wrote ideas on colorful Post-it Notes, passed around new tech equipment and more.
One session that stood out for its interactive center was From Moderating to Facilitating, presented by Missy Carvin and Karen Lynch. Carvin and Lynch’s session focused on how creative problem-solving (CPS) can help researchers move from being a discussion leader to a solution driver. While the audience was involved from start to finish in this workshop, the highlight came at the end of the session where we were all handed a colorful piece of paper and instructed to answer the question, “What is one step you will take using the information you learned from today’s workshop?” and to write it down once on the piece of paper and once in our own notes. We were then told to fold the piece of paper into a paper airplane so we could “fly” our idea to another attendee.
This final activity not only made for a fun photo (and a lot of laughter) but it also highlighted the power behind sharing ideas with your peers, something that QRCA demonstrates so well as an organization. Each session clearly showed that as qualitative researchers continue to move forward, sharing ideas, fostering peer-to-peer discussions and combining traditional methodology with new approaches will be more important than ever.
As I close the book on QRCA 2015, I must admit that I’m looking forward to seeing how the “Whole New World of Research” will evolve between now and the next QRCA annual conference in 2017.