The SA Marketing Research Association annual convention last week was certainly a research-rich gathering of the industry with a packed programme of speeches and networking events over four days. Although SAMRA didn't attract the marketers this time round as they had hoped and the venue was a bit 'rustic' for such an executive gathering - although the invited international speakers still loved being out in the bush among the abundance of wildlife, as did most of us - it is early days. The vision, driven by Millward Brown's Erik du Plessis at the request of SAMRA, to establish a benchmarking marketing research conference for Africa which will attract marketers and advertisers as well, is sound. Our industry lacks such thought leadership events as the run-of-the-mill conference companies out there increasingly dumb-down the industry with their sky-high prices and inexperienced and often irrelevant speaker line-ups. One hopes this initiative by SAMRA is built on in the coming years and is supported by the industry. Enjoy! Louise Marsland, Editor: editor@bizcommunity.com