Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for take-off! Amy, Company Director, declares her essential packing list for the successful delivery of an automotive fly-in research event.
At BEAM, automotive research is in our blood. In 2023, we delivered over thirty automotive research projects for clients across the globe, with a variety of methodologies, and completed our largest premium vehicle research project to date welcoming over one thousand participants at one of four UK locations over twelve days of fieldwork.
In July 2024, we fastened our seatbelts and prepared for take-off, whisking a group of company car owners, fleet managers, and key account managers from across the UK for a two-day research event in Hamburg, Germany.
What does it take to pilot and crew a fly-in event to avoid turbulence and make a smooth landing? Here’s what Company Director and BEAM’s Captain, Amy Middleton has to say…
“Vorsprung durch Technik”
Automotive giant Audi’s renowned “Vorsprung durch Technik” motto perfectly captures the efficient, quality project management needed to deliver a seamless fly-in research event.
Our last fly-in was before COVID. We’ve hosted fly-in participants at our UK automotive events, and despite lots of tentative talks, we’ve been patiently waiting for one to land.
PM-ing a fly-in is just like riding a bike (or in this case, driving a car). As soon as you begin, you immediately return to a multi-mapping style of project management, where no scenario is left unexplored, and the checks and balances have checks and balances.
PRECISION PLANNING
With participant travel, sustenance, accommodation, entertainment, and expenses contributing to a significant outlay of the client budget, even the smallest of hiccups, is significant to both cost and company reputation.
Precision is the key to project management success, including:
- Robust multi-factor vehicle ownership verifications, ID verification, and background checking.
- Accurate recording, storing, and supply of travel-essential details.
- Detailed requirements for each individual’s attending e.g. diet, health, medical, emergency contacts, travel, scheduling etc for risk assessment, and insurance purposes.
- Knowledge of all the provisions available to participants at every stage, location, and at any time throughout the duration of participation.
- Knowledge of each research activity to be completed throughout the duration of participation.
- Understanding risk, and the ability to assess and document the level of risk to cover any insurance requirements.
RIGOROUS RECRUITMENT
For a fly-in, recruitment is so much more than a box-ticking exercise. Targeting people who match the overarching specification, then positioning the sale to attract applications from trustworthy participants, with real knowledge and legitimate interest requires laser-focussed precision. Then comes the recruitment assessment, taking place over a series of days, where the PM assesses:
- The ease of obtaining the verification documentation recruitment criteria.
- The suitability of personality characteristics to the research methodology.
- The applicant’s ability to align to the itinerary for travel and the event
- The applicant’s commitment to complete the research in full
Continually reviewing these participant deliverables beyond the realms of the project screener is central to knowing whether the applicant will be the Good, the Bad or the Ugly.
BUILDING & BLENDING
A fly-in requires participants to spend a great deal of time as a group, outside of the research activities. Discovering details about each participant that exist beyond the screener, ensures the perfect blend of participants with complimenting attributes, defining differences, and common interests. This creates a group comradery that is key to a great research experience for all.
Considering a fly-in or need to know more about research with real experience? Drop us a line here and let us help with all the packing list essentials.