Adaptation of my welcome remarks that 2017 Insights Association NEXT conference focused on the future of market research. I advise everyone to "look everywhere" as we think about the future.

1. If You Look Everywhere, You Will Find What You Are Looking For.
By Kelsy Saulsbury
Adapted from my welcome remarks at the 2017 Insights Association NEXT conference
Easter weekend I took two of my nieces to my mom’s out in rural Minnesota. As soon as we arrived at
my mom’s, she had Easter baskets for the 3 of us to go searching for the Easter eggs she had hidden
throughout the house. Part way through the hunt, my 7-year-old niece Jaelyn, noticed that I didn’t have
very many eggs in my basket compared to how many she had. So I asked her advice, and she told me
“Kelsy, if you look everywhere, you will find what you are looking for.”
And this struck me as interesting advice. So often in life we are advised to be focused, to know exactly
where we are going rather than to “look everywhere.” Yet when I think about the fuzzy future, this
advice seems right on. If you look everywhere, you will find what you are looking for.
When it comes to cutting edge technologies or methodologies, we often don’t yet know what we need
or what will prove useful, and this is the time to “look everywhere.” So I encourage you to “look
everywhere” – read things you don’t normally read, talk to people working in other industries and see
what they are up to, scan the latest breakthroughs in various industries, and keep an open eye.
We don’t always know what the future brings or what we will need. So my advice to you “if you look
everywhere, you will find what you are looking for.” I can’t wait to see what we all find…