Facility Follies

For every study, we work with our client to identify the goals and then map out a gameplan to achieve them.

Most of the time, everything goes according to plan.

Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the study is going smoothly, the recruit is great, and then we get to the focus group facility -- and they throw us a curveball. For example:

A bad experience: Many years ago, we did a series of focus groups in a strip mall in New Jersey. Our project team showed up to find that the participant room had a jury-rigged table made up of two smaller tables pushed together. Of course, the tables didn't match, giving the whole thing a thrown-together, unprofessional look.

Then they served dinner to the clients: stale white-bread sandwiches. They were horrible.

And to top it off, according to one of our colleagues, the hostess spent all night ignoring her responsibilities and flirting with him (warning to the reader: this part of the story may be apocryphal).

A funny experience: We once spent two days/nights at a facility where the well-meaning host was so overly attentive that he was stalker-like. Every few minutes he'd come in the backroom to make sure the project team was okay and didn't need anything.

He stationed himself outside the door of the focus group room, and every time someone would come out to go into the back (to see if clients had questions), he'd immediately ask, "Is everything okay? Do you need anything?"

After the first night of groups, as our vice president started to put on his jacket to leave, the host ran over, took the jacket, and helped him put it on. Then, toward the end of the last group on the final night, the VP came out of the room to check in the back and jokingly said to the host, "Now comes Miller time."

He went back into the group to finish up, and this time when he walked out, the host was standing there, trying to shove a bottle of beer into his hand.

An awkward coincidence: Recently we were doing groups in Stamford, Connecticut. As the first group entered the room, one of our clients exclaimed, "That guy looks exactly like Steve (real name withheld)." A moment later another client started walking slowly up to the window/mirror and shouted, "Hey! That is Steve!"

As it turned out, Steve worked for our client, and his presence there was not appreciated. Naturally, we immediately had him pulled from the group, but he was invited to watch the groups in the backroom.

He stayed for 20 minutes and left.

Surely you've had similar experiences. Feel free to share them.