What People Really Think: How to DIY Your Own Market Research
About the Session:
How well do you really know your audience? Not who you think they are, but what they actually want, what they'd pay, and why they say yes (or don't). Whether you're testing a business idea, planning an event, building a survey, or just trying to get honest feedback on something you're creating, most of us rely on gut instinct because professional research feels expensive and out of reach. It doesn't have to be. In this hands-on workshop, you'll learn the same core methods used by major entertainment, tech, and CPG brands, adapted for anyone's time and budget. We'll cover when to have real conversations versus when to send a survey, how to ask questions that get honest answers instead of polite ones, and how to put AI to work as your research partner, helping you draft smarter questions, organize what you hear, and find the patterns in it. Come with a question. Leave knowing how to get it answered.
About the Host:
Daniela is a mixed-method market researcher based in Los Angeles, with seven years of experience running research for top tech, entertainment, and CPG brands. She has moderated hundreds of interviews and focus groups, designed surveys and studies that shaped real product and marketing decisions, and is professionally trained through the RIVA Training Institute, the industry's gold standard for qualitative moderation. Today she owns Mondi Market Research, a boutique consultancy running research for businesses and agencies that want real answers, not just data. Daniela is also an entrepreneur herself, with an international wholesale distribution business and a luxury travel venture in the works, which means she uses these exact DIY methods on her own ideas, with her own money on the line. She speaks six languages and has run research across the US, South America, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Her favorite thing to teach: the question behind the question, what to ask so people tell you what they really think.