This event, the first of its kind in the Midlands, will provide you with remarkable insights into how your buyers make decisions. It also includes a live brain imaging exercise!

Led by world-leading psychologists, neuroscientists and brand experts, Inside Your Buyer’s Mind will change the way you think about marketing and psychology.

You will learn:

• How brain imaging can be used in marketing
• How to minimise the data you need to make effective marketing decisions
• The key psychological drivers behind purchasing decisions
• The major biases that can enable as well as distort effective decision making
• How brands can use cutting-edge psychology to generate value
• How psychology can help you to get the best out of paid and organic search

Demand for this event is high, and there are limited seats, so please register early to reserve your place.

SPEAKERS | OVERVIEW:

Speaker: Dr. Peter Hughes, Psychologist & co-founder of Cognition

Talk: What is the best way to look inside your buyer’s mind?

What is the best way to look inside your buyer’s mind? Understanding how people make purchasing decisions is the key to effective marketing. In this presentation, Dr. Peter Hughes will look at the three ways we can predict purchasing behaviour:

• Data
• Psychology
• Brain imaging

Through case studies and examples taken from the latest psychological research, the link between marketing and psychology will be explored and delegates will get an original and practical guide to using marketing and psychology to drive sales growth.

Speaker: Dr. Carl Senior, Behavioural Scientist

Talk: Organisational Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive neuroscience has provided much recent insight into our social behaviour. Yet many people argue that this 'social cognitive neuroscience' suffers from a number of limitations. The most notable of these is its distance from any form of real-world applicability. One solution to this limitation is 'Organisational Cognitive Neuroscience' (OCN) - the study of the cognitive neuroscience of human behaviour in, and within response to, organisations. Given that almost all of us will spend most of our lives in some sort of work-related relationship, organisational cognitive neuroscience affords us the opportunity to examine the cognitive underpinnings of social behaviour that occurs in what may be our most natural ecology. The objectives of this session will be to introduce practitioners to a range of different neuroscientific specialisations, with the aim to build a greater understanding of OCN and the various techniques that can be employed. In turn this will ensure that the full range of opportunities to work with scholars throughout the psychological and neuroscientific domains are highlighted.

Speaker: Professor Adrian Burgess, PhD., FAcSS

Talk: Brainwaves: A Guide for Business

The electrical activity of the brain (electroencephalogram, or EEG) is being used to evaluate consumers mental states and, this talk will describe what the EEG is, how the brain produces it and how it might be used for marketing purposes. We show that the EEG has the potential to monitor the level arousal, focussed attention and approachability of marketing material on a second-by-second basis. We conclude with a proposal for how EEG might be used in marketing and what the strengths and limitations of this approach might be.

Speaker: Dr. Georgia Alexandrou, Neuroscientist

Talk: KTP-Development of Neuromarketing toolkit software

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships have been helping business grow for a number of years. KTPs connect UK businesses with UK’s knowledge base academic institutions with the aim of delivering business led innovation projects. The academic partner works with the business to develop a project, provide academic input, and recruit an Associate. The Associates act as knowledge change agents in an environment that is interdisciplinary and challenges them intellectually and commercially. The aim of this KTP project is to develop a neuromarketing toolkit software that will enable marketing professionals and businesses to gain greater returns on their investments. Neuromarketing has the potential to examine differences in the brain activity and improve the targeting of advertising campaigns. Even the slightest differences in an advertising campaign might influence consumers’ decision making and the success of the campaign. The objective of this practical session is to showcase an example KTP project and demonstrate how EEG can be used within a commercial setting.

Speaker: Tony Steffert, Researcher, Clinician, Consultant, Entrepreneur and Chief Technology Officer of MindSpire

Talk: All the world's a lab

The use of low-cost electroencephalogram (EEG) headsets for real-time Hyperscanning in a theatre.

This talk is about a project at the Barbican with the director, playwright, and performer, Simon McBurney of Complicite. We recorded the brain waves of 20 people at the same time for 3 nights, while they experienced the amazing production of ‘The Encounter’ with a thousand other audience members wearing headphones. In this one man show, Simon McBurney used a 3D binaural dummy head microphone, to transport the audience to the Amazon rainforest. This talk will discuss some of the issues of running a Hyperscanning studies outside the controlled environment of a Lab.

Speaker: Lucy Hardy, Associate Account Director & HubSpot Lead

Talk: The practical application of psychology and user preferences through technology and automation

It’s all well and good knowing what is inside the minds of your customers, but how do you put this knowledge to work in your business?

Building on what you have learned so far about psychology and your buyer’s mind, Cognition’s HubSpot Lead Lucy Hardy will take you through a practical step-by-step process whereby you can turn academic theory and data into results.

From understanding where your customers are in the buying cycle to attribution reporting and making decisions based on real-time data, this talk will provide you with clear actions to rapidly improve your sales & marketing, starting today.

Speakers: Dr. Matt Buckley & Dr. Craig Hedge

Talk: What can brain imaging tell us about human decision making?

Half a century ago, our understanding of how the brain responded to events relied on studying animals. With the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques like fMRI, we can now study how human brains learn, and react to changes in the world. In this unique presentation we shall examine what fMRI has revealed about how humans make decisions in the context of navigating through the world. As well as look at why consumers make the choices that they do, and how industries might use brain imaging as a tool to inform their own processes.

More details on other speakers to follow... topics including Web3, Metaverse, and HubSpot.

FAQs

What time is check-in?

Check-in will be open from 09:00 AM.

Will there be networking after the event at 16:00?

Yes, further refreshments and networking will be available after the event closing speech at 16:00.

What is the venue address?

Aston University, Birmingham, England, B4 7ET

Traveling and parking:

The University can be accessed from:

• M6, Junction 6 (Aston Expressway)
• M5, Junction 3 (Hagley Road)
• M42, Junction 6 (Coventry Road)

Parking for visitors:

We recommend you visit JustPark, where you can find the nearest available parking, get costs, reserve spaces (where applicable) and pay online.

There are spaces for disabled parking, which will need to be reserved in advance. If you require disabled parking, please contact the person or department you are visiting.

By bus

If you’re planning on travelling by bus, timetable information is available from Travel West Midlands.

Numerous buses stop at Aston University.

By coach

If you’re planning on travelling by coach, timetable information is available from National Express. The nearest coach station is in Digbeth, and it is a 20-minute walk through the city centre to Aston University.

By train

If you’re planning on travelling by train, timetable information is available from National Rail. The nearest stations are 10-15 minutes away from Aston University:

• Birmingham New Street
• Snow Hill
• Moor Street

How can I contact the organiser with any questions?

Please contact nicola.d@cognition.agency with any questions relating to the event itinerary. Please contact aaron.j@cognition.agency with any questions regarding location, venue or general inquiries.

Do I have to bring my printed ticket to the event?

You can print out your ticket, or alternatively, this is available on your mobile as a digital ticket.

Is my registration fee or ticket transferable?

Your ticket is transferable. If you need to change ownership, please contact nicola.d@cognition.agency with the transfer name and email address.

Is it ok if the name on my ticket or registration doesn't match the person who attends?

If you need to change ownership, please contact nicola.d@cognition.agency with the transfer name and email address.