We’ve finally (FINALLY) nailed down the essential line-up for the X Change Conference. I meant to have this done in April or early May. But somehow it is June. It seems impossible but school is almost out, it’s actually sunny in San Francisco, and X Change is only two months away!
Some quick background. X Change is a web analytics conference specifically geared toward high-end enterprise measurement professionals. X Change is small and intimate – there is absolutely no selling – and what really makes it special is the format. There are no presentations. None. The entire conference is made up of small group discussions (“Huddles”). So you get to talk (and hear) about your own problems, issues and solutions with other measurement professionals. The idea is to take the best part of most conferences (the really good conversations you have in-between presentations) and make that the conference.
It creates an amazing event.
This year, X Change Huddle leaders are all enterprise managers and practitioners. We’ll still have the consultants and vendor experts (who led last year’s Huddles). In fact, we’ll have a line-up better than last years, but they’ll be supporting the Huddles not leading them.
So who are the Huddle leaders and what are the Huddles?
You can check out the full line-up on our web site or read the press release, but here’s a sample.
If you want insight into measurement at the cutting edge, we have Huddles on mobile measurement from Bob Schukai of Turner Broadcasting and Michael Wexler of Yahoo!, and Huddles on video and web 2.0 measurement from Rachel Scotto of Sony Pictures, Dave Cronshaw of MSN and David Yoakum of The Gap.
These aren’t people selling anything. They aren’t building personal brands bragging about accomplishments. They are real measurement leaders who are trying and sometimes struggling to both take advantage of and bring measurement discipline to the newest and most challenging areas of online. Talk with any of them, and you can get the benefit of their wounds, swap war stories, and get your organization ready for Mobile, Video and AJAX
The biggest problem we had in getting people to lead huddles on these topics was the perception that “we are struggling with this stuff – I’m not sure we know enough to lead a huddle.” But I think everyone is struggling with measuring mobile and widgets and video – what’s important is that they are actually doing it – struggles and all.
Likewise, if you want to focus on the classic challenges of any analytics effort: accurate measurement, understandable reporting and delivering on the promise of organizational change there are a host of Huddles at X Change.
These are, after all, the problems that every web analytics organization must face. And the fact that they are both “classic” and common problems doesn’t make them any easier to solve. Some of the huddles I’m most interested in fall into this group: Dennis Bradley of Charles Schwab on “Bridging the Gap from Web Analytics to Marketing”, Steve Bernstein of Paypal on “Getting Analysts to Produce Analysis and Getting the Business to Listen”, and Dylan Lewis of Intuit on “Establishing a Web Analytics Center of Excellence.” In my opinion, these guys run some of the most successful web measurement efforts in the world. They are hands-on, experienced practical managers of online measurement and I think you would have to plug your ears with wax and sing Kumbaya to avoid learning something in conversation with any one of them.
I’ve complained in the past that most web analytic conferences don’t deliver any opportunities to learn real-world practical approaches and web analytic techniques. X Change has quite a bit of that as well. Huddles like Seth Holladay of Rodale Publishing on “Slicing and Dicing Visitors: Segmentation Strategies” (a subject dear to my own heart), Linda Hetcher, head of Avaya’s global web analytics, on “SEO and SEM Measurement” (ditto!), the aforementioned Dylan Lewis on “Campaign Analysis and Attribution Modeling: Dangerous Assumptions”, or Jared Waxman, also of Intuit, on “Using Real-time Survey Data to Improve the Customer Experience.”
And, as you might expect from a group of senior web analytics managers, there’s more than a little attention given to issues of data quality, scale and people that confront any large enterprise effort. Talk “Data Collection: Implementation, Utility, and Ongoing Integrity” with the inimitable Ron Pinsky of AIG. You can’t use data until you trust data, and with hundreds of sites worldwide to measure, few know that better than Ron. And speaking of problems of scale, Jim Hassert of AOL (and who has more scale to deal with?) will guide a discussion of “Analytics Across the Enterprise,” that is focused on the classic difficulties of web analytics across a large organization: the definition of metrics, the distribution of reports, and providing ongoing support to a potentially global audience. Sound familiar? Some problems will always be with us.
John Lovett of JupiterResearch and Megan Burns of Forrester Research chime in with Huddles on “Industry Standards or a Lack Thereof …” and “Building a Business Case for Change.” John, Megan and Bill Gassman of Gartner will also be leading the keynote – a conversation on the trends and challenges facing our industry. And while nobody really wants to talk data privacy, none of us can afford not to understand the very really issues involved. Which is why it might be worth joining Bob Page of Yahoo’s Strategic Data Solutions group, examining the current legislative landscape and talking over your current approach towards consumer data privacy. And what bigger challenge is there in web analytics than building a good team? Judah Phillips tackles that topic with "Building a Successful Web Analytics Team."
Tools still a concern? Both Dennis Bradley and Judah Phillips will also lead Huddles addressing issues around knowing when you've outgrown your current toolset and justifying more advanced tools in your organization.
I hope this give you a sense of how rich and exciting X Change promises to be. I’m going to post next week (and I hope to get a Visitor Segmentation post in-between) on the consultant and vendor experts who will be attending as well. It’s an illustrious list.
And remember, you aren’t at X Change to hear these people talk. You’re there to talk with them. It’s a huge and wonderful difference. As I’ve said before, if you are the sort of person who takes the time and trouble to read my blog, you will love X Change. You can register now at http://www.semphonic.com/conf.
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