Managing Analytics

I am humbled that I was invited to give a keynote presentation in the upcoming eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit in Washing DC, Oct. 3-7, 2010.  I would guess this is a reward Jim Sterne gave to me, as a result of my best attendance record in the last two years

Yes indeed. I came to this “web analytics” thing about two years ago and have attended every eMetrics Conference since then. In each conference, I learn a lot, get to know many fine people in our field and come back with a bunch of ideas that I can implement at Dell. Each conference also marks a step forward in my personal growth. I shall say, without eMetrics Summit, I won’t be where I am today.

Let me reflect the journey…

Oct. 2008 in Washington DC. My first eMetrics Experience. I was shocked, overwhelmed, impressed and inspired. As a result of this conference, I decided this is what I want to focus for the rest of my life, as long as I am working. Here are the thoughts I wrote down at that time. eMetrics Summit 2008 Impressions and Reflections (Day 1), eMetrics Summit 2008 Impressions and Reflections (Day 2), eMetrics Summit 2008 Impressions and Reflections (Day 3) and Key Takeaways from eMetrics Summit 2008 in DC

May. 2009 in San Jose. I probably wouldn’t go to this conference if I wasn’t elected to the Board of Director of Web Analytics Association. Swine Flu was scary at that time. See my little story Here I am San Jose!

Oct. 2009 in Washington DC. In this conference, instead of just participating, I co-presented with my former manager, Gautam Madiman, now Director at AutoDesk, a topic many audience found interesting “Dell’s Evolution – Leveraging Analytics Globally as a Key Strategic Business Driver” I was also brave enough to take the WAA Certification “test the test” and was the second in place among 50 also participants. In this conference, I started the tradition to bring a Dell Adamo laptop as a give away prize.

May. 2010 in San Jose. In this conference, I was invited to the “Global Enterprise Management Panel” and sit down with Keith Boswell from Kaiser Permanente and Kim Stegner from IBM. To some extents, this panel helped me decide to focus on managing analytics in a global company as my future career goal. I also received the “WAA 2009 Championship” award together with my friend, Joel Wright. Again in this conference, I became one of the first 10 “WAA Certified Web Analyst”

And now it is the time for DC conference again. This time, I will try to do something different. Instead of just me standing there, I will share the stage with two managers in my team, Dave Nelson and Carol Goh. I will first share Dell’s vision to become the best in class in online analytics and testing. Dave will then talk about a very interesting topic “what a good test looks like”, drawing from his experience as the Global Testing Manager, managing the global testing roadmap. Carol will then talk about how to improve process to scale the testing program globally. I think this will be a great topic and interests to executives, managers and web analysts alike.

If you are coming to DC, please join us and you might be lucky to win a Dell Adamo XPS!

If you haven’t decided, I hope my experience in the last two years will help you make the case to yourself and to your management. Believe me, it worths the money.