Session Ideas

We should aim for a good mix of beginner and more advanced sessions, and make sure we cover the interests of the groups we want to participate.

This is a list of ideas for inspiring potential session leaders. For committed proposals, see the proposals page for a specific event. The final grid will be posted on the sessions page for each event.

Beginner sessions

• Getting started with Google Analytics
• Using web analytics to measure the right things
• Measuring email campaigns
• Getting started with Tracking QR Codes
• Introduction to social media analysis
• Monitoring social media with or without a budget
• Introduction to data visualization
• Introduction to text analytics
• Introduction to customer segmentation (RFM, cluster analysis, association rules)
• Introduction to customer lifetime value
• Introduction to predictive analytics & data mining
• Introduction to behavioral analytics
• Case study on one of the above
• I'm having a problem on x - can we discuss solutions or possible solutions?
• Personal data mining, the "quantified self", "the data-driven life": analytics on your health, time management, browsing, communications, etc.

Advanced sessions

• Mining Twitter and blog content to predict real world events (stock movements, political outcomes, box office returns, other)
• Visualization + data mining
• Testing strategies for web marketers
• Using Design of Experiments instead of Multivariate Testing
• Server-based versus beacon-based web analytics
• Competing approaches to measuring social media
• Analyzing geolocation data in social media and mobile web
• Information design
• Using statistical and data mining software in conjunction with web analytics packages
• Possibly some aspects of Data Mining Camp (http://www.meetup.com/webmapsocial/boards/thread/7887925/) could be incorporated
• Bioinformatics
• Challenges in vertical market X
• Discussion of algorithm X
• Programmable Web: how to get started with web APIs and mine data from sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Vision & strategy

• Overcoming the silo-ization of data and analytics
• Strategy/tactics for data warehousing + BI + analytics - tying it all together
• Word-of-mouth measurement: influence or advocacy?
• Assessing where your organization is in an analytics maturity model (doesn't necessarily matter which one) and what to do
• Creating a more data-driven organizational culture
• BI / analytics competency centers
• What is this "Big Data" of which you speak?
• Where is all this going? What do "analytical competitors" look like in the future? How will the cloud enable firms who couldn't do "analytics" before?
• Analytics as a business
• Starting an analytics company in the Triangle

Career sessions

• What companies look for in analytics positions
• How to build an analytics skill set
• Ask the Recruiter(s): What companies are looking for now