One of the best ways for entrepreneurs to get going is to simply get out there. Before I started looking, I knew little of the vibrant community in Silicon Alley. Given the community and population density of New York, once you start looking, it’s hard to find a day when there isn’t something cool to go to.

When you’re looking for events, don’t just go to the events where you’re familiar with the material. Go to events where you don’t always know what you’re getting into, wont know anyone, and know little about the subject matter at hand. Meeting new people forces you to talk about your ideas and refine the way you communicate. More importantly, because you’re not an expert at the subject matter at hand, you learn to listen. Entrepreneurs should be equally good at both.

With this in mind, I attended Web Analytics Wednesday hosted by Avenue A | Razorfish. What little I know about web analytics comes from my short history with Google Analytics, and with only a few weeks of experience with the application, I knew there was obviously more I had to learn.

The night’s presentation was given by Eric T. Peterson of Web Analytics Demystified and was titled the Future of Web Analytics. His presentation centered around his predictions for the future of the web analytics industry such as industry consolidation, increasing responsibility for ROI, and a move towards more robust tools.

Ultimately, I think the title of the presentation should have been the Future of the Web Analytics Industry, but I can’t fault Eric for that. This was not my domain.

I was hoping for a breakdown of some of the more rigorous tools in the industry using multivariate analysis as well as a better understanding of cookie deletion rates. He touched on these things but never discussed them in any depth. Then again, of course he didn’t. He was speaking to a room full of web analytics professionals.

The night was by no means a loss for me. Eric was a great presenter and shared a similar appreciation for learning outside your expertise. He advised the people in the room to develop their skills outside their domain with presentation classes and statistics classes.

In that vein, I think attending Web Analytics Wednesday was well worth my time. I spoke to a few people about their industry, picked up on the industry lexicon, learned about legislation effecting the industry, and added a few books to my future reading list (and had free pizza and beer — thanks guys!). I may not have learned those skills for taking my Google Analytics data a step further, but I now know where to look when I decide to.

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