Blog Post 
February 4, 2013 [info]This is a cross-posting from the GAUGE blog. Read the original at www.gaugecon.com/blog/. We also invite you to learn more about our new conference series, BEST Practices for Google Analytics coming to San Francisco in May of 2013 at best.analyticspros.com[/info]
A Proud Moment
As you’ll read below, we’ve decided to wrap up the GAUGE conference that I founded nearly two years ago. While it is bitter to see something that I loved doing come to a close, there’s a silver lining in that it provided a unique and valuable contribution to the ecosystem around Google Analytics over the last two years and led the world in setting a new standard for Google Analytics User-focused Conferences.
In reflecting on the legacy of GAUGE, I’m excited by recalling some of the big things announced at GAUGE. This included:
- GAUGE San Francisco, March 2011 – Google announced the “v5” or “new version” of Google Analytics, a next generation platform for the reporting interface.
- GAUGE New York, October 2011 – Google announced Goal Flow Visualizations and several other product enhancements.
- GAUGE San Francisco, April 2012 – Updates from the Google Analytics team on new thinking and direction at Google for analytics becoming more “customer centric” – we now can see this as a prelude of sorts for what was announced later in the year: Universal Analytics.
- GAUGE Boston, October 2012 – a first-ever “Developer Hacknight” competition for Google Analytics application developers to present their creations at GAUGE to a panel of judges and the audience. Some really cool innovations were unveiled.
All-in-all I am really proud of what GAUGE was, and excited to see what my team here at Analytics Pros and the wider Google Analytics community at large will come up with.
Read on below for more details on the winding down of GAUGE.
Dis-en-GAUGE-ing GAUGE
February 1st, 2013
Caleb Whitmore, Founder & Chair, GAUGE Conference
It’s a sad day, of sorts, as I announce the end of GAUGE. Nearly two years after I founded the conference, we’re putting it to rest. It has been a fantastic run that saw four GAUGE events in three cities spanning both US coasts and involved more than 40 speakers across the world, seven presenting partner companies, half a dozen sponsors, and hundreds of Google Analytics users from all continents except Antarctica and I can’t say “thank you” enough for being part of it!
As GAUGE launched and progressed, I’ve been amazed to see the intense learning that has happened, the networking between GA users, the opportunities to ask Googlers questions about Google Analytics, and so much more that embodies what made GAUGE truly the “Google Analytics Users’ Great Event.” I hope that the spirit in which GAUGE was started – that of collaborative learning, user-to-user sharing of knowledge, meeting GA pros and peers – will continue on in future Google Analytics user community events around the globe.
So, what next? This isn’t the end of conferences on Google Analytics and opportunities to connect with other GA users by any means. I invite you to join me at a new conference series I am starting – BEST Practices – with events planned throughout the United States and, perhaps, beyond! I also encourage you to attend the eMetrics Summit with locations and dates across the year and globe.
Thanks Where Thanks Are Due
I owe a few special thank-you’s – first to our Speakers (too many to list!) and Presenting Partners, who included Analytics Pros, Cardinal Path, E-Nor, Blast Advanced Media, ISITE Design, Blue State Digital, and LunaMetrics) who worked many long hours and late nights to prepare presentations for our attendees; second, to our Sponsors, who included Tableau Software, Trakkboard, Optimizely, DemandBase, ShufflePoint, 4Q Survey, and Ubertags; third, to the team at Google Analytics who supported the conference with giveaways, speakers, promotion, oh, and that product called Google Analytics!
Finally, a big thanks to our partners at Rising Media who helped take GAUGE from a dream to a reality and co-locating it with the eMetrics Summit and Data-Driven Business Week. Oh – and I should not forget to mention, Jim Sterne who (a little known fact) coined the acronym GAUGE for Google Analytics Users’ Great Event in the early days of planning the conference (Thanks, Jim!).
Keep In Touch!
In closing, I invite you to keep in touch. Follow my company, Analytics Pros on Twitter. Follow me @calebwhitmore. Be sure to keep your ear tuned into the blogs of past GAUGE Presenting Partners and Speakers along with the official Google Analytics Blog. I invite your direct inquires via email – you can write to gauge@analyticspros.com.
Best Regards and Happy Analyzing!
-Caleb Whitmore
Founder & Chair, GAUGE Conference
Founder & CEO, Analytics Pros & BEST Practices Conferences