It hardly seems that enough time has passed by for eMetrics and Omniture (I’ll never call it Adobe) Summit to be here again but time just seems to be speeding up these days.  I am glad though that these two events are almost here as it is a welcome chance to catch up with old friends and make some new ones as well.  And it goes without saying, but I am looking forward to soaking in the content that these two great conferences will be offering up.

In the weeks leading up to the conferences there will be the anticipation of what news worthy announcements will be made about new products, new solutions, new magic genie lamp to solve all your digital measurement issues.   But I have never been a patient person so I thought I would list out some of the items I am most looking forward to and what I hope will be unveiled at one of these events.

eMetrics Opening Ceremonies: Jim Sterne never disappoints with his polish and creative openings to eMetrics.  For me both Jim and eMetrics are one and the same things and the event would never be the same without his leadership.

WAA Awards Gala: Ok…so I am biased here after last year being honored along with Adam Greco for our podcast Beyond Web Analytics, but I think it is a great event to recognize those in our industry that are doing some great things.   I also see the Gala as another sign of maturity of our association as we continue to work to get analytics more visibility inside of companies.

Omniture CAB Sessions: The Omniture Customer Advisory Board Sessions are my absolute favorite thing about Summit.  The two days of conversations and information sharing with other dedicated practitioners and product managers provide some of the best insight to what is coming on the roadmap and to provide input on where we think the platform should be headed.

WAW’s : Web Analytics Wednesday’s both official and unofficial side events at both eMetrics & Summit provide yet another great networking opportunity that is nearly free of any sort of vendor sales slant and you get the time to relax with the others in the digital measurement trenches and swap your war stories from the past year.

Gibson Girl/Lobby Bar: I am sad that Summit this year will not be at the Grand America hotel where into the wee hours of the night..( 9:30 pm for me) but we will find a lounge to serve as a replacement, the weary conference attendees gather to talk about just about anything other than analytics.  Drinks are named for people, jokes are told, things that should not be tweeted are shared.

Sushi:  This goes without saying some some of the best sushi I’ve had is at these conferences.  And the chance to east raw fish with old and new friends alike makes it taste that much better.

What are you looking forward to?