How a Google Engineer Sets Up Google Analytics

Attention all web developers, IT professionals, and data analysts: Today’s Buzz is for you.

Google Engineer Philip Walton created a detailed and thorough resource  (opens in a new tab) to help web developers implement and get the most out of Google Analytics (GA). His post is chock-full of the insider tips and tricks you’ve been looking for.

The analytics platform has a ton of great features that can be complicated to suss out. Walton’s GA setup guide provides a detailed look at loading analytics.js, performance tracking, using autotrack plugins, and much more.

Do you worry if your code is running correctly? Walton mentions that there are paid resources you can use to verify your code, but he also provides actual snippets of code you can use for GA to do this yourself.

What’s his fix? “I track unhandled errors by adding a global error event listener as the very first <script> in the <head> of the page.”

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Check out Walton’s post for much more  (opens in a new tab).

Planning Timelines

Do you ask the right Questions when Planning a Conference Timeline? – https://t.co/eChPIJuSpg  (opens in a new tab) #Meetingprofs  (opens in a new tab) #assnchat  (opens in a new tab) #ConferencePlanning  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/7lUS0nDAJS  (opens in a new tab)

— Congrex Switzerland (@Congrex) February 15, 2017  (opens in a new tab)

All conferences require their own planning strategy, but there are a few key questions any event professional should ask to help form a timeline.

What’s the value of asking these questions  (opens in a new tab)? Frank M. Waechter of Congrex Switzerland says that this step “involves gathering information, bringing together the right team, and bringing this all together in order to construct the outline and picture of the event to fulfill the criteria and expectations of the parent association.”

Some of the questions that Waechter suggests are fairly basic: What local venue can serve the needs of your conference? What are the dates of availability of that venue and nearby hotels?

But he also provides questions that are more complicated. “Have the scheduled or preferred dates for the perspective conference taken into account other events or conferences occurring at the destination at the same time?” And “What are the general conditions for infrastructure and logistics once the participants reach the selected destination?”

Other links of note

Hiring the best people: Adrian Segar of Conferences That Work delivers the “must-do steps” for hiring professionals  (opens in a new tab).

Get ready for noisy newsfeeds: Facebook makes an aggressive move toward monetizing video by enabling sound on autoplay video  (opens in a new tab) in newsfeeds, reports BBC News.

Keep ’em coming back for more: Don’t miss these tips  (opens in a new tab) from Omnipress’ Big Ideas Blog that will keep conference attendees returning year after year.

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