13 November 2024

MeasureCamp Sydney

In summary

• MeasureCamp has been running globally for the past 12 years. Playfully described as a free ‘unconference’, Sydney’s happened last month.
• The data and analytics community come together to catch up, exchange ideas, network and have fun in a relaxed environment.
• If you haven’t been before, you’re missing out.

What is MeasureCamp?

MeasureCamp is a free ‘unconference’ for the digital analytics community. It is now hosted across 27 cities globally since its inception in London back in 2012.

MeasureCamps are run by local Digital Analytics communities. In Sydney, the Digital Analytics Community, the same team team that holds Data Analytics Wednesdays, is at the helm. The group consists of dedicated professionals in the industry who are all connected by a few degrees of separation. Their drive to keep events alive and running in Sydney for newcomers, regulars and guests is admirable.

On 26 October 2024, Louder were proud attendees, sponsors and volunteers of MeasureCamp Sydney held at Google’s Sydney offices in Pyrmont. Having attended for many years now, it was lovely to be able to give back to the community and support the event, along with many other like-minded sponsors. The best bit - due to its consistently strong sponsorship, it continues to be a free event for the community.

A free analytics event with Sydney water views - what else could you want?

How does MeasureCamp work?

Not for the faint hearted

MeasureCamps are run on a Saturday, so they’re only for those who really want to attend. The “unconference” format invites all attendees to give a talk, host a panel or even run a game show quiz! The idea is to break the conference norms - you can talk about anything, there’s no fancy keynote speakers and the sponsors aren’t jamming sales techniques down your throat. It’s not all polished and it’s not meant to be. I feel like this is part of what makes it feel so accessible to everyone. This year, I attended a software therapy session with Sam Kenney where a few of us shared software horror stories and managed to have a laugh about it!

Fill out a speaker card

At the start of the day, there is an empty board with no sessions. Attendees are invited to fill out speaker cards and place them on the board. You give your talk a name, short description and select what category the talk is (discussion, presentation, debate/panel or entertainment). Mark on a sliding scale if its business minded or more of a technical session. There was a data privacy game show this year hosted by the illustrious sparkling Pauli Pazzazz, and our very own Ian Kenney took home a prize as the game went into a tiebreak!

Place your card on the talk board

Place your card on the board and then wander around dropping into other talks and be ready to do yours at your assigned time. Organisers may shift things around a bit so keep an eye out for changes.

Each session is 30 mins, so it’s important to allow for some questions and chatter to happen at the end and be respectful to finish on time so people can get to their next session.

The main themes I noticed this year included:

• Leveraging AI: preparing for AI, building your own AI assistant, faster data analysis with AI

• The Google Analytics discussions had moved to more advanced solutions and challenges: GA4 + BigQuery, server side tagging, modelling GA4 with dbt, Google Sheets with GA4 and Google Tag Manager, using LLMs for data analysis

• Management and leadership: lessons learnt as a data manager, trust is key when running an analytics team, how an analytics consultancy turned 10 and started up with no funding.

Enjoy and learn

Wander around to soak up as much goodness and knowledge as you can. If a talk doesn’t quite resonate with you, move onto the next. Ask questions and contribute to discussions where you can. This is where the magic happens and the community share and share alike.

A popular session this year by Mike Robbins was around understanding how he transformed the talk board into a digital talk board on the fly!

Head to the after party

After a day of learning and sharing, it’s time to kick back and enjoy a beer at the pub with everyone. This is also free in addition to the snacks provided throughout the day, barista coffee and food trucks for lunch! Join in the trivia game, hang about and meet new people or catch up with friends you haven’t seen all year.

Throughout the afterparty I had many conversions with people who were amazed at how generous and giving the community is. It’s very inviting to newcomers and regulars alike. Everyone is always up for a conversation and can introduce you to the next person to meet and get to know. This warm, buzzy feeling is part of what makes the community and events so good.

Being part of the community

The team at Louder are proud members of the digital analytics community. We contribute by attending monthly events, writing articles on our website to help the broader community and sharing our knowledge on support forums when we feel we can help.

Sign up to Louder’s newsletter to get monthly updates in your inbox or come down to the next Data and Analytics Wednesday meetup and say hi.

References

MeasureCamp https://www.measurecamp.org/

MeasureCamp Sydney https://sydney.measurecamp.org/