The Analytics Power Hour

Michael Helbling, Moe Kiss, Tim Wilson, Val Kroll, and Julie Hoyer
  • 4.7 (159)
  • MARKETING
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
The Analytics Power Hour

Attend any conference for any topic and you will hear people saying after that the best and most informative discussions happened in the bar after the show. Read any business magazine and you will find an article saying something along the lines of "Business Analytics is the hottest job category out there, and there is a significant lack of people, process and best practice." In this case the conference was eMetrics, the bar was….multiple, and the attendees were Michael Helbling, Tim Wilson and Jim Cain (Co-Host Emeritus). After a few pints and a few hours of discussion about the cutting edge of digital analytics, they realized they might have something to contribute back to the community. This podcast is one of those contributions. Each episode is a closed topic and an open forum - the goal is for listeners to enjoy listening to Michael, Tim, and Moe share their thoughts and experiences and hopefully take away something to try at work the next day. We hope you enjoy listening to the Digital Analytics Power Hour.

  1. DEC 10

    #260: Once Upon a Data Story with Duncan Clark

    Data storytelling is a perpetually hot topic in analytics and data science. It's easy to say, and it feels pretty easy to understand, but it's quite difficult to consistently do well. As our guest, Duncan Clark, co-founder and CEO of Flourish and Head of Europe for Canva, described it, there's a difference between "communicating" and "understanding" (or, as Moe put it, there's a difference between "explaining" and "exploring"). Data storytelling is all about the former, and it requires hard work and practice: being crystal clear as to why your audience should care about the information, being able boil the story down to a single sentence (and then expand from there), and crafting a narrative that is much, much more than an accelerated journey through the path the analyst took with the data. Give it a listen and then live happily ever after! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

    1 hr

  2. NOV 26

    #259: Dateline Data

    There's data, data everywhere, including in the media! Data often gets collected, analyzed, published in a study, covered by a journalist, and then distilled down to a headline. The opportunities for lost-in-translation (or lost-in-simplification? Lost-in-summarization?) misfires are many. We tried an experiment—each of the available co-hosts brought some headlines that made them raise an eyebrow, and we tested our own data literacy (data skepticism) with a real-time review. The parallels to the day-to-day work of an analyst were many! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

    1h 2m

  3. NOV 12

    #258: Goals, KPIs, and Targets, Oh My! with Tim Wilson

    KPIs? Really? It’s 2024. Can’t we just ask Claude to generate those for us? We say… no. There are lots and lots of things that AI can take on or streamline, but getting meaningful, outcome-oriented alignment within a set of business partners as they plan a campaign, project, or initiative isn’t one of them! Or, at least, we’re pretty sure that’s what our special guest for this episode would say. He’s been thinking about (and ranting about) organizations’ failure to take goal establishment, KPI identification, and target-setting seriously enough for years (we found a post he wrote in 2009 on the subject!). He also really helped us earn our explicit tag for this episode — scatologically and onanistically, we’re afraid. But solid content nonetheless, so hopefully you can hear past that! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

    1h 6m

  4. OCT 29

    #257: Analyst Use Cases for Generative AI

    udging by the number of inbound pitches we get from PR firms, AI is absolutely going to replace most of the work of the analyst some time in the next few weeks. It’s just a matter of time until some startup gets enough market traction to make that happen (business tip: niche podcasts are likely not a productive path to market dominance, no matter what Claude from Marketing says). We’re skeptical. But that doesn’t mean we don’t think there are a lot of useful applications of generative AI for the analyst. We do! As Moe posited in this episode, one useful analogy is that thinking of using generative AI effectively is like getting a marketer effectively using MMM when they’ve been living in an MTA world (it’s more nuanced and complicated). Our guest (NOT from a PR firm solicitation!), Martin Broadhurst, agreed: it’s dicey to fully embrace generative AI without some understanding of what it’s actually doing. Things got a little spicy, but no humans or AI were harmed in the making of the episode. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

    1h 6m

  5. OCT 15

    #256: Live at MeasureCamp Chicago

    For the first time since they've been a party of five, all of the Analytics Power Hour co-hosts assembled in the same location. That location? The Windy City. The occasion? Chicago's first ever MeasureCamp! The crew was busy throughout the day inviting attendees to "hop on the mic" with them to answer various questions. We covered everything from favorite interview questions to tips and tricks, with some #hottake questions thrown in for fun. During the happy hour at the end of the day, we also recorded a brief live show, which highlighted some of the hosts' favorite moments from the day. Listen carefully and you'll catch an audio cameo from Tim's wife, Julie! And keep an eye on the MeasureCamp website to find the coolest way to spend a nerdy Saturday near you (Bratislava, Sydney, Dubai, Stockholm, Brussels, and Istanbul are all coming up before the end of the year!). For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

    1h 27m

  6. OCT 1

    #255: Dear APH-y: Career Inflection Points

    To data analyst, or to data science? To individually contribute, or to manage the individual contributions of others? To mid-career pivot into analytics, or to… oh, hell yes! That last one isn’t really a choice, is it? At least, not for listeners who are drawn to this podcast. And this episode is a show that can be directly attributed to listeners. As we gathered feedback in our recent listener survey, we asked for topic suggestions, and a neat little set of those suggestions were all centered around career development. And thus, a show was born! All five co-hosts—Julie, Michael, Moe, Tim, and Val—hopped on the mic to collaborate on some answers in this episode. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

    59 min

  7. SEP 17

    #254: Is Your Use of Benchmarks Above Average? with Eric Sandosham

    It's human nature to want to compare yourself or your organization against your competition, but how valuable are benchmarks to your business strategy? Benchmarks can be dangerous. You can rarely put your hands on all the background and context since, by definition, benchmark data is external to your organization. And you can also argue that benchmarks are a lazy way to evaluate performance, or at least some co-hosts on this episode feel that way! Eric Sandosham, founder and partner at Red & White Consulting Partners (and prolific writer), along with Moe, Tim, and Val break down the problems with benchmarking and offer some alternatives to consider when you get the itch to reach for one! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

    1h 5m

  8. SEP 3

    #253: Adopting a Just In Time, Just Enough Data Mindset with Matt Gershoff

    While we don’t often call it out explicitly, the driving force behind much of what and how much data we collect is driven by a "just in case" mentality: we don't know exactly HOW that next piece of data will be put to use, but we better collect it to minimize the potential for future regret about NOT collecting it. Data collection is an optionality play—we strive to capture "all the data" so that we have as many potential options as possible for how it gets crunched somewhere down the road. On this episode, we explored the many ways this deeply ingrained and longstanding mindset is problematic, and we were joined by the inimitable Matt Gershoff from Conductrics for the discussion! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

    1h 8m
See All (270)

4.7
out of 5
159 Ratings

About

Attend any conference for any topic and you will hear people saying after that the best and most informative discussions happened in the bar after the show. Read any business magazine and you will find an article saying something along the lines of "Business Analytics is the hottest job category out there, and there is a significant lack of people, process and best practice." In this case the conference was eMetrics, the bar was….multiple, and the attendees were Michael Helbling, Tim Wilson and Jim Cain (Co-Host Emeritus). After a few pints and a few hours of discussion about the cutting edge of digital analytics, they realized they might have something to contribute back to the community. This podcast is one of those contributions. Each episode is a closed topic and an open forum - the goal is for listeners to enjoy listening to Michael, Tim, and Moe share their thoughts and experiences and hopefully take away something to try at work the next day. We hope you enjoy listening to the Digital Analytics Power Hour.

Information

  • Creator
    Michael Helbling, Moe Kiss, Tim Wilson, Val Kroll, and Julie Hoyer
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2024
  • Episodes
    270
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    The Analytics Power Hour

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada