Chris Davis outlines his mastery journey timeline to become an expert in conversion optimization. He will take courses in business intelligence, data management, analytics, and data visualization. His goal is to understand how to gather, organize, and analyze data to optimize conversions. He plans to get experience through social media groups, industry conferences, and building relationships with leaders in the field.

1. MASTERY JOURNEY TIMELINE
CHRIS DAVIS
NOVEMBER 20,2014
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT & LEADERSHIP

2. MY MASTERY GOAL
DURING THE COURSE OF MY STUDIES
MY MAIN GOAL IS TO UNDERSTAND
DATA AND HOW IT CAN HELP ME
BECOME A EXPERT CONVERSION
OPTIMIZATION SPECIALIST

3. MASTERY GOAL: PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT & LEADERSHIP
• Mastery Goal: Understand The Path To MasteryA And
Prepare Myself For Upcoming Studies
• Insight: This class will help me understand that amount
of work that it takes to become a master in my field, and
the importance of having an open mind while learning
to be a master.
• During this course I believe that the videos provided by
Full Sail will help me see clear examples of what work is
required to become a master.

4. MASTERY GOAL: FOUNDATIONS
OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
• Mastery Goal: During this class my goal is to get a firm
foundation of Project Management in regards to data projects.
• Insights: Part of being a master in my particular field is
learning how to manage projects and teams of people. I
believe that this class will give me some tangible tools that I
can use not only in my current field, but also going forward as
a conversion optimizer.
• During this course I plan on utilizing the lynda.com library to
get a more basic understanding on business intelligence.

5. MASTERY GOAL: ENTERPRISE
DATA MANAGEMENT
• Mastery Goal: To get an early foundation in database
design.
• Insights: During this class I am most looking forward to
learning the foundations of database design and resource
planning. This is important because it will go hand in hand
with the project management insights from the previous
class.
• Through this class I will take advantage of Tableau provided
by Full Sail to learn how to organize and manage data.

6. MASTERY GOAL: BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES
• Mastery Goal: To gain a firm understanding of database
administration and data mining.
• Insights: During this class I really hope to gain some firm
understanding of some of the building blocks of business
intelligence. Going forward in my mastery journey it will be
very important to understand not only how to gather data, but
also how to organize the data in ways that I can gain quick
understanding and make intelligent hypothesizes.
• During this class I will use tutorial videos provided by full sail to
understand the basics of data warehousing and data mining.

7. MASTERY GOAL: BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE ANALYTICS
• Mastery Goal: To understand forecasting and predictive analysis.
• Insights: During this class there is an emphasis on understanding the basics
of analytic methods suck as the Bayesian Statistical Methods. During this
class I will learn how to use these methods to forecast and create a
predictive analysis. This will allow me to make decisions more quickly and
determine what will help websites convert better.
• During this class I will use a course on Lynda.com to understand how to
organizes business analytics at http://www.lynda.com/Excel-tutorials/
Microsoft-Business-Intelligence-Stack-Depth/172384-2.html?srchtrk=index:
1%0Alinktypeid:2%0Aq:-%09Bayesian%2BStatistical%2BMethods
%0Apage:1%0As:relevance%0Asa:true%0Aproducttypeid:2

8. MASTERY GOAL: DATA MINING
• Mastery Goal: To understand and become proficient in data mining tools.
• Insights: During this class I will be able to learn about the tools that I will
need to become proficient in data mining. Using the data I can gather
through data mining I will also be able to start understanding how to plan
and manage projects.
• During this class I plan on learning more about how to use excel for data-mining
through videos on lynda.com http://www.lynda.com/Excel-tutorials/
Microsoft-Business-Intelligence-Stack-Depth/172384-2.html?
srchtrk=index:1%0Alinktypeid:2%0Aq:-%09Bayesian%2BStatistical
%2BMethods%0Apage:1%0As:relevance%0Asa:true%0Aproducttypeid:2

9. MASTERY GOAL: PATTERNS AND
RECOGNITION
• Mastery Goal: To understand social network analysis.
• Insight: This class is going to give me great tools to use moving
forward on my mastery journey. One thing I am looking
forward to most is getting an understanding of social network
analysis and pattern recognition. These are key to being able to
use user data to make changes to websites leading to more
conversions.
• During this class I will use Tableau provided by Full Sail to get a
better understanding of how to create data visitations that will
make it easier to spot patterns.

10. MASTERY GOAL: PROCESS
MODELING AND ANALYSIS
• Mastery Goal: To understand enterprise risk modeling and how it
effects work with larger clients.
• Insights. During this class I will be able to get experience working
with larger clients, and how the risks associated with larger
accounts can effect optimization strategy. Also by learning how to
create process simulation models, I will be able to create mock up
data tests and get an insight on how those changes will effect
enterprise level customers.
• During this class I will use the tutorials provided by Full Sail to learn
more about process modeling and how to use the data to create
them.

11. MASTERY GOAL: BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION
• Mastery Goal: To gain a better understanding of negotiation
tactics and skills.
• Insights: I am looking forward to this class because I believe that
it will give me some great tools for dealing with large businesses.
One area where I feel that I am weakest is in the area of
negotiation. During this class I will learn management reporting,
and how to use these reports in negotiations with companies.
• During this class I plan on using Full Sail’s library to do more
leadership research, as well as reading more on negotiation
skills.

12. MASTERY GOAL: DATA VISUALIZATION
AND CREATIVE REPORTING
• Mastery Goal: To create easy to use user interfaces.
• Insights: This class will give me tools that I believe I will use
throughout my career. It will give me the tools I need to be
able to display data in ways that people can easily digest.
• During this class I will use lynda.com to learn more about data
visualization at http://www.lynda.com/Design-Infographics-tutorials/
Data-Visualization-Fundamentals/153776-2.html?
srchtrk=index:1%0Alinktypeid:2%0Aq:Creative%2Bdata
%2Breporting%0Apage:1%0As:relevance%0Asa:true
%0Aproducttypeid:2

13. MASTERY GOAL: BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE CASE STUDIES
• Mastery Goal: To learn through the cases studies of
other companies, as well as learn how to construct
my own case studies.
• Insights: This class will give me a great understanding
how business intelligence can help businesses. The
glass will give examples of case studies done by
other companies which will also allow me to
understand how to create my own case studies to
share with potential customers.

14. MASTERY GOAL: BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE CAPSTONE
• Mastery Goal: To pull together all of the skills I have
learned through the course and create a full business
intelligence plan.
• Insights: During the final class of my degree program I
will learn how to pull everything together into a concise
report. Also it will give me some experience to creating a
report with data analysis as well as predictive reporting.
This will also give me an example to use in the future to
demonstrate my business intelligence skills.

15. SIX INDUSTRY INSIDERS
• Oli Gardner
• oli@unbounce.com
• @oligardner
• Peep Leja
• peep@conversionxl.com
• @peeplaja
• Brian Massey
• brian@conversionscientist.com
• @bmassey
• Bryan Eisenberg
• 347-470-4765
• @thegrok
• Michael Aagaard
• michael@contentverve.com
• @contentverve
• Rand Fishkin
• rand@moz.com
• @randfish

16. HOW TO GET INVOLVED:
• I hope to get involved in my mastery field through
getting involved with non-profit organizations in my
area, gaining experience.
• Also I am currently involved in a Facebook group
associated with a conversion optimization
conference I have attended. Through this group I
plan on building relationships as well as staying up
to date with the latest conversion optimization news.

17. HOW TO GET INVOLVED
CONTINUED:
• I plan on continuing to grow in my mastery field by
building relationships with industry leaders through
involvement in Social Media.
• I have begun relationships with both Peep Laja and
Michael Aagaard through Social Media as well as
industry conferences.
• I also plan on becoming involved with companies that
are leaders in my field through Linkedin groups as well
as company email newsletters.

18. CHARACTERISTICS OF A
MENTOR
• Proven Experience in the Conversion Optimization Field.
• A desire to teach and share information
• A “straight shooter” who tells it like it is and tells the truth.
• An innovative thinking who is looking for new ways to accomplish goals and conversion
optimization
• Someone who is family orientated.
• Someone who is interested in leadership and continuing to progress the field.
• Someone secure enough themselves to not feel threatened by someone who is
pushing themselves to be on the same level as the mentor
• Someone with good communication skills knowing how to explain information as well
as receive informations from others.

19. FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY CLUBS
• During my studies I plan on advancing my mastery
journey by becoming in involved in the social media
club at Full Sail. This club will help me to stay up to
date with the changes in Social Media.
• Social media a great place to gather data that
companies can use in conversion optimization. By
staying up to date on changes, and techniques for
social media I will be able to gather data more
quickly and efficiently.

20. MASTERY TIMELINE
Key Points: During this mastery journey my main
emphasis will be learning the basics of business
intelligence. My goal is to learn everything that I can
about data mining, and organization. This will help
me in my journey to become a master in conversion
optimization.