A webcast on “Driving Web Traffic & Monetization With Widgets” will be hosted by NewsGator this Wednesday, April 2nd at 2:00 pm EDT.

Together with National Geographic, the webcast will share best practices for using widgets by showing marketers how to achieve greater customer interaction, higher page views and expanded ad sponsorship opportunities.

Some of the main topics will be:

• Discover the differences between banner ads and widgets
• Learn the top 5 strategies for creating widgets that deliver positive business results
• See sample widgets and actual widget metric data from leading brand and media companies

Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Time: 2:00 p.m. EDT

Register: Here

Web analytics continue to grow and standardize, which is a great development for those of us in the widget world.

A panel at the eMetrics Summit in Toronto, Canada will be discussing the differences in web analytics versus audience measurement tools. Widget analyst Jodi McDermott, a member of the Web Analytics Association, is a panel participant.

Among numerous topics, the panel will discuss “… the value of the metrics, methods and tools used by web analytics practitioners, online advertising media and audience measurement organizations.”

Location: Marriott Eaton Centre Hotel
Toronto Ontario, Canada
Date: March 31, 2008

Would you like to spend a day rubbing elbows with social app experts?

Then the SNAP Summit 2.0 is the place to be next week. Along with a full day of talks and workshops, the event will be keynoted by Dave Morin, senior platform manager for Facebook.

The conference will debate questions such as:

* How do you make your apps more viral?
* What are the best ways to use metrics?
* Where is the social platform headed?
* What are some of the major exit strategies for app companies?
* What kind of apps do advertisers like most?

GigaOM is a media partner for the event and is offering their readers a 10 percent discount off registration by going here and entering the code “gigaom.”

Location: The Commonwealth Club
San Francisco, California, USA
Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2008

ad:tech has been producing exciting conferences for 10 years now. Their mission is to provide an “interactive” environment for both advertising people and technology people.

They put on 11 shows in 7 countries and have a large global presence. Their next scheduled event in the U.S. is the ad:tech San Francisco Conference and Exhibition, April 15 – April 17.

For widgeteers, a very high-powered panel named, “Making Widgets and Gadgets Work for You,” will be held Thursday, April 17, 2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

“Come learn about the types of widgets and gadgets (e.g., start page, desktop, social media), the platforms they run on (e.g., mobile, TV, gaming) and the interactive content that’s turning traditional online advertising on its head. Then, go a step further to understand the value of incorporating widgets and gadgets into your marketing plan and monetizing your efforts,” according to the panel’s description.

Take a look at this stellar list of panelists:

MODERATOR:
Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research

PANELISTS:
Hooman Radfar, CEO and Co-Founder, Clearspring
Jane Felice, Senior Client Service Director, Media and Entertainment, comScore, Inc.
Ed Davis, VP Product Development, ESPN Digital Media Community
Kent Schoen, Product Marketing Manager, Facebook

Just the opportunity to introduce yourself to one of these people will be worth the price of admission.

Location: Moscone Center
San Francisco, California, USA
Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 – Thursday, April 17, 2008

WidgetWebExpo 2008 is this year’s incarnation of Widgety Goodness, a hugely successful widget conference held last year in London. Anyone connected to the widget world will, or should be, at this year’s expo in New York City, June 16 and 17.

Founder and conference host Ivan Pope, known in the industry as “Mr. Widget,” has a wide range of cutting-edge sessions in store for this year’s expo. To name just a few:

• Widgets Marketing for Beginners
• Advanced Widget Tools
• Widgets Marketing Case Studies
• Social Networking Widgets
• How Widgets are Changing Publishing
• How Widgets are Changing Advertising
• How Widgets are Changing Search
• Measuring Widget Success
• Viral Widgets

For a full list of topics planned to-date, link here and go to the bottom of that page.

At the expo, you’ll also be able to watch and enjoy the “Widget Effectiveness” awards and/or attend the Widget Standards Birds of a Feather (BoF) meeting.

Whether you’re new to widgets or have built your own, the WidgetWebExpo will be THE place to be and be seen this summer.

Location: New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Date: Monday, June 16, 2008 – Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The 4th annual eMarketing Summit meets in Portland, Oregon this year and brings together marketers, business owners and Internet professionals.

The Summit focuses on social media marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing and Web 2.0 tools, including widgets.

This year an expert panel session named “What the Heck is a Widget?” will be presented, and topics will include the planning, designing, creating and distribution of widgets.

The panelists are Dylan Boyd ( eROI, inc.), Matt Bijur (KickApps), David White (FlightStats), and Mike Berkley (SplashCast Media).

Location: Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 – Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Web 2.0 Expo this year in San Francisco will include a “Marketing and Community” track featuring several sessions on widgets, including “Bling, Bling: Monetizing and Marketing Through Widgets” by Ro Choy and “Facebook Marketing: Best Practices” by Jeremiah Owyang.

Location: Moscone West
San Francisco, California, USA
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 – Friday, April 25, 2008

The AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2008 West is billed as “the world’s leading Web 2.0 and Rich Internet Application (RIA) event.”

This year’s conference is expected to attract more than 2,000 i-technology developers, technology evangelists, architects, project managers and C-level executives, according to organizers.

The conference includes several sessions on widgets, including Hooman Radfar, Founder & CEO of Clearspring Technologies, on “The Social Aggregator – How Widgets Are Reshaping the Social Web“.

AJAXWorld Conference and Expo “At-a-Glance”

Location: The Roosevelt Hotel
New York City, New York, USA
Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 – Thursday, March 20, 2008