Several Web 2.0 Expo New York panels this week are shaping up as must-see events.A Friday panel on the The Future of Browsers became more compelling thanks to the recent introduction of Google's Chrome, which has maintained roughly 6% market share among site visitors to InformationWeek.com since the week of its launch.

The panel gained even more steam with the late addition of Google's Dion Almaer, the founder of the Ajaxian.com Ajax community and the Audible Ajax podcast who works in Google's Developer Programs group. He also does the Google Developer Podcast.

The event's agenda was clearly assembled well in advance of Chrome, as the panel description reads: "In many ways browsers have stagnated for years. It appears that we are coming out of the barren years, and with the sped up development of Firefox, WebKit, Opera, and even IE 8, we could be seeing a renaissance of the Web as a whole."

Clearly, Chrome has emerged as a force to reckon with, and attendees should expect questions about Chrome to be the buzz of this session. If you're still sitting on the fence about downloading Chrome, or wondering what kind of alternative it poses to IE or Firefox, you can get the views of Google's Almaer, Microsoft's Chris Wilson, and Mozilla's Brendan Eich directly.

Some other sessions that look to be heavily attended based on pre-registration activity shown on the Web 2.0 Expo site:

• Tuesday's "Building Successful Next Generation Web 2.0 Applications." Among other areas of focus, Dion Hinchcliffe will look at ways to open Web applications to the broadest possible audience through Web APIs, as well as exploring rich user experience platforms.
• Wednesday's "Web Analytics 2.0" session should give attendees practical insights into how to measure and prove ROI on their Web 2.0 investments -- and that's a critical consideration as economic conditions continue to worsen and corporate budgets grow tighter. Avinash Kaushik will be showing attendees how to go beyond measuring conversion rates and drilling deeper into task conversion rates. That's hugely beneficial if he can deliver on the promise.
• The topic of Wednesday's session, "Building Personal Brand Within The Social Media Landscape," clearly resonates with those who'll be attending. More than 450 people have registered for that session, clearly looking to get some personal ROI on the time they spend on the various social networks.

Here's one that offers huge appeal to me: Friday's "What Would Google Do? How Media Must Revolutionize Their Thinking," in which BusinessWeek editors will talk about their work to date and work they must do in the Web 2.0 space.

What looks most promising to you at Web 2.0 Expo New York? What are you looking to learn at the show? The full conference agenda is available here.