Event analytics in observability is where you can use [Piped Processing Language]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/observability-plugin/ppl/index) (PPL) queries to build and view different visualizations of your data.
To get started, choose **Observability** in OpenSearch Dashboards, and then choose **Event analytics**. If you want to start exploring without adding any of your own data, choose **Add sample Events Data**, and Dashboards adds some sample visualizations you can interact with.
## Build a query
To generate custom visualizations, you must first specify a PPL query. OpenSearch Dashboards then automatically creates a visualization based on the results of your query.
For example, the following PPL query returns a count of how many host addresses are currently in your data.
After Dashboards generates a visualization, you must save it if you want to return to it at a later time or if you want to add it to an [operational panel]({{site.url}}{{site.baseurl}}/observability-plugin/operational-panels).
To save a visualization, expand the save dropdown menu next to **Run**, enter a name for your visualization, then choose **Save**. You can reopen any saved visualizations on the event analytics page.