We wrapped up the annual SESUG conference this week. This year was special, in that the conference was held locally near SAS world headquarters in Cary, NC. In fact, the opening session on Sunday was right here in our on-campus conference center. Conferees were able to take campus tours and enjoy a SAS-sponsored reception before retiring for the next two days to the conference hotel in Research Triangle Park. Meanwhile, the rest of us got to sleep in our own beds, and—in addition—the local venue made it possible for an unusually large number of SAS Publications folks to experience firsthand a regional user’s conference.

It was great seeing so many familiar faces among the SESUG stalwarts, as well as quite a few new attendees. And of course it’s always a pleasure seeing and chatting with such SAS Press authors as Tricia Aanderud, Angela Hall, Sanjay Matange, Rick Wicklin, Maura Stokes, William Benjamin, Perry Watts, among others (sorry if I’m leaving anyone out!) What’s more, our Twitter giveaways were a lot of fun. I got to meet a couple of lucky winners and to give away two of my favorite books: Tricia and Angela’s Building Business Intelligence Using SAS and the recently published Generalized Linear and Nonlinear Models for Correlated Data by Ed Vonesh.

All in all, it was a great time and a chance to attend a conference without going far. Of course, next year’s SESUG will be in beautiful St. Pete Beach, Florida, so maybe there’s something to be said for traveling as well!