Amidst all of the SAS users and SAS professionals there will also be others who are very excited to be at the conference - analytics and technology bloggers (scads of them!). One of those bloggers, with whom I will finally get to make a face-to-face connection at SAS Global Forum, is Beth Shultz, Editor-in-Chief of AllAnalytics.com.
It turns out that Shultz and I have quite a bit in common: we are both excited about the conference, love writing about analytics and the people who use analytics, and we're both going to be very busy next week. You can follow along with her posts beginning with "On the Road to SAS Global Forum," where she interviews Conference Chair Andrew Kuligowski.
Let the excitement begin
My schedule begins Saturday night at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort. I've scheduled a SAS Tweetup (people who network on Twitter meet in person) at 8:00 p.m. We'll meet at the registration desk, and then find a more suitable location to chat and get to know one another. If you are in the hotel at 8:00 p.m. - even if you have never used Twitter before - please come by and get to know us all. This is casual get-together! If you are using Twitter, spread the word!!
Speaking of Twitter - tell everyone what you are learning and who you are talking to by using the conference hashtag #sasgf12. Here are a couple of example Tweets:
- @cjdinger's talk on Enterprise Guide Automation is so good that I'm downloading paper: http://bit.ly/HIeqKM #sasgf12
- I just ran into someone that I met at SUGI 21. What laughs! That's one of the great things about #sasgf12
From there, it will be joyful madness!
I'm like you: excitedly catching up with old friends and making lunch dates, and then rushing to Opening Session, the Technology Connection, a couple of trips through the SAS Support & Demo Area, interviews with SAS users and several Coder's Corner presentations. I've also scheduled myself for a session on macros, a couple of best practices sessions, one on tips and tricks, and one about selecting a SAS mentor. Of course, I can't miss the session by Rex Pruitt titled, SAS Users Groups: Why? How?
I know your schedules will be tight AND you don't want to miss anything. I'll try to cover as much as I can, so subscribe to the SAS Users Groups blog so that you don't miss a single post. You can also catch some of the most watched presentations via SAS Global Forum live streaming and some presentations new for 2012, including:
- Tech Talks hosted by Chris Hemedinger - live conversations in the SAS Support & Demo Area with R&D staffers about topics that include high-performance data mining, text analytics and sentiment analysis, SAS/ACCESS to Hadoop, SAS iPad apps, SAS Visual Analytics Explorer and Microsoft Surface and Kinect. WOW! Are you drooling yet?!
- SAS Talks Live - This series has been super popular so we are bringing it to the stage and featuring SAS author Tricia Aanderud, her co-author and SAS professional Angela Hall, and Eric Rossland, a director in the Education division at SAS.
There are also new social media demos in the SAS Support & Demo Area on Monday and Tuesday. Kirsten Hamstra, SAS Social Media Manager, and Meg Crawford, Digital Marketing Strategist at SAS, will lead short sessions on SAS mobile apps; leveraging LinkedIn; writing for the digital age; an introduction to SAS social platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; and an introduction to the Knowledge Exchange and AllAnalytics.
Finally, don't miss the transformation of the SAS Support & Demo Area on Wednesday into SAS Backstage. Sign up for the roundtables can only be done through Agenda Builder. Many of the tables are full, so hurry to sign up. The roundtables are from 8:30-9:30 and include topics such as:
- Calling all ideas SAS Global Forum 2013 and beyond - hosted by Rick Mitchell
- Maximizing you SAS investment - hosted by Stacy Hobson
- Using PROC Format - hosted by Rick Langston
- SAS Partner experiences - hosted by Loretta Schlatzer
- Visual Analytics - hosted by Stuart Nisbet
- SAS Documentation - hosted by Gary Meek
- Writing a SAS book - hosted by Shelley Sessoms
- SAS Audit and Performance Measurement - hosted by Steve Holzworth
- Crafting analytic solutions with JMP and SAS - hosted by Anne Milley
- Working with SAS Support - hosted by Renee Harper
There is so much more. Let's share with one another so that we don't miss a thing! Follow me on Twitter (I'm @waynettetubbs). Also follow and contribute to the SAS Global Forum hashtag #sasgf12. You can find a lot more ways to keep up in this post about the social media connections at SAS Global Forum. Look for me - I want to meet you!!
