The SAS Dummy - A SAS blog for the rest of us.

Along with hundreds of SAS users, Alison (of sas.com fame) is attending the MidWest SAS User Group meeting. She recently "live-blogged" the keynote presentation from Suzanne Gordon, our CIO.

Suzanne does us proud every time. Check out what she had to say to the MWSUG attendees about her start at SAS and her career since. Also, Alison has been live-blogging MWSUG sessions with other SAS community notables, including Jon Weisz and Kirk Paul Lafler.

Alan and Brendan, of Inside SAS Global Forum fame, caught up with me on the last day of the conference.

Check out the full list of video blog entries here. There are some great interviews with high-profile folks like Jim Goodnight (watch as he wrestles the microphone away from Alan!) and John Sall, in addition to interviews with some of the behind-the-scenes staffers.

Here's the entry featuring Yours Truly. Note how I diplomatically handle the question, "what was the highlight of the conference for you?"

I really enjoyed this blog post by AnnMaria: "The Sea Monkey Effect prevents robot uprising". I think my reading experience was enhanced because I met* the author at SAS Global Forum yesterday.

AnnMaria should apply for a grant and enter into the annals of improbable research.


*(She told me that she had no idea I was going to be so tall. After meeting her, I'll bet she says that to a lot of people.)

During SAS Global Forum, I had the privilege of sneaking backstage at the Technical Session to meet with keynote speaker Dave Barry. I made it abundantly clear to everyone involved, this meeting was all about me and my opportunity to meet a literary legend. The fact that I was on the hook to interview him for this blog -- well, that’s the price I had to pay for access.

During our meeting I asked Dave several questions that I thought our SAS readers might be curious about. He didn’t really answer any of those, but here are some things that he did talk about.

How did you get onto the “geek” circuit, speaking to technical audiences?

It’s not that I speak just to technical audiences. I’ll visit any group that wants a speaker, for any industry. Once, I spoke at a conference for casket manufacturers.

How do you psych yourself up to speak to a group of technical folks?

I make it clear what it is I’m there to talk about. I was an English major and I don’t know anything about business analytics. SAS would be insane to bring me in to speak about business analytics. In fact, I don’t think there is anyone who knows less about business analytics than I do.

I don’t know, I’ve seen some other speakers who seem to know less and still made it on stage.

No, I’m sure that I know less. If you we can get those other speakers and me in the same room, let’s have a pop quiz. I guarantee I’ll lose.

I’m really impressed with the way you correctly pronounce “SAS”.

When I took the job, the SAS contacts told me many times how to pronounce it. They wired my body with electrodes to deliver a shock if I ever say it “S-A-S”.

Before you got this gig, had you ever heard of SAS before?

[pause] No.

Really? The largest privately held software company in the world?

Nope. How about you? Have you ever heard of the world’s largest manufacturer of, say, compressor pumps?

Um, no.

See? There are lots of companies you never heard of that deliver goods that we all benefit from. In fact, SAS is the world’s largest manufacturer of compressor pumps. I’ll bet you didn’t know that.

But now you’ve done some research and you know something about SAS?

The one person I told about this SAS speaking engagement was my son. He works for The Miami Herald, doing some stuff with their database. I told him that I was going to speak at a SAS conference – he knew who you were. In fact, he asked me to bring him back a program.

You mean a copy of SAS?

Yes. Because he said he can’t afford it.

I have a copy right here on my laptop, and I’d be happy to give it to you. Except that I can’t afford it either. So…I guess you haven’t met Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS?

No.

If you get the chance, you really should meet him. (He’s got a lot of money.)

SAS is one of the few businesses these days that makes money. I’ve got to tell you, I think that the practice of making a product that people want and selling it to them in exchange for money is a really great way to do business.


See more coverage of the presentation on the SAS Global Forum blog.

Right now I'm packing up my materials for SAS Global Forum.

It's actually a lot easier than it used to be. My first SAS conference was SUGI 21 (1996), and we didn't have personal laptop computers or USB drives or fast network connections. Machines were staged weeks ahead of time and shipped by truck to Chicago. As insurance against technical glitches in my presentation, I prepared a slide deck -- a real slide deck -- in a carousel, for use in a slide projector. You know, the type that your grandparents used for vacation photos.

With the conference site relatively close by near DC, SAS has chartered a bus for SAS employees to get there, and I'll be on it. I shouldn't reveal the schedule or bus route for security reasons. In fact, I'm sure that there will be several decoy buses deployed along the way to throw off would-be assailants. I'm assuming that the bus will include full meal and beverage service, as well as on-board live entertainment and --

Wait. Just received a memo from SAS Travel. They advise packing a bag lunch. And if you've got one, an iPod. Oh, and be at the departure spot on time or else they'll leave without you. Hmm, business travel can be a humbling experience.

The conference itself promises to be first class though. Sunday's opening session features a keynote by author Stephen Baker. And Monday morning's technical session features Dave Barry, whose work I admire and try really hard not to plagiarize. I've managed to beg my way into a meeting with him before his presentation. I'll blog about that and also plan to "live blog" his presentation for the SAS Global Forum blog.

Whether you're attending or not, you can follow the conversation in a number of ways. If you're there in person, be sure to stop by the SAS Enterprise Guide booth and say Hi. If you get there soon enough, and you say that you read this on my blog, I'll be happy to share my bag lunch.

Alan and Brendan (of Inside SAS Global Forum fame) weren't the only folks with a camera in San Antonio.



Featured scenes include: out and about in San Antonio, the technical opening session, the demo room, the Inside SAS Global Forum crew, the kickback party, and student ambassador video blogging.

Even though it's not a military site these days, apparently the Alamo still sees some action. A colleague and I noticed the helicopters hovering overhead during our lunch break yesterday. Advice to conference attendees: don't leave your pleather conference satchel unattended in a public place, lest the local authorities detonate it.

Meanwhile, our customers are enjoying an explosion of technology with SAS 9.2! I've been working in the SAS demo room -- it has been very busy, which makes for quick days here.

People are excited about futures, but they also love to learn what they can do today with the stuff that they've got. Susan and Lora, of Little SAS Book fame, presented a hands-on workshop on "SAS coding with Enterprise Guide". It was full -- 125 participants, following along with their scripted tutorial on the conference machines.

Last night I attended the prestigious SAS Press author's dinner with about 30 or so folks who have written books for SAS. Most of them are SAS customers or consultants -- and all of them are very smart. Even though I felt like the "dummy" in the room, I enjoyed listening to their real-world stories of using and teaching SAS.

It might not have been spontaneous, but it was definitely unrehearsed. That describes my appearance on Inside SAS Global Forum.



Check it out. It's difficult to read from here, but that is a "Thank you for using SAS" pin that I'm wearing.