If you haven't signed up for SAS Global Forum 2011 in Las Vegas, you'd better get moving: February 28 is the last day for early registration and the discounted hotel prices.

You should also sign up for the pre-conference statistical tutorials, which are filling up fast! I was tempted to title my tutorial "Everything a Practicing Statistician Needs to Know about Sampling and Simulation in SAS Software," but that title seemed overly ambitious for a two-hour tutorial! Instead, I settled on "Data Simulation for Evaluating Statistical Methods in SAS," which is less enticing, but more accurate.

Regardless of its name, my tutorial is packed with tips, techniques, and dozens of working programs that show you how to use SAS software to efficiently sample and simulate. You can use the techniques in my course for a wide range of applications such as studying the variability of estimates and understanding whether a statistical analysis is valid when applied to skewed or heavy-tailed data.

SAS Global Forum 2011 is also the official launch of my new book, Statistical Programming with SAS/IML Software. All SAS Press books are 20% off, and SAS Press will be giving away books during the mixer in the SAS Support and Demo Area on Tuesday, April 5, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

In conjunction with the official launch, I am excited to announce that I've created a SAS/IML Tip Sheet and an IMLPlus Tip Sheet, which are both available at the SAS Press booth. These tip sheets contain code snippets that can get you started with SAS/IML programming, or can serve as a handy reminder for the occasional programmer. Stop by the SAS Press Booth to pick up your free copy.