Australia: more than just a day ahead

It's been a very busy week for me here in Sydney, Australia. For starters, I led a two-day course about SAS Enterprise Guide for experienced SAS users. We used SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3, which is just about to ship from SAS. I told my students that they were the first SAS customers to actually lay their hands on this new version of the software. It's just another example of why left-of-the-dateline Australia's slogan should be something like, "Australia: we thrive in Tomorrow while you wallow in Yesterday."

On Thursday, we held SAS Forum in Sydney. There were lots of great high-level and technical sessions, including a hands-on workshop with SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3, led by SAS Education staff from Australia. It was another great chance for dozens of customers to play with the new programming features that are built into the latest release.

Personally, I was extremely impressed by the caliber of the attendees at SAS Forum. There were 1200 of them, which was full capacity, and they were some smart Aussies and Kiwis. SAS sponsored an "innovation wall" where folks could post their ideas for solving real-world problems with SAS. An iPad was offered for the best idea, so folks were motivated to share. And they did post some really great ideas.

The morning "plenary" session was hosted by newsman Tony Jones, who I'd never seen before but who appears to be the Jim Lehrer of Australia. He hosted a panel discussion with some heavy hitter CEOs, directors, and other business leaders from the region, along with Dr. Jim Goodnight. It was very well done; I felt like I was watching a Sunday morning news show.

In the coming week I'll continue my tour of the region, visiting with lots of SAS customers in Melbourne, Canberra, and New Zealand. It's a hectic pace, but I'm enjoying it...knowing that I'll be back home at my desk soon enough. Back in the land of Yesterday, where Tomorrow is still a day away.