Confessions of a SAS Dummy

SAS Global Forum 2014 was a ton of fun, and extremely busy for yours truly. If you wonder how I spent my time at the conference, you need only to visit the on-demand video archive and see how many of the various sessions feature my shiny head.

In most of these videos I'm a bit player, acting only as a host while some smarter people share the interesting demos and insights. But I do have one video that's all my own. And it features content that I "test marketed" on this very blog. The session is called "Confessions of a SAS Dummy".

Description from the conference schedule:

People from all over the world are using SAS analytics to achieve great things, such as to develop life-saving medicines, detect and prevent financial fraud, and ensure the survival of endangered species. Chris Hemedinger is not one of those people. Instead, Chris has used SAS to optimize his baby name selections, evaluate his movie rental behavior, and analyze his Facebook friends. Join Chris as he reviews some of his personal triumphs over the little problems in life, and learn how these exercises can help to hone your skills for when it really matters.

This presentation is a reprise of talk that I've given at several user groups, including as a keynote feature in two regional SAS user group conferences last fall. Now, since it's recorded and viewable by anyone at any time, I can probably never give it again. I guess I'll have to find some other topics to milk for my in-person appearances.

I've had friends who watched the video (and I didn't even have to pay them!) and said (with a hint of pity), "I enjoyed the talk, but the audience didn't seem to be all that entertained." Well, I was there and I can tell you that my audience was very good, and I was pleased with their feedback. Unfortunately, unlike at the taping of a sitcom episode, the audience is not miked so you can't hear their reaction as I speak. You can hear their questions at the end only because the questioners use a microphone for that part of the session.

Perhaps I'll petition the video editing team add a laugh track. If you're feeling charitable, feel free to leave some chuckles in the blog comments.

Archived recording: [VIDEO] Confessions of a SAS Dummy