We continue to ready ourselves for this year’s SAS Global Forum coming up next month. On Monday, April 18, there will be two SAS Certification testing events. Then after the conference wraps up, SAS training instructors will be offering unique, hands-on training that you won’t find anywhere else. In this Q&A series, hear from the instructors for each of the courses being offered on Thursday and Friday, April 21 and 22.

Our second stop is with instructor/developer Lynn Matthews who has written the Using SAS® Visual Analytics Explorer and Using SAS® Visual Analytics Designer courses.

1. Why should people get excited about these courses?

If you are taking Using SAS® Visual Analytics Explorer you’ll learn how to interact with the environment via the SAS® Visual Analytics Home Page and learn how to explore data using SAS® Visual Analytics Explorer.

Students taking Using SAS® Visual Analytics Designer will learn to interact with the environment via the SAS® Visual Analytics Home Page and learn how to create reports using SAS® Visual Analytics Designer.

2. Who would get the most out of attending this course?

Using SAS® Visual Analytics Explorer:
Business analysts who need to learn the basics of how to use the SAS Visual Analytics Explorer.

Using SAS® Visual Analytics Designer
Business analysts who need to learn the basics of how to create reports using the SAS® Visual Analytics Designer.

3. You’re teaching both the Visual Analytics Explorer (Thursday) and Visual Analytics Designer (Friday) course, who should attend both courses and why?

Anyone can take both! By attending both of these half-day courses, you’ll walk away with basic knowledge for exploring data and building reports using SAS® Visual Analytics.

4. Is there a book that might benefit students who are planning to attend either class?

Sure, the SAS® Visual Analytics 7.3: User’s Guide is a great tool. Download the PDF or HTML for free!

5. Tell us about you; is this your first SAS Global Forum or are you a veteran? What are you most looking forward to in Las Vegas?

I’ve been at SAS for 21 years, spending the first 17 in SAS Technical Support supporting SAS Visual Analytics and other Business Intelligence products. This will be my second SAS Global Forum, and I am looking forward to meeting customers face-to-face. I love hearing students tell me they’ll see me there!