It’s safe to say that SAS Global Forum is a conference designed for users, by users. As your conference chair, I am excited by this year’s top-notch user sessions. More than 150 sessions are available, many by SAS users just like you. Wherever you work or whatever you do, you’ll find sessions relevant to your industry or job role. New to SAS? Been using SAS forever and want to learn something new? Managing SAS users? We have you covered. Search for sessions by industry or topic, then add those sessions to your agenda and personal calendar.

Creating a customizable agenda and experience

Besides two full days of amazing sessions, networking opportunities and more, many user sessions will be available on the SAS Users YouTube channel on May 20, 2021 at 10:00am ET. After you register, build your agenda and attend the sessions that most interest you when the conference begins. Once you’ve viewed a session, you can chat with the presenter. Don’t know where to start? Sample agendas are available in the Help Desk.

For the first time, proceedings will live on SAS Support Communities. Presenters have been busy adding their papers to the community. Everything is there, including full paper content, video presentations, and code on GitHub. It all premiers on “Day 3” of the conference, May 20. Have a question about the paper or code? You’ll be able to post a question on the community and ask the presenter.

Want training or help with your code?

Code Doctors are back this year. Check out the agenda for the specific times they’re available and make your appointment, so you’ll be sure to catch them and get their diagnosis of code errors. If you’re looking for training, you’ll be quite happy. Training is also back this year and it’s free! SAS instructor-led demos will be available on May 20, along with the user presentations on the SAS Users YouTube channel.

Chat with attendees and SAS

It is hard to replicate the buzz of a live conference, but we’ve tried our best to make you feel like you’re walking the conference floor. And we know networking is always an important component to any conference. We’ve made it possible for you to network with colleagues and SAS employees. Simply make your profile visible (by clicking on your photo) to connect with others, and you can schedule a meeting right from the attendee page. That’s almost easier than tracking down someone during the in-person event.

We know the exhibit hall is also a big draw for many attendees. This year’s Innovation Hub (formerly known as The Quad) has industry-focused booths and technology booths, where you can interact in real-time with SAS experts. There will also be a SAS Lounge where you can learn more about various SAS services and platforms such as SAS Support Communities and SAS Analytics Explorers.

Get started now

I’ve highlighted a lot in this blog post, but I encourage you to view this 7-minute Innovation Hub video. It goes in depth on the Hub and all its features.

This year there is no reason not to register for SAS Global Forum…and attend as few or as many sessions as you want. Why? Because the conference is FREE!

Where else can you get such quality SAS content and learning opportunities? Nowhere, which is why I encourage you to register today. See you soon!