tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39294964476137308292024-02-20T04:27:39.135-08:00Musings From an Outlier: The SAS Users BlogMatt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-59725544223403426152015-05-06T13:35:00.000-07:002015-05-06T13:35:01.270-07:00From Sales Cycles to Shopping Carts - Analytics on Display at the Toronto Data Mining ForumI'd been looking forward to today's meeting of the <a href="http://www.sas.com/en_ca/user-groups/tordatamining.html" target="_blank">Toronto Data Mining Forum</a> for some time. This group consistently offers extremely technical papers - it's really a statistician's dream, to be honest. Not being a 'man of numbers' myself, I often find myself struggling to keep up with the complex algorithms, formulae and terminology which our speakers throw around with some casual abandon. This meeting, however, promised something a bit different - a focus on sales and retail analytics.<br /><br />The meeting began with Pramod Dogra and Iqbal Habib of Shoppers Drug Mart discussing the recommender system implemented in a retail environment to help better serve up relevant, timely offerings to their customers. Shoppers has a huge customer ecosystem- nearly 1 in 3 Canadians is a member of their loyalty program called 'Optimum' - so there is a rich pool of data to draw upon. Interestingly, they are now beginning to develop more robust online offerings and a richer web experience to help mine customer data from real-time clicks, purchase intent, traffic patterns and more. Having spent quite a bit of time lately in presentations around re-marketing and programmatized advertising, I couldn't help but see opportunity for Shoppers to leverage the social web in a much more powerful way. Having said that, Pramod was happy to walk through their methodology for developing scoring/propensity models from a high level. With thousands of products and millions of customers, figuring out who is most likely to respond to offers given similar buying profiles of other individuals was quite the challenge. It was illuminating to see the Shoppers approach.<br /><br />Our next speaker kept up the sales/retail theme by looking at the data side of the equation - how Enterprise Miner nodes could be used to score, test, validate and adjust models which predicted buying behavior or offered sales forecasts. I must single out our speaker Pat Valente from SAS Canada for some well-earned praise. Pat stepped in to deliver this talk with less than 48 hours notice as our original speaker became quite ill and quarantined under Doctor's orders. Pat familiarized himself with someone else's slide deck and was able to step up and not only speak to the topic at hand, but to demo it through the Enterprise Miner software itself. As if this wasn't enough, he fielded questions expertly and assuredly. Our Solution Specialist team here at SAS Canada is truly the best! Fantastic work, Pat. Contextually, the subject material was right in line with the previous talk - it gave a technical wrapper to the business situations previously outlined. I love synchronicity at a meeting.<br /><br />Our final speaker was none other than SAS Global Forum Chair Elect (2017) John Amrhein of MacDougall Scientific. John is a statistician of no small skill - I'm envious of his ability to not only think through and address complex business issues, but to be able to easily explain it to a non-statistician like myself. His talk was fascinating. The topic was 'B2B Sales Analytics' and it really exposed how a typical sales cycle could be informed by Bayesian statistical analysis. Inputs included whether or not competitive intelligence was used, the experience level of the sales rep, the maturity of the product/service being sold... plus a whole host of others. By building Bayesian models John was able to fine-tune the expected outcome - especially as new data was introduced over time - to really have strong predictors of the sales process. Beyond this, by tweaking certain variables within the model the relative weight and impact upon success in any given situation could easily be explored. I was absolutely riveted. John also suggested (rightly so) that this methodology could be used for virtually any process wherein the outcome was in question. I left his talk knowing much more than I did previously about the sheer power of Bayes statistics.<br /><br />I can honestly say that this entire meeting was a real eye-opener. As a marketer, I could easily relate to the challenges of properly identifying and offering value to customers - a task being tackled by the Shoppers team with some skill. As a SAS user, Pat Valente's Enterprise Miner talk brought a technical framework to the same challenge. Finally, John's talk layered in a statistical approach which was truly 'next wave'. His method seemed to me to be a sound, viable approach to mitigating risk and accentuating the possibility of success. My thanks to all speakers for their great work and effort! If you weren't able to attend, have no fear - the <a href="http://www.sas.com/en_ca/user-groups/tordatamining.html" target="_blank">talks will be posted shortly here</a>.<br /><br />Next up for me: I'm off to Quebec. I'll be voyaging with the Section Chief for Statistics Canada in charge of SAS, a true figurehead of SAS expertise and a great individual as well. I'll have more on that trip next week.<br /><br />Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-74842534281025284402015-04-16T10:43:00.002-07:002015-04-16T10:43:26.240-07:00SAS Newbie Warren Woermke Guest Posts: Taking the Pulse of the SAS Health User Group
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My name is Warren Woermke, and I’m a coop student working in
customer loyalty at SAS Canada. I’m on my second work term, and have been here for
about 8 months now. Last week I ‘ran’ the </span><a href="http://www.sas.com/en_ca/user-groups/HUG.html"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Health User Group</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> (my
first ever) here at the SAS Toronto office, and gave my first presentation. To
say I was nervous would be an understatement…though with almost 40 customers,
and my manager in attendance, I would argue with good reason! </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">However, the good people of the Health User Group soon
showed me there was no reason to be. I could not have asked for a friendlier,
more receptive and welcoming group of people with which to conduct my first
user group. Despite my lack of experience and, if I’m honest, technical knowledge,
I did not feel at all unwelcome or alienated from the group. Some people were
even kind enough to laugh at my not-so-funny jokes! (I promise to have some
better lines prepared for next time). I need to say a special thanks to the HUG
President, Christopher Battiston. The meeting ran extremely smoothly – in large
part thanks to Chris. Not only did he make me feel welcome, he made my life
easy by handling registration, introducing me to presenters, and answering one
or two questions that were a little beyond me </span><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.<br />
<br />
The quality of the people at this meeting was only rivaled by the quality of
the content. We were treated by three excellent guest presenters – Petros Pechlivanoglou
from Toronto Health Economics & Technology Assessment (THETA) Collaborative,
Ruth Croxford from Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), and SAS’
own Lorne Rothman. Petros provided us with an insightful look into the world of
health economics – a </span><a href="http://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_ca/User%20Group%20Presentations/Health-User-Groups/Pechlivanoglou-EconomicEvaluations-Apr2015.pdf"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">presentation</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
which I felt had an excellent balance of technical insight, and less technical
aspects for folks like me. Though it may have been old news to some, I was
introduced to the concept of units of QALY (Quality-Adjusted Life Year), which
measure a treatment not only on its ability to prolong life, but also on the
quality of that life. Very cool. Ruth gave an </span><a href="http://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_ca/User%20Group%20Presentations/Health-User-Groups/Croxford-PropensityScoring-Apr2015.pdf"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">interesting
talk</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> on inverse probability of treatment weighting using propensity
scoring. Lorne gave us a look at </span><a href="http://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_ca/User%20Group%20Presentations/Health-User-Groups/Rothman-PredictiveModelling-Apr2015.pdf"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">predictive
modeling in healthcare</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and put forth a challenging question to the group,
‘Why does healthcare rarely use it?’ During amateur hour this kid named Warren
also did a quick </span><a href="http://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_ca/User%20Group%20Presentations/Health-User-Groups/Woermke-UpdateFromSAS-Apr2015.pdf"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">update
from SAS</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> – but it was pretty poorly done, so there’s no need to go further
into that.<br />
<br />
All in all, this was an excellent experience – and one I’d love to repeat.</span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-84725652012492701512015-04-02T08:31:00.001-07:002015-04-02T10:06:36.404-07:00A Whirlwind in WinnipegI never feel that I have enough time in this city. Typically I'm flying in fairly late at night from Saskatchewan and snatching a late dinner before bed... then a fast morning meeting, an efficient lunch and a sprint to the airport. One of these days I want to be able to take a breath and see the sights. My childhood memories of camping with my family from Toronto to Winnipeg are fading over time... I really need to make some new ones.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, my adult memories are of the wonderful SAS community members I get to see each and every time I come into town. Craig Kasper and Kevin Morgan who co-chair the user group never fail to make me smile - whether sharing deep SAS knowledge with a technical newbie or commiserating over the woes of the Toronto Maple Leafs (hey, misery loves company), I always feel welcome and at home. The other Executive Committee members are fantastic as well. I love the energy of Xue Yao and the friendly smiles of Stella Leung and Humaira Khair. I'm especially grateful that the entire team quickly and without debate rolls up their sleeves to help out. Whether that's delivering a presentation in a pinch, assisting at the registration desk, MCing the meeting or speaking with attendees one on one, they truly make my life easy.<br />
<br />
Of course, there are other locals who offer just as much support. Charles Burchill is a frequent speaker (and delivered a great talk on SAS Dates at this meeting) and his enthusiasm and energy is really remarkable. His passion is infectious, to be honest - I always find I leave my conversations with him more charged up than ever around SAS and SAS usage... and I work for the company! There are many individuals who ask interesting, challenging questions at the meeting itself which is a very welcome feature of our get-togethers. Questions and answers fly around the room and we all learn something new. This, after all, is the overarching goal of the user group program.<br />
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I referenced a whirlwind in my title. While I meant to apply that to my quick stop in the city, it could just as easily be applied to the presentation stylings of Nate Derby. Once again Nate proved he could captivate a room and hold their interest. He delivered a talk on graphing which was fascinating - how to effectively communicate information visually and some options for the most effective ways of surfacing this information. As we slip deeper and deeper into the era of visual data discovery, these outputs are becoming more and more prevalent. I felt privileged to see some options first hand and I certainly learned a lot. You can find all of the talks posted on the <a href="http://www.sas.com/en_ca/user-groups/winnipeg.html" target="_blank">Winnipeg SAS User Group website</a> - do take a look, they are certainly worth your while.<br />
<br />
The post-meeting lunch with the Executive Committee was as entertaining as always. It's always amazing to me to see how time inexorably marches onwards. Since I was last in Winnipeg a huge building had been constructed with a great restaurant in the base - but I never saw any construction at all! It wasn't there, and there it was. There's a very deep philosophical manifesto buried in there somewhere, but I'm not going to try and surface it now on the cusp of a long weekend. <br />
<br />
Speaking of which I hope everyone enjoys a relaxing and enjoyable 72 hour break. If you celebrate Easter, then I hope it's a good one. If not, well, enjoy your downtime. I'll be back following the Health User Group meeting next week with a guest blogger, SAS rookie Warren Woermke. <br />
<br />
Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-68012227391712458872015-04-01T09:22:00.000-07:002015-04-01T09:22:02.309-07:00Opening the 2015 Season in SaskatchewanWhere does the time go... well, that's a bit of a silly question I suppose. It marches on and on and on. But I must admit to being more than a little shocked when I realized I had not offered a new post here in almost a calendar year's time. I suppose it's appropriate that I'm doing so on April Fool's Day... but the only fool around here is me. Believe me, it's not that there wasn't anything going on in 2014 - the exact opposite to tell you the truth! <br /><br />It was such a busy year that I found it a real challenge to carve out a few hours to sit back and reflect on the wonderful experiences I had at SAS user groups across the country. I do have many strong memories from last year... I suppose I'll have to let those trickle out bit by bit over time. At any rate, no sense looking backwards - I'd rather look ahead to a great 2015 SAS user group season, beginning in Saskatchewan.<br /><br />Canada is such a wonderfully diverse country, one I'm fortunate to cross from coast to coast several times a year. It should then come as no surprise that SAS users in our country are just as diverse as the land itself. From programmers to Visual Analytics whizzes, from Enterprise Guide users to data mining practitioners... the spectrum of SAS usage is as broad as Canada is wide. Saskatchewan has distinguished itself (at least, in my eyes) as the province which is developing their SAS skills most quickly. They have a hunger for knowledge that borders on ravenous... and they are willing to share their skills and support each other more so than almost anywhere else. It's great to see!<br /><br />Our first stop was in the beautiful city of Regina, where I was able to catch up with an old friend and a true SAS legend. Nate Derby of Stakana Analytics was to be our keynote speaker here in Saskatchewan and in Winnipeg as well. In addition to being a prolific presenter (check out his <a href="http://nderby.org/publications.html" target="_blank">publication list here</a>) he is a staunch supporter of the Vancouver SAS User Group and an honourary Canadian. His business interests in Seattle and an uncooperative holiday schedule had confounded us from catching up for almost a year and a half... and it was great to have some time to bring each other up to speed on our lives in the SAS world.<br /><br />The user group meeting itself was really 'The Nate Derby Show'. Due to some unavoidable work conflicts we lost one of our local speakers for the morning. Fortunately, our other speaker - Rajib Sahaji of SGI Canada - was more than up to the task of representing his city. His talk on <a href="http://sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_ca/User%20Group%20Presentations/Regina-User-Group/Sahaji-AnalysesofCollisions-March2015.pdf" target="_blank">Analyses of Casualty Collisions During Statutory Holidays in Saskatchewan</a> was a very interesting look at how insurance companies set rates and conduct due diligence to do so. For all of us who may wonder how and why our monthly payments are set as they are, it was an eye opener. I feel like a very small piece of the puzzle was revealed! As a new car owner, this talk was especially relevant (although I'm not doing much driving in Saskatchewan ever, let alone on holidays). <br /><br />Nate then became the star of the show - delivering not one, not two, but THREE presentations! I'm amazed he still had a voice at the end of the morning. His talks are all posted on the <a href="http://www.sas.com/en_ca/user-groups/ReginaSAS.html" target="_blank">Regina SAS User Group website</a> as well as Rajibs, of course. Nate's talks pretty much ran the gamut - whether discussing optimizing statistical models, maintaining SAS formats in Excel, or getting the most out of PROC REG, he was able to bring an approachable perspective to some fairly complex topics. I think everyone in the room gained something from his knowledge.<br /><br />Several hours later, Nate and I joined my colleague Matt Joyce (or, Matt West to my Matt East) for the drive up to Saskatoon. There was a recent thread on Reddit <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/reddit-user-s-photos-show-breathtaking-saskatchewan-sights-1.3015615" target="_blank">featured on CBC</a> which was a tongue-in-cheek dissection of this exact trip. Personally, I LOVE the drive. Coming from the east I don't get that 'big sky' feeling that I do in the Prairies. Taking it all in while flying through the flat landscape like a bat out of hell is certainly a great way to spend an early spring afternoon... and great conversation along the way to boot.<br /><br />Saskatoon is my spiritual home, I've decided. Certainly in terms of my work with the user groups - the first ever group I visited and ran some 7+ years ago now and many of the same, wonderful faces who still grace the meetings. I'm always made to feel so comfortable and welcome. I have my favourite hotels, my preferred restaurants, I get a smile and a nod from folks in places I frequent often. It's always nice to come 'home'.<br /><br />The meeting in Saskatoon was well-attended and featured the second installment of the Nate Derby show, reprising many of the talks he delivered so well in Regina. You'll find <a href="http://www.sas.com/en_ca/user-groups/SUCCESS.html" target="_blank">a full list of all the presentations here</a>. We were also very fortunate to have the very talented Meric Osman of the Health Quality Council of Saskatchewan offering a preview of his SAS Global Forum 2015 talk on <a href="http://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/en_ca/User%20Group%20Presentations/Saskatoon-User-Group/Osman-EoHMethod-March2015.pdf" target="_blank">SAS Solutions to Create Episodes of Hospitalization for Health Research</a>. He's a great speaker with an engaging topic - I'm going to enjoy seeing in again in Dallas in a few weeks' time! The Saskatoon group also came together to form a brand-new Executive Committee. Special thanks to former President Mark Horseman for his leadership and congratulations to Meric for assuming the Presidency of the group! Nianping Hu also joins our team as Vice-President and Kavitha Ramachandran as the Program Chair. It's great to see the local SAS users step up to support their community.<br /><br />I flew off to Winnipeg ready to close out a long week of travel happy to have spent so much time in Saskatchewan. I consider myself quite fortunate that this is part of my job - if travelling the country, connecting with colleagues and enjoying great conversation can be considered work! Thanks as always for the hospitality, Saskatchewan... and I do look forward to the next time.<br /><br />Coming up next: some stories about my trip to Manitoba.<br /><br />Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-89678277728657365042014-05-01T18:16:00.000-07:002014-05-01T18:16:55.958-07:00Spring Thaw in AlbertaLast week I had the great pleasure of flying to Alberta for the Edmonton and Calgary user group meetings. Well, let me say that it <em>mostly</em> a great pleasure... my system was still in a bit of temperature shock having been sunning myself on a St. Lucian beach 24 hours before. For a little bit, my brain was back on that beach, I'm not afraid to say... but I quickly snapped back to reality and got down to brass tacks.<br />
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First up, the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/edmonton.html" target="_blank">Edmonton user group</a>. This group has continued to impress as the years have gone by. They leaped feet first into a full-day meeting format and the executive committee has worked dilligently to ensure the success of the afternoon session. For this particular meeting, we were focusing on Enteprise Guide and attempting a 'Coder's Corner' interactive session. This particular element is one which we were shamelessly borrowing/stealing from the Toronto Area SAS Society as well as SAS Global Forum. The concept was that individuals would bring their SAS problems for open discussion and collaborative problem solving. I'm not sure how it went, to be honest, as I was heads-down supporting SAS instructor Judy Orr Lawrence as she conducted the Enterprise Guide breakout. These sessions are only as strong as their participants make them - and if the Coder's Corner was anything like the EG breakout, it must have been great! Judy and I had great questions from the audience and amazing dialogue. Whether it was users asking questions or offering answers, the chatter was constant and pointed. I learned a lot!<br /><br />Of course, there were other presentations of a more traditional nature throughout the day in Edmonton. I offered up a talk on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Malczewski-EGProgGains.pdf" target="_blank">'Programming Gains in EG'</a> for the group. I must admit, this was not my finest performance. Perhaps it was that vacation brain I alluded to earlier... or perhaps it was the rust of over a year I hadn't shaken off yet. Either way, I wasn't particularly happy with the delivery of the talk. Thankfully, Judy Orr Lawrence's <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Lawrence-ConditionalProcessing.pdf" target="_blank">EG talk on Conditional Processing</a> more than made up for it. Judy is a naturally gifted speaker and instructor - having been in her classes many, many times, I can attest that she has an infinite amount of patience! Judy also delivered a great talk on the topic of SAS 9.4 - a talk which featured some of the more interesting new functionality of the latest version from a programmers perspective. She discussed the DS2 language, new features of EG 6.1, and some of the new reporting features. I will certainly be borrowing much of her talk for future discussions of my own.<br /><br />No SAS user group meeting is complete without outstanding talks from the local SAS community. In fact, this is truly what MAKES the user group meetings a success. Long after we from SAS Canada have returned to our cities of origin, the connections, knowledge and network of local SAS experts remains. Presentations at user group meetings are a fantastic way of sustaining these important ties.<br /><br />In Edmonton, the talks were anchored by Fareeza Khurshed of Alberta Health. I've known Fareeza for quite some time and she is truly a powerhouse SAS user. In fact, her name popped up more than once as one of the 'up and comers' in the SAS-L community... and that is nothing to sneeze at to be sure. Fareeza delivered a talk on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Khurshed-ComplexReports.pdf" target="_blank">Using SAS to Coordinate Complex Reports</a> and certainly captured the interest - and admiration - of the attendees. Her ability to weave together a compelling narrative of both SAS and Excel was certainly appreciated by all. We also had a talk by Fareeza's colleague Nirosha Gunasekera who reprised a NESUG talk entitled <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Gunasekara-SurvivalAnalysis.pdf" target="_blank">Surviving Survival Analysis.</a> I'm a big fan of leveraging the work of others and augmenting it for new purposes... while giving credit, of course! In fact, I did this with my own EG talk which I referenced earlier. I recommend this for any aspiring presenter who has a story to tell but perhaps lacks the whole tale. It's an easy way to fill in the blanks. Finally, Becky Leung of the University of Alberta gave a great intro talk to <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Leung-ProcFormat.pdf" target="_blank">Proc Format</a>. I always learn a lot with deep dives into a particular procedure, and this was not different.<br /><br />Having had a great experience in Edmonton Judy and I flew to <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/calgary.html" target="_blank">Calgary</a> to reprise our talks (mine was MUCH better the second time around!) and to meet the great community and executive committee. I was very pleased to welcome Peter Hruby of LoyaltyOne to the team. Like Fareeza in Edmonton, I first got to know Peter as a member of the VanSUG executive committee in Vancouver. It has been a while since we caught up with each other and we certainly made up for lost time! It was great to see such a friendly, familiar face... and I know he'll be contributing great things to the group.<br /><br />The two great local presentations we had were from one of our SAS Canada employees - Eugene Yankovsky on the topic of <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Yankovsky-Oil.pdf" target="_blank">Bayesian MCMC Methods in the Oil Industry</a> - and a tremendous talk from rookie presenter Jenny Chen from LoyaltyOne. It was hard to believe that Jenny was a first-time presenter - she was calm, collected and even asked for MORE time! Many seasoned speakers sweep through their talks with more speed than necessary. Great work, Jenny.<br /><br />I left Alberta with a smile firmly etched on my face. I had a fantastic time with Judy and it was great to connect with SAS users and friends, new and old. Coupled with some Spring weather, life was grand!<br /><br />Next up on my travel tour: the province of Quebec and the city of Halifax. I'll have more on my adventures there shortly.<br />
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Until then....<br />Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-42187671025944037652014-03-13T16:22:00.000-07:002014-03-13T16:22:14.120-07:00Spring has Sprung in SaskatchewanAs I sit here in the Regina airport, I'm looking out the window with longing like a puppy at the pet store. The weather here is just beautiful: + temperatures and clear skies and the sound of the running water resulting from the melt-off of the snow is filling the air. I know that this is a bit of an early blessing here in Regina. In fact, I was assured that just last week, temperatures were reaching -64 degrees Celcius with the windchill... so I guess I just got lucky. To be honest, though, my desire to stay around for a few more days in Regina has little to do with the lovely weather here or the nasty weather awaiting me in Toronto. It has everything to do with the wonderful people and phenomenal hospitality which I consistently experience here in Regina. The goodwill began immediately upon our arrival last night.<br /><br />Charu Shankar and I were both ravenous after a long - but pleasant - drive from Saskatoon. We checked in, got a few minutes of decompression and then agreed to meet for dinner at a nearby restaurant, Taste of Tuscany. This would prove to be one of the greatest SAS road trip dining experiences I've had in my 7+ years of travel. First, a word about the ownership. What happens when a traditional Italian woman meets and falls in love with a Punjabi Sikh? Well, 24 years later - after living in Italy until that time - they move with their children to Regina and open up what can only be described as the most authentic Indian/Italian restaurant ever. Charu and I spent an hour and a half in what felt like our own private dining room. We chatted with the owners as they made our food: it's a pretty amazing feeling to smell fresh, delicious cooking in a restaurant and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that it was YOUR food which smelled so great! Stuffed beyond belief, we were sent wobbling out into the cooling Regina air with a loaf of fresh homemade bread to struggle getting down over the course of the evening. If anyone reading this lives or visits Regina, I can't recommend this restaurant enough. 24 hours later, I STILL feel full.<br /><br />Of course, while the food was amazing, Charu and I were there with a job to do. <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/regina.html" target="_blank">The Regina SAS User Group</a> awaited! In terms of sense of community this group has rapidly jumped near the top of my list. Everyone seems to know each other very well and is more than willing to reach out to help each other. SGI, Farm Credit Canada, and other organizations chatted, laughed and generally hobnobbed with each other and with us as if we had seen each other just the day before.<br /><br />The sheer volume of SAS knowledge on display in Regina is impressive as well (to say the least). I learned that Shaun Kauffman of Farm Credit Canada had achieved some level of internet fame by having the second highest ranked content on Google on the topic of <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Regina-May2013/Kaufmann-DS2.pdf" target="_blank">DS2</a> (a talk I extoll all over the country, consistently). In fact, the only presentation searched for more than his? The actual documentation through SAS help! That's quite the achievement, Shaun, you should be very proud.<br /><br />We had 2 fantastic local presentations which truly resonated well with the audience... and terrified me. Why? Well, the 2 talks were distinctly statistical in nature and my talk was antithesis of this: trying to look at <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Malczewski-EGStatistics.pdf" target="_blank">statistical practice in Enterprise Guide, from a non-statisticians view</a>. Taryn McKee of SGI gave a fascinating talk around the motorcycle graduated licensing program and whether or not it was effective in reducing accidents. As a motorcycle rider herself I'm sure the topic was certainly near and dear to her heart. Taryn has a natural gift to present fairly complex concepts - in this case, the GENMOD procedure - with ease and grace. Even I understood what she was talking about and that's really saying something ;) Fantastic job, Taryn.<br /><br />Not to be outdone, Joan Kwan of FCC offered a talk around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Kwan-Multicollinearity.pdf" target="_blank">correlation and multicollinearity</a>. Again, we were treated to a presentation of some fairly complex statistical processes in an affable, easy-to-grasp manner. Joan offered to give this talk with a small bit of prodding (read: begging) from me and I'm so glad she did. I'm quite sure that every person in the room walked away with better understanding of these statistical concepts.<br /><br />Of course, my colleague Charu Shankar was able to leverage her fantastic speaking skills and depth of knowledge to offer two great talks which she had given several times already over the past few days. Her talk on what was <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Shankar-9.4SUCCESS.pdf" target="_blank">new and noteworthy in SAS 9.4</a> was great as it featured DS2 and allowed for some dialogue with Shaun Kauffman and her secondary talk on her <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Shankar-Efficiencies.pdf" target="_blank">top 10 coding efficiencies</a> is ALWAYS received warmly. Hard to argue with a talk which helps your programming become easier, faster and more productive. Great job as always, Charu! It was an absolute pleasure to travel with you and share some great stories, laughs and meals. You're welcome on the road with me anytime :)<br /><br />One of my greatest thrills was seeing my colleague Tara Holland show up out of the blue and surprise me at the meeting. A native daughter of Saskatchewan, it always feels a little... off when I'm not here with her. Her presence at the meeting made all right with the world again.<br /><br />So here I sit at the Regina airport rueing that I have to leave. I really do love this city: the people, the food, the 'feeling'. I can't wait to come back once again in the Fall, it really feels like too long before I get back here. In the interim though, I have about 25 other user groups and of course SAS Global Forum coming up rapidly. I'll have more on my adventures in the coming weeks.<br /><br />Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-36807327695908808252014-03-12T21:58:00.000-07:002014-03-12T21:59:25.065-07:00Blue Skies and Long Drives in SaskatoonAs a native Torontonian, I'm used to getting some friendly (and sometimes not so friendly) ribbing when I travel around the country. The 'Centre of the Universe' is often referred to in less-than-glowing terms by others. Over the years, I've tried to puzzle through why this might be: I think we're alright people in general (albeit with some very obvious shortcomings). As I sit here in Regina, I think I may have received my answer courtesy of the Toronto transplant newscasters on Global Regina. I happened to tune in to their broadcast as the news anchor turned the floor over to the weather. The anchor led in with a comment around the 15 centimetres of snow the city referred to today and the weather anchor responded with an amusing aside, relating that one of her friends in Toronto had told her today that she 'stayed home from work because of the weather'. The joke was that no one in Saskatchewan would EVER stay home because of the weather! Oh, Toronto. At least the military wasn't called in this time... Let me tell you, if more prairie winter/early spring days looked and felt like today, I would wholeheartedly agree with the newscasters sentiment.<br />
<br />
The temperature was well above freezing and the endless prairie sky stretched blue and big from east to west as Charu Shankar and I headed out to the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/saskatchewan.html" target="_blank">Saskatoon SAS user group meeting</a>. We had enjoyed a lovely dinner the evening before with executive committee members and guest speakers who confirmed my long-held feeling that the good people of Saskatoon are the nicest, friendliest and warmest in the entire country. Meeting at our traditional location of the University of Saskatchewan, I anticipated a smaller meeting than normal. High temperatures and an early user group were both descending on Saskatoon much earlier than usual. With school still in full swing, we were certainly going to see declining attendance from our strong supporters from the University... and many other organizations we normally see attend had already written to indicate that the timing just didn't work. That's a shame, as the talks today were particularly inspiring.<br /><br />However, a real highlight of the meeting was that we had three great volunteers step forward to assist with the Executive Committee - a real key to achieving great things with any user group. Mark Horseman, Rob Merritt, Lily Wu: welcome, we're very glad to have you!<br />
<br />
Former SUCCESS President Gopinath Narasimhan led off the meeting with his <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Gopinath-SASArrays.pdf" target="_blank">introductory talk to arrays and do loops</a>. Charu and I were both exceptionally impressed with his poise and grasp of the subject material. He was able to handle questions easily and skillfully and had found fantastic examples to share with the group. His talk set a fantastic tone for the rest of the meeting.<br />
<br />
Charu reprised her two talks from Winnipeg the day before - <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Shankar-9.4SUCCESS.pdf" target="_blank">new features of SAS 9.4</a> and her <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Shankar-CodingEfficiencesSUCCESS.pdf" target="_blank">top 10 coding efficiencies</a>. Once again, her talks were outstanding. Every time I hear them I pick up something new... which is a testament to the strength of her content and her ability to present it. <br />
<br />
I myself had two talks to offer: <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Malczewski-EGStatistics.pdf" target="_blank">statistics in Enterprise Guide</a> and a talk which is rapidly becoming my favourite to build and deliver, the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Malczewski-10for10SUCCESS.pdf" target="_blank">'10 for 10'</a>. This talk dives back into the history of a particular group and looks at the top presenters, topics, meetings, presentations and more over the years. It really helps me reflect back on how the group has grown and gives me a bit of a blueprint to try and replicate past successes (no pun intended for the SUCCESS meeting). I reminded the group that it was seven years ago from this particular meeting that I first travelled out on the road for a user group meeting... I remember being given a tour of campus - including seeing former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's tomb - and how nervous I was to present to such strong SAS professionals. Little did I know then how warm, welcoming and accomodating this group would prove to be! I'm grateful for each and every trip I have out here to Saskatoon, even if I am just a poor sap from Toronto ;)<br />
<br />
Speaking of which, as the meeting concluded and Charu and I jumped in the car for a two and a half hour drive south to Regina, I told her the story of my ultimate 'Toronto-ness'. Having previously undertaken this drive with SAS Canada's Tara Holland, I had noticed what appeared to be dark soil sporadically interspersed with the grass around us. When I asked Tara - a Saskatchewan native - about this unusual soil condition, she laughed, looked at me a little sadly and said 'oh, you are from Toronto. Matt, those are the shadows of clouds'. Hoo-boy. I guess what they say about Toronto might be right after all... ;) In my defense, the vast forests of Ontario and concrete jungle of Toronto don't exactly lend themselves to appreciating cloud shadows on a grand scale!<br />
<br />
The drive down was very pleasant and made moreso by the beautiful weather and the pleasant conversation with Charu. I suppose that to me, Saskatchewan's SAS user community is very much in line with the gorgeous day we just experienced. Wide open, transparent, bright and uncompromising. I fall in love with it a little more every time I'm here (although I think I could do without the -54 Celcius weather).<br />
<br />
We've both settled into our respective rooms here in Regina quite nicely and we're resting up for the user group taking place tomorrow. We'll have a few hours to tour around the city and then the long, late flight home to bitter, bitter, snowy Toronto. Can't I just stay here a little longer? If only I could...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-54137016335765527382014-03-11T22:57:00.001-07:002014-03-11T22:57:27.295-07:00An Early Spring in Winnipeg
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today’s meeting of the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/winnipeg.html" target="_blank">Winnipeg SAS User Group</a> really got me
thinking. Part of the reason for this was certainly that one of my
presentations demanded as much. This year, for all of the user groups across
the country, I will be offering a ’10 for 10’ presentation. This talk will
focus on the 10 years which that particular group has been in existence and
offer some highlights, comments and observations from this period. For example,
I’ll highlight popular guest speakers, topics and presentations of the past… my
own personal thoughts/memories and much more.<br />
<br />
As I dove back through the records to build my talk last night, it was a real
thrill to see the patterns developing. Names from the past and friends new and
old swam up through the data and really tied a fine thread through the history
of the Winnipeg user group. It got me thinking about how far we’ve come and
where we would still like to go.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, today’s meeting was a very strong blend of past, present and
future. We had a fantastic talk offered by Yao Nie of the University of
Manitoba. Yao’s talk focused around using <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Nie-CallingR.pdf" target="_blank">SAS/IML to talk with the Rprogramming language</a>. R is so prevalent these days in so many academic circles
and it’s great to see that SAS is taking steps to ‘play nice’ with the
freeware. Yao was a very polished speaker and I really learned a lot about the
R language which I hadn’t known before. A point was raised about how it would
be nice to be able to call R routines from the data step: SAS developers, if
you’re reading this, any plans to do so?<br />
<br />
Our second local speaker was Charles Burchill, also of the U of M. With his
talk, Charles moved up into sole possession of second place on the ‘all time
presentations’ list given by local speakers in Winnipeg with 4. User group
President Craig Kasper is the only one sitting ahead of him with 5. Competitive
instincts put aside, you can’t really go wrong with either of these gentlemen
offering talks. They consistently deliver value and knowledge, regardless of
topic. Today, Charles shared his learnings <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Burchill-Server.pdf" target="_blank">moving to a server environment</a>,
specifically, the SPD server. I’m always interested in the technical/IT
administrative side of the SAS world as it doesn’t get enough exposure at our
meetings. Charles has a great way of communicating concepts and techniques
which are unfamiliar in a way that makes sense to all. I really enjoyed his
talk a lot.<br />
<br />
The other 3 presentations were delivered by SAS Canada. First up, SAS
Education’s Charu Shankar. Charu is a prolific author (see her blog <a href="http://blogs.sas.com/content/sastraining/" target="_blank">‘The SASTraining Post’</a> on SAS Blogs and her own personal food blog), a yoga instructor,
a world traveler… in short, a very interesting person. Like Charles, Charu has
a great ability to convey complex concepts with relative ease. This is a part
of the reason she’s such a great instructor! Although I think of her as an
Enterprise Guide guru (I often ask her questions about usage), she’s also a
very strong programmer. She shared some of her tips and tricks for programming
optimization in a great talk which really served as an one-stop shop for
optimization. As she put herself, ‘some of you may know this, but you may have
forgotten – or ignored – these details as well’. I’ll take a refresher in SAS
from one of our best instructors any day!<br />
<br />
Charu also delivered a great talk around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Shankar-9.4.pdf" target="_blank">new features of SAS 9.4</a>. This talk was
one I was looking forward to hearing more so than any other on the day, chiefly
because we’re starting to see more and more 9.4 installations across the
country and I’m often in a position where I’d like to speak with some
competence to our customers about upgrading. The talk was well-suited for this,
offering a 3-pronged approach to the new features. Charu touched on the Data
Step 2 (DS2) language, Enterprise Guide 6.1 and some of the high-performance
features which were now available. In short, all the good stuff (at least in my
humble view). She also presented her top <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Shankar-CodingEfficiencies.pdf" target="_blank">10 coding efficiencies</a> which certainly resonated with everyone in the room.<br />
<br />
Finally, I brought up the rear with a talk around statistics <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Malczewski-EGStatistics.pdf" target="_blank">in EnterpriseGuide (for the Non-Statistician)</a>. I don’t mind sharing that I was very nervous.
Not because I had to deliver a talk – I’ve given many Enterprise Guide talks
over the years and I’m very comfortable with the product. Rather, I was going
to be talking statistics. With statisticians. Which I am not. GULP. I think I
managed to get through the presentation just fine… and I hope that people were
able to take away how easy it is to perform some exploratory statistics – and
some more complex ones as well – within the Enterprise Guide environment. I did
receive some good feedback about some improvements I could make and I certainly
appreciated it!<br />
<br />
I mentioned at the beginning of the blog that I became a little wistful when
building my <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/resources/asset/Malczewski-10for10.pdf" target="_blank">’10 for 10’</a> talk. There are a couple of traditions I have in
Winnipeg which were left unfulfilled this time. I traditionally get my first
sunburn of the year sitting on a patio and enjoying a post-user group meal.
Well, it was a balmy -19 with the windchill today, so that didn’t happen. I
also always break into a smile when I see what is my absolute favourite store
on the user group circuit: the infamous 'Chicken Car Wash'. I'll upload a picture when I can connect over reliable internet.<br /></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This time, I didn’t get to see the Chicken Car Wash with my
own eyes. Having said that, this trip was far, FAR from a disappointment. I’m
reminded of my early days at SAS every time I’m in Winnipeg and all that has
transpired since that first user group trip 8 years ago. I noted the strength
and consistency of the SAS community: the willingness to share, to support each
other and to network beyond the confines of the twice-yearly meeting – yet
inspired by it. And of course, I was able to share some laughs, some stories
and a great dinner with customers who have become friends over the years. And I
suppose that that is the greatest reward of all.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
Tomorrow I’ll be presenting with Charu at the Saskatoon user group and I’m very
much looking forward to another trip down memory lane as I build the ’10 for
10’ talk and enjoy a great dinner tonight. At the end of the day, it’s the SAS
community which brings me out on these grand trips and it’s the community that
motivates, inspires and moves me. I couldn’t be more grateful.<br />
<br />
You’ll be able to find all the Winnipeg talks – both today’s and from the past
– on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/winnipeg.html" target="_blank">their website</a>. Next stop, Saskatchewan, where I’ll be renting a car and
driving around. Let’s hope the snow isn’t too bad… ;)<br />
<br />
Until then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-45361792001980775362014-03-10T09:40:00.002-07:002014-03-10T09:40:38.760-07:00TASS Starts the 2014 User Group Season in StyleLast Friday I had the pleasure of kicking off this year's user group season with the <a href="http://www.torsas.ca/" target="_blank">TASS</a> group in Toronto. I'm always in awe when this particular meeting kicks into planning mode. The large executive committee is extremely engaged and always willing to step forward to present, volunteer colleagues and help out in any way possible. The strength of the meeting is entirely a testament to the work ethic and 'hands-on' nature of this team.<br /><br />I must confess that I have a guilty (not-so-guilty) pleasure when it comes to this meeting. Periodically, we manage to finangle an A-list guest speaker out of the United States... often, this person works for SAS but just as often, the individual is a legend within the SAS user community. Classic TASS President Art Tabachneck is usually responsible for this as his vast network of contacts includes some of the best and brightest. I suppose we should expect no less from a SAS-L Hall of Famer! The pleasure I derive from this meeting is twofold: I get to hear from phenomenal guest speakers periodically and I also get to know them personally over dinner the night before the meeting.<br /><br />This meeting, our feature presenter was Jan Squillace. Jan was a long-time manager in the Data Step/Macro divison of Tech Support - yes, THAT data step!!! Picture discussing SAS coding practices with someone who had heard virtually every single issue, complaint, problem and roadblock which a customer could encounter... and you get a pretty good idea of our dinnertime conversation. It was great to get to know someone with such amazing depth of knowledge a little bit better. <br /><br />The meeting itself was destined to be fantastic given the strength of the presenters. Jan delivered two great talks: one around SAS version 9.4 and some of the new features of the upgrade and a really interesting talk which clearly hearkened back to her tech support days and featured discussions on the types of notes and warnings you might see in your error log when writing data step or macro code. I think that absolutely EVERYONE in the room got something out of both of these talks: in fact, attendees were asking for a copy before the presentations were even concluded. Always a great sign of a job well done. Kudos, Jan!<br /><br />We also had another 'first' for TASS. Tom Kari of Ottawa - infamous in the OASUS/OPUS user group circle and of course, the 2011 Customer Feedback Award winner - was slated to present on scraping the web with SAS in Toronto. His sudden recall back to Ottawa meant we had to scramble a bit to find a solution to his absence. With some great teamwork and rigorous testing, we were able to set up a WebEx presentation from the SAS office in Ottawa which more than adequately conveyed his talk. The only pity was that we didn't get to see Tom in person. His energy and passion is infectious... and I enjoy spending time with him. Ah well, I will certainly see him in Washington DC for SAS Global Forum and we will certainly make it up then.<br /><br />Art was not off the hook either for this particular meeting. He reprised an earlier talk on Proc Export which he will now be delivering at SAS Global Forum and which was mind-blowing (to put it kindly)... although to be honest, I've come to expect nothing but the most dazzling, innovative and interesting talks from Art. He certainly didn't disappoint!<br /><br />The afternoon session featured a talk from Carl Wang of Indigo which really got underneath the hood of the power of scripting. This dovetailed nicely with the SAS tips and tricks presentation which featured custom tasks in Enterprise Guide and more. All in all, a very successful day of meetings and talks.<br /><br />I'm always proud when I get great feedback from my colleagues in the United States on the style and substance of our user group program here in Canada. It's gratifying to think that some of the best and brightest in the SAS world think so highly of how our groups come together. It really comes down once again to that magic word, 'community'. We all pull together for a common goal here in Canada: there is no ulterior motive or questionable mandate, simply a desire to support SAS users as well as possible. Our partnership - really, our friendship - with our user community allows this to happen easily and naturally.<br /><br />As I write this I'm keeping an eye on the clock as I'll be flying off to Winnipeg and then the province of Saskatchewan later this week. It's going to be a fun trip, but a nerve-wracking one at the same time. I'll be giving a talk on statistics in Enterprise Guide... and I am certainly no statistician. Gulp. Wish me luck! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes over the coming week. In the meantime, you'll be able to pick up the TASS presentations on the <a href="http://www.torsas.ca/" target="_blank">TASS website</a>. <br /><br />Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-29893591052634477062013-10-28T14:04:00.001-07:002013-10-28T14:04:26.400-07:00The First Snow of the Season in SaskatoonLast week I had the distinct pleasure of hosting the Saskatoon SAS user group (<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/saskatchewan.html" target="_blank">SUCCESS</a>) with the assistance of a vibrant, strong and engaged Executive Committee. My colleague Carolyn Cunnison remarked that I seemed to be smiling constantly while I was there, and I'd have to agree. Saskatoon remains one of my favourite cities to visit and I always have a fantastic time with the SAS community while I'm there. Now, I think my smile may have actually been slightly frozen to my face by the chilly, chilly weather if I'm to be perfectly honest. I had arrived after 4 days spent in the humidity of Florida and while the cold wasn't yet bone-chilling it certainly was a huge difference from what I'd been accustomed to. And yes, it's true: the first snow sighting of the year did take place: an ominous, slushy and very, very frigid-looking puddle at the University of Saskatoon. Winter is coming...<br /><br />I was glad that the meeting itself went a long way towards keeping me warm and happy. The meeting featured presentations from a whole host of great local speakers. Lily Wu of the Health Quality Council gave a very interesting talk on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Sask-Fall2013/Wu-SASTables.pdf" target="_blank">building tables with SAS</a>: it was perfect as it nicely dovetailed and set-up my own <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Sask-Fall2013/Malczewski-EGTalk.pdf" target="_blank">Enterprise Guide talk</a> later in the day. Lily was joined by her colleague Nianping Hu who offered a talk around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Sask-Fall2013/Hu-PropensityScore.pdf" target="_blank">propensity scoring models using SAS</a>. The HQC was certainly well-represented at the meeting!<br /><br />I suppose some of the staff and students of the University of Saskatchewan must have felt that they needed to reclaim the home field advantage, and by offering two presentations they certainly helped to level the playing field. Peter Beug offered a great talk around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Sask-Fall2013/Beug-ProcTranspose.pdf" target="_blank">Proc Transpose</a> - I'm always a fan of presentations which really get under the hood of a particular proc, process or prompt. Masud Rana also discussed a <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Sask-Fall2013/Rana-UniLogRegTalk.pdf" target="_blank">SAS macro he had built for univariate logistic regression</a>. Masud has presented previously on some pretty deep statistical processes, and I think the biggest good-natured laugh of the day came after Eric Wang - the MC of the meeting - opined that he really enjoyed this talk because he actually understood it this time!<br /><br />Finally, the special SAS guest truly was someone outstanding. Carolyn Cunnison has been working with SAS for many years and has instructed hundreds of users. Her ability to present complex topics in a simple, clear and patient manner takes all the confusion and anxiety out of learning SAS. We were fortunate that Carolyn was able to join us as she had recently returned from vacation. Her talks gave proof to her wide level of knowledge. She presented on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Sask-Fall2013/Cunnison-HashObjects.pdf" target="_blank">hash objects</a> first, a topic which can be complex... but which she made remarkably clear. She also gave a great talk on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Sask-Fall2013/Cunnison-EGProgrammers.pdf" target="_blank">tips for programmers using Enterprise Guide</a> which clearly charged up the room.<br /><br />As always, I had to leave the city much too soon. It was great to spend time with friends old and new. Saskatoon is certainly fortunate that they are championed by so many strong SAS users. But I couldn't rest, I had to move on to Winnipeg with Carolyn... more on that meeting shortly.<br /><br />Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-30867343750376976552013-10-22T17:29:00.002-07:002013-10-22T17:29:41.375-07:00A Triangle of a Different Sort: SAS Goes to HalifaxWhen many people think of SAS' headquarters in North Carolina, they often think of the variety of food, entertainment and technology available in the Raleigh-Durham triangle. The area is certainly a hub for free-thinking and innovation. There are a number of universities in striking distance of each other and many software, social media and consulting groups have set up shop in the region. My associations with 'SAS' and 'triangle' are a little different: OK, a LOT different. I associate SAS with The Olde Triangle, a phenomenal Celtic music bar which I visit each and every time I'm in Halifax. One of the wonderful benefits of my role at SAS is that I get to sample a bit of the local colour of most cities I'm in. For those of you who have been to Halifax, you will agree with me that it is certainly chock full of colour!<br /><br />Pleasant diversions aside, my purpose for travelling to Halifax was to support their users at the <a href="http://www.shrugonline.ca/" target="_blank">local user group</a> meeting. This small but potent group of SAS users never fails to impress and entertain. My companion for this particular trip was M. Sylvain Tremblay - the most Celtic Quebecois I know. I would swear that he's more Irish than some of the people who proudly belt out sea shanties at The Olde Triangle! As an aside, my single greatest moment of pride was knowing lyrics to a song that he didn't. I nearly shed a tear.<br /><br />But back to the meeting.<br /><br />As many of the attendees are health-focused, there was a distinct health slant to most presentations. John Fahey led off with what seems to be a persistent topic at SHRUG meetings: survival analysis. John is a pleasure as a presenter. He is about as relaxed as one could be, yet his knowledge is so deep and so vast, he can address virtually any question or comment. He was followed by the newest SHRUG executive Kara Thompson who offered a SAS Global Forum recap. I can honestly say that this was one of the better recaps I've seen. Kara focused mainly on a great tip which she learned at Global Forum and described how she applied it in her work. Nice job, Kara! There were two other talks offered as well. Devbani Raha discussed SAS dates - a very popular topic everywhere, it seems - and Sylvain Tremblay looked at the MIANALYZE and MI procedures for imputing missing data. Great talks all around, to be sure! You'll be able to find them all posted shortly on the <a href="http://www.shrugonline.ca/" target="_blank">SHRUG website</a>. However, one of the most interesting elements of the meeting for me was an open discussion session.<br />
<br />
The SHRUG group had included a SAS challenge on their invitation which was meant to spur discussion by soliciting a variety of responses. While we didn't have many submissions, this did allow the group to discuss ways to improve their meetings for the benefit of all. Were interactive exercises like this something that made sense? Or, would more presentations be in order? What did the attendees want to see moving forward? The discussion was interesting and spirited... and we even managed to delve into the SAS challenge as well! <br /><br />To me, this type of open and frank discussion is really what the SAS community is all about. Coming together in collaboration to help each other and share their knowledge. This type of engagement is something I'd like each and every user group across Canada to embrace... and most do, in their own way!<br /><br />I left Halifax much, much too soon. 24 hours is not enough time to spend in this great city. I know I'll be back sooner rather than later, however... and I look forward to it already. My next adventure: Saskatoon and Winnipeg this week. The agendas for both meetings look great and I'll be glad to share my thoughts on these heartland communities upon my return.<br /><br />Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-48641962025755326692013-10-19T04:57:00.002-07:002013-10-19T04:57:26.778-07:00Shouting From the Podium: Data Mining Takes Centre StageThis past Wednesday, SAS Canada's offices was once again pleasantly overrun by data mining practitioners. I often find myself wondering what the collective, cumulative experience of the attendees must be. Hundreds of years? It must be, at a minimum. On top of it, these are some of the best and brightest from a wide range of industries. Whether business analysts in financial services, actuarial professionals from insurance companies, health analysts from hospitals and the government, these folks certainly bring an impressive array of skills to bear. It's a bit intimidating to be in the same room, I tell you! The only thing to do is deliver a compelling agenda which engages and entertains. I'd like to think we were able to do so at the most recent meeting.<br /><br />I was privileged to spend time with our keynote speaker in a social context before and after the meeting. Krzysztof Dzieciolowski of Rogers Communications certainly turned out to be something of a star draw. There were former and current colleagues of his scattered throughout the room, and my own experiences with him made it clear why this would be the case. Not only was he a brilliant man - in his spare time, he had previously chaired the Stastistical Society of Canada in Quebec and he currently taught data mining at Concordia University - but he was an entirely pleasant and cheerful person to talk with around a wide range of topics. Over dinner, we discussed our shared Polish heritage, tales of football glory and heroes of the past, the challenges of teaching and implementing data mining solutions... and much more. The time just flew by!<br /><br />As a speaker, Krzysztof offered a tremendous overview of a complex and interesting topic. Entitled 'Scoring Models, Propensity Transformations and Model Scoring Using SAS', the talk was balanced with a lot of theory combined with practical examples. Given the interest of the audience in asking him questions - I nearly had to pull him out of a well-wishing mob of admirers at the break - I'd say his talk was an unqualified success.<br /><br />Carrie Dang of Loyalty One was our second presenter, and I can honestly say that I've rarely felt worse for a presenter than I did for poor Carrie. Her topic was riveting, her talk well put together... and her voice was soft and soothing. Developing a scoring model for email campaigns is something that all marketers can relate to and I found myself nodding along with her talk. Ordinarily this is a recipe for great success, but Carrie had the misfortune of dealing with a problem which has become all too common at my meetings: technological failure. Our audio system dropped entirely, and I'm afraid anyone beyond the first 20 rows may not have heard a thing. I apologized profusely to both Carrie and the audience and I appreciate that the quality of the experience must have been significantly negatively affected. For what it's worth I've escalated this technological issue internally and been assured that it will be addressed for future meetings. I've extended an offer to Carrie to take her out for lunch by way of saying 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry'. I hope that it's a start, at least!<br /><br />Our last presenter of the day was SAS Canada's own Lorne Rothman who has been gracing our stage quite a bit lately. Lorne is such a great, natural presenter that if I could somehow wrangle him into giving a talk at every meeting, I certainly would! He instantly had the crowd relaxed by opining that 'unlike the first two talks, mine isn't interesting'. Great stuff. Lorne's talk was focused around getting the most out of SAS Enterprise Miner as a SAS programmer, and he really showed the flexibility of the code node for all it was worth. I was especially grateful to Lorne as he filled an agenda hole which suddenly and unexpectedly developed. I confess to breathing a sigh of relieve when his topic was so well-received.<br /><br />As time as gone on in my SAS career I have noticed that data mining has taken centre stage in media publications and public thought. As analytics have become less of a black box and more of an indispensable business requirement, the practitioners who are able to blend the art and science of mathematics, psychology, sociology and business savvy are becoming more and more critical to successful business processes. It's a real privilege to be so deeply involved with this group of individuals.<br />
The presentations will be posted very shortly at the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/toronto-data-mining.html" target="_blank">Toronto Data Mining Forum website</a> and you'll be able to access them there shortly. For me, however, there were very little time to pause and reflect. I was about to fly out to Halifax for their user group meeting, one which would drive home the importance and strength of SAS community in a much different way. I'll have more about that meeting in an upcoming post.<br /><br />Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-67328038676957853922013-09-18T03:38:00.003-07:002013-09-18T03:38:49.406-07:00Sunrise In the Paris of the Prairies<div class="MsoNormal">
Here I sit in my hotel room in Regina at 4:00am. I’ve
showered and packed, ready to hit the road for my early flight back to Toronto.
Yet I must admit, I’m more than a little wistful to leave this great city. The
people and the weather have both been warm and delightful.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m pleased to say that some of that warmth is coming back with
me, though. The great feeling of community which began for me with last Friday’s
TASS meeting has carried on here in the prairies. We had great representation
here from SAS Canada – I was representing the Toronto office, our keynote
speaker (and good friend) Sylvain Tremblay from Montreal and Pre-Sales
Specialist Jamie Peterson from the Calgary office. It’s a rare thing that so
many offices are so strongly represented at a user group meeting – Regina, you’re
certainly doing things right! The Executive Committee here in Regina also helps
make that sense of community that much more real. Coming from a variety of
backgrounds and industries, these volunteers give off the impression that they have
known each other forever. Everyone works seamlessly together to ensure the
highest quality speakers are available and that all the logistical details are
taken care of without any hitches. It makes life that much easier when every
question or request you could think of has already been answered or addressed.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things I love most about this SAS community is
how it has responded in great numbers to the establishment of the user group.
Last May, we had two half-day meetings which each attracted around 30-40
people. This time, we had nearly 50 people show up… a sign that word of mouth
is helping fire up the group! Two things stood out to me here. The first was
that on the evaluation forms, several people indicated that they had NO SAS
background at all – that they were in attendance to see what the meetings were
all about and to support their teams. Now THAT is the spirit of community! The
second thing which jumped out to me was that en route to lunch, Matt Spence of
Farm Credit Canada – and the initial driver of the Executive Committee – mentioned
to me that he had a goal of realizing a 100 attendee meeting. Outstanding. It’s
great to see the group want to grow and excel, and goes that little bit further
towards confirming why we elected to start this group up in the first place.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The meeting itself had an agenda designed to try and accommodate
as wide a variety of SAS usage as possible – in terms of skill level as well as
usage type. We began with some SAS programming basics: encryption and security
settings courtesy of Sylvain. I’ve seen this talk a few times before, but I
always come away with something new… this time, it was the ability to encrypt a
SAS data set which really stood out for me. Great for ensuring that any FTP or
email transfers wouldn’t be a vulnerability. Davendra Patel of eHealth
Saskatchewan continued with the programming theme by scanning the log for notes
and errors – a great habit for any SAS user to practice. The beauty of this
talk was that Davendra actually modified code from a SUGI 31 paper and put it
into production in his environment: once again, the SAS community shows its
strength! Shaun Kauffmann of Farm Credit Canada closed off the programming
elements of the meeting by taking the discussion to the advanced level with a
thorough discussion of hash objects and hash tables. The strength here is
certainly in optimization and time savings, and Shaun made that clear through
his talk. Finally, I brought up the rear reprising an Enterprise Guide talk I
have delivered over the years in a few cities around testing a hypothesis around
the Titanic survival rates. You can check out all the talks <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/regina.html" target="_blank">here</a> within the
next few days.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had the distinct pleasure of being ‘trapped’ in Regina for
an extra 18 hours following the meeting – the flight schedule just worked out
that way. The extra time allowed me to enjoy this city for what it is, a
friendly, walkable oasis in the middle of the Canadian prairies. I’m hoping
that I’ll be the one who returns for the Spring meeting. I have a feeling it will
be even bigger – and better – than this one.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although I’m flying home to Toronto today I won’t be there
for long. Next week I’m headed to Quebec City for the Forum analytique d’affaires
SAS with an all-star line-up of guest speakers. I’ll have more on that meeting
once it’s done. But for now, it’s a big ‘thank you’ to Regina and ‘hello’ to my
hometown.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until then…<o:p></o:p></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-18484498231091152242013-09-16T12:59:00.002-07:002013-09-16T12:59:14.203-07:00Community the Star on (lucky) Friday the 13th
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I frequently and loudly preach the mantra of ‘community,
community, community’ through the user group meetings and social media. To me,
the real strength of SAS – and the reason for our success as an organization –
is because of our dedication to the SAS user community and our longstanding,
mutually beneficial partnership. In this the 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> year of SAS Canada
sponsoring the user group program it seems more appropriate than ever to give a
nod to this strength. It would come to bear as we launched the Fall/Winter 2013
user group season with the TASS user group meeting last Friday in Toronto.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.torsas.ca/" target="_blank">TASS</a> is the ‘grand old dame’ of the Canadian user groups. It
precedes not only the formal user group program of SAS Canada, but also SAS
Canada the organization. TASS is now in its 26<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> year of existence
and it’s fair to say, doing just fine, thank you! The quarterly meeting has
remained the largest and most consistent of the Canadian groups with attendance
over the full day usually hovering around 250 people. The success of this group
is in no small part thanks to the outstanding Executive Committee. It’s of this
rare group of dedicated, selfless individuals I’d like to speak for most of
this post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To set the scene for my story, it’s important to understand
that none other than Rick Wicklin – SAS statistician of no small repute and
author of famous blog ‘The Do Loop’ – was to be our guest speaker at TASS. Rick
was flying up to join 13 of the executive committee and myself for dinner on
Thursday night, and then he would be keynoting the statistics-themed meetings.
I can tell you that the entire user community in Toronto was buzzing about
this, in particular, the statisticians. It’s a rare occasion when a true legend
comes to visit, and we were as ready as could be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately, Mother Nature was in an ill-mood and
contrived to ground Rick halfway to his destination in New York City. Having
spoken to a very dejected Rick, it was clear that he had tried his best and
that circumstance and nature were going to ultimately win the day. His closing
words to me were spoken while waiting in a ‘3 city-block long line for cabs’.
What a horrible experience! Outside of Rick’s safety and comfort we suddenly
had another problem to worry about: two significant holes in the agenda. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here’s where the strength, resiliency and resolve of the SAS
community comes in to play. Quickly, two volunteers stepped forward at the
dinner table and offered to reprise talks which had been given in the past and
also to deliver brand new ones which had never been seen before. A suggestion
was made to call up SAS guru Marje Fecht who was planning on attending. With an
all-caps ‘EMERGENCY’ subject line, I fired her off a quick note explaining the
situation. To my everlasting gratitude, Marje not only called back and
indicated she was more than happy to help, but by the time we were having our
main courses served, her talk was nearly complete. Unbelievable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The meeting itself passed by in a blur for me. It was
delicate dance of balancing existing content with new and trying to keep the
timing correct as best as possible. I can tell you that Tim Gravelle of
PriceMetrix and Art Tabachneck of myQNA Inc. both delivered excellent,
compelling talks, including picking up some of the slack from the missing talk
of Rick’s in the morning. I may also have been in a bit of a daze as my old
professor Richard Boire of the Boire Filler Group did lead off the morning with
a talk on building successful analytic processes: a real flashback to my
post-graduate days. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The afternoon featured Marje’s outstanding talk on SAS
Enterprise Guide 5.1 tips and tricks which built nicely on Chris Jiang’s talk
on the Data Explorer of the same tool. We offered the Posed Problem Solutions
and a strong, strong talk on model tuning in SAS Enterprise Miner by Lorne
Rothman of SAS Canada and before I could take a breath (or so it seemed), it
was all over. Again, unbelievable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The strength of community is what made this meeting succeed.
In no small way, it’s indicative of the trust, friendship and sense of
collaboration which has been finely crafted over 10 years of the user group
program. It’s why we all stay involved – whether as a volunteer on an executive
committee or as a driver from the SAS Canada side. It’s what keeps this career
of mine so much fun, and so rewarding. And it’s why I’ll keep doing it until
someone tells me not to – or that I can’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’d like to take a moment to issue a huge ‘thank you’ to the
entire TASS executive committee. Their quick thinking, willingness to discuss
and explore options and focus on the best rather than dwell on the worst is
what made this meeting a huge success. In particular I’d like to thank Art
Tabachneck, Tim Gravelle and Marje Fecht for their last minute contributions.
Rather than being ‘filler’, their talks all added true value to the meeting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m off to Regina for their user group next: here’s hoping
we meet with even a sliver of the same success we had in Toronto! Given the
huge turnout and tremendous wave of enthusiasm I experienced last time I was in
Regina, I have no reason to think otherwise. I’ll be sure to let you know how
it goes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-47539803767486033872013-06-11T11:42:00.002-07:002013-06-11T11:42:19.670-07:00Joie de vivre en Montréal: MONSUG User Group Meeting
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last week I had the pleasure of travelling to Montr<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>al
for their user group meeting. As a native Toronto-ite and unabashed hockey fanatic,
I’ll admit to consistently having a bit of a nervous edge to me when I first
arrive in the city… especially as the route to my hotel typically takes me
right past the Bell Centre, the hallowed, sacred ground of the National Hockey
League’s Canadiens and the long-time rivals to my own beloved Toronto Maple
Leafs. I typically feel like I’ve just splashed my face with cold water as
well, given that the majority of the city communicates in French. While I myself
am no stranger to la belle langue du Moli<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">è</span>re, I’m always a little
nervous and a little shocked when I try and wrap my tongue around syllables,
expressions and phrases little practiced in the Anglophone city I live in. It’s
refreshing, invigorating… yet slightly horrible at first.<br />
<br />
One thing I can have no complaint about at all is the people I work with in the
SAS office and as part of the SAS community in Montr<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>al. From instructors through
to support staff, from user group executives through to guest speakers, I’m
always floored by the professionalism, warmth and hospitality I’m shown
throughout my frequent visits.<br />
<br />
Of course, one of my benchmarks for community strength is the ability of a
group to pull together a strong agenda utilizing strictly local resources. Once
again, MONSUG stood out in this respect. The agenda was populated with local
favourites and frequent guest speakers, and the nearly-full room was a
testament to the strength of the meeting. Leading off, Mathieu Gaouette shared
with us some of his </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">‘Trésors cachés du SAS Global Forum 2013’. Mathieu and I had both
enjoyed a very pleasant SAS Global Forum experience and his take on some of the
most helpful tips and tricks which he learned there was certainly welcome. <br />
<br />
We also had two other presenters who had frequently delivered talks in Québec:
M. Jean Hardy and M. Abdedsselam Bouhia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Having seen both of them present as recently as the past year in Québec
City, I was confident that we were in good hands.<br />
<br />
M. Bouhia reprised a talk he had previously given around ‘La segmentation avec
SAS’ which proved to be an in-depth dive into the details of why engage in
segmentation activities. Finally, M. Hardy delivered a great talk called ‘La
puissance peu connue des tables hash’. Hash tables have been popping up for me
all across the country this past month: they seem to be in great demand by
programmers looking to optimize and speed up their programs. I wonder if this
is a side effect of the move towards high performance analytics? At any rate,
it was easy to see why Jean has been an instructor of some note for so long. He
clearly knows his material, and how to deliver it.<br />
<br />
Of course, no trip to Montréal is complete without at least one delicious meal…
and I left following a great chat about politics (which city had a more
challenged municipal government structure: Toronto or Montréal?), hockey (of
course) and the potential for future meetings. It will be the 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
MONSUG meeting in the fall and I think it’s fair to say we have some special
things planned! I can’t reveal them now, that would be telling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As always, you can find the talks from the meeting posted on the
<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/Montreal.html" target="_blank">MONSUG website</a> shortly, and I can unequivocally say that I’m looking forward to
my return trip to la belle province in the Fall. In my immediate future,
however, I had to head back to Toronto for the TASS user group meeting taking
place at week’s end. I’ll have more on that in shortly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Until then…</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-65754090009572543552013-06-10T12:02:00.002-07:002013-06-10T12:02:32.396-07:00Orcas, Visual Analytics & SAS Dates: An Eye-Opening Trip to British Columbia
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two weeks ago I was soaring towards British Columbia for a bit of work… and a
bit of play as well. To be fair, even the work seems like play for me
sometimes. It’s truly a blessing to be able to travel all over Canada and
connect with friends and acquaintances from the SAS world. Laughs are shared,
tales are told and strong bonds of friendship are forged. This trip was to
bring together the best of both of these worlds as my travelling companion was
Marje Fecht. Marje will be a familiar name to many in the SAS world; not only
is she a former SAS instructor and long-time SAS user, she’s also a frequent
presenter at user groups across the country. She’s also be known to present
more than a time or two at SAS Global Forum and in 2014, she’ll be one-upping
herself by acting as the Chair of <a href="http://support.sas.com/events/sasglobalforum/2014/index.html" target="_blank">SAS Global Forum in Washington, DC</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the years Marje and I have had many
great adventures together and have become strong friends as well as
professional supporters. It was a real thrill for me to get out on the road
with her again after several years… it had been too long!<br />
<br />
Our first stop was the beautiful city of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Marje
and I had been here four years earlier and we were looking forward to
re-connecting with the city and our colleagues. Sure enough, we had a fantastic
dinner with the Executive Committee of the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/victoria.html" target="_blank">SUAVe user group</a>. The talk swung
back and forth between politics, user groups, the SAS world, and a whole host
of other topics. Marje and I both commented in the meeting the next day how it
truly does feel like a load lifts off of the shoulders in Victoria. The casual,
relaxed environment and warm, genuine hospitality really go a long way towards minimizing
stresses and promoting relaxation. Given that my last five weeks had been spent on
the road, this was sorely needed!<br />
<br />
The meeting itself took place in the afternoon the following day and featured some
great speakers and even better MCing. Peter Ott of the Ministry of Forests,
Lands & NRO is not only a great SAS mind, but a really talented host. He
connects with the whole room in a way that puts everyone at ease and really
promotes dialogue and discussion. Of course, it’s the talks themselves which
really stir the proverbial conversation pot… and with Marje offering up her
significant experience in her <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Victoria-Spring2013/Fecht-QuickHits.pdf" target="_blank">favourite SAS tricks</a> talk, an energized group was
never in doubt. Marje also delivered a second talk all around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Victoria-Spring2013/Fecht-DATES.pdf" target="_blank">SAS DATES</a>: with
so many options out there and so many exceptions to the rule, her talk
certainly helped clear up some of the ambiguity and frustration around working
with a variety of date forms and lengths. It reminded me of someone trying to
learn English as a second language; almost more exceptions than firm rules!
Thankfully we had a phenomenal teacher in Marje.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I myself offered a talk around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Victoria-Spring2013/Malczewski-VADragDrop.pdf" target="_blank">SAS’ Visual Analytics</a>
solution… for what felt like the millionth time in the past month! It’s been
amazing to see such positive reactions to this new SAS product across the country.
It certainly has some fans, that’s for sure. I was more than a little nervous
for a few reasons. Firstly, we had received some high priority notes from our
IT department that there were some global connectivity issues – a horrible
thing to hear when demo’ing from a virtual environment set up in North
Carolina. Secondly, the strength and speed of connection makes a huge
difference when demo’ing this particular application. Fortunately, everything
went off without a hitch.<br />
<br />
One of the strengths of user groups is always the local presenters. Victoria
always outdoes itself here with a variety of presenters offering a range of
techniques for the solution to the open problem. Mike Atkinson also delivered
what can only be described as a hilarious talk about his <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Victoria-Spring2013/Atkinson-SGF.pdf" target="_blank">SAS Global Forum experience</a> (which included a karaoke performance in front of several thousand
people) and Catherine Bealle Statland garnered high, high praise from Marje as
a natural and gifted speaker as she discussed her experience taking an <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Victoria-Spring2013/Statland-OnlineTraining.pdf" target="_blank">onlinecourse around PROC GLIMMIX</a>.<br />
<br />
After bidding some hasty goodbyes, Marje and I were off to the Helijet to take
a small helicopter ride across the ocean to the mainland. It was her first time
in a helicopter and she was certainly excited! It was great to see and a very
enjoyable ride for me as well.<br />
<br />
In Vancouver, once again, we met up with Executive Committee members for a
spirited dinner session. One spilled glass of wine or someone’s white pants
notwithstanding, this was another great example of SAS and customers working
together for the benefit of all. Vancouver certainly has a knack for asking for
the most support possible with an eye to better supporting their users… and in
the spirit of community, I usually deliver. This executive committee of <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/vancouver.html" target="_blank">VanSUG</a> is
certainly innovative and dedicated; they produce their own <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/VanSug-Spring2013/1305Newsletter.pdf" target="_blank">newsletter</a>, run a
full-day session without a hitch, and really call upon the community of SAS
users to support each other.<br />
<br />
Once again, Marje was the star of the show in the morning session, delivering
her <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Victoria-Spring2013/Fecht-DATES.pdf" target="_blank">DATES talk</a> and her <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Victoria-Spring2013/Fecht-QuickHits.pdf" target="_blank">favourite SAS tricks</a> once again. We also had a ‘surprise’
presentation from Charlotte King of Edmonton who happened to be in town and
offered to deliver a talk around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/VanSug-Spring2013/King-AnyDate.pdf" target="_blank">a macro solution to dates</a>: a nice bookend to
Marje’s in-depth talk and a great example of how SAS users across the country
can support each other. We also had a student volunteer to present some work
around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/VanSug-Spring2013/Kumar-Facebook.pdf" target="_blank">Facebook data</a>, which as a social media junkie, was interesting to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The afternoon session really featured three talks: <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Victoria-Spring2013/Malczewski-VADragDrop.pdf" target="_blank">VisualAnalytics</a> was once again trotted out by yours truly – with some vigorous
debate, no less! - and Paulus Mau of BC Hydro offered a really great talk on
<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/VanSug-Spring2013/Mau-EGSQL.pdf" target="_blank">using Enterprise Guide as an SQL Querying interface</a>. There was also another
EG-themed talk which really seemed to resonate with the audience.<br />
<br />
I’ll admit to being absolutely exhausted by the time the meeting had concluded.
It had been a very long five weeks. I’d been to San Francisco, Calgary,
Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Victoria and now Vancouver… and I was
ready for a rest. First, however, I was able to celebrate another successful
meeting with great friends.<br />
<br />
I then high-tailed it out of town for a few days of rest and relaxation on
Quadra Island with Marje and her husband Rob, the perfect end to a hectic trip.
We ate some amazing seafood, had a very close encounter with a pod of playful
orcas, marveled at the size, noise and very strong smell of sea lions, and just
enjoyed scenery I don’t ever get to see here in Toronto. I was on pins and
needles the entire time as I waiting for news from home from my brother and
sister-in-law who were due to deliver my niece into the world at any moment…
and what a courteous young lady, she waited until I returned before arriving! I
couldn’t have asked for a better end to the trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was thrilled to be able to spend so much time with such
great SAS users in British Columbia and I can’t wait to get back in the Fall,
albeit in chillier weather, but with the warmth of my friends to help cut
through the cold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before that, though, I still had a few meetings left to
attend beginning with the Montreal SAS User Group (MONSUG). But more on that
later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until then….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-53415158503945355282013-05-30T10:56:00.000-07:002013-05-30T10:56:00.770-07:00Even-Steven in Winnipeg
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve heard it said that Winnipeg is pretty close to the
exact centre of Canada… this supposition has certainly helped inform the title
of this particular blog post. I always feel that things end up exactly as
they’re supposed to in Winnipeg. A lot of code, a lot of open-mindedness
towards other SAS applications, and a really even-keeled group of SAS
users.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The meeting of a few weeks ago
sure did bear this supposition out in spades as balance was the key to a successful get-together.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I arrived with Tara Holland, our featured guest speaker,
after 3 days of amazing camaraderie and great presentations in Saskatoon and
Regina. At this point we were certainly seasoned pros in terms of the content
we were delivering and the messages we wanted to share. Confident, cool and
calm, we joined the meeting clear on what we wanted to share and how we wanted
to share it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course, we were not the only folks on the agenda; far
from it! Winnipeg user group President Craig Kasper jumped into the breach when
a presenter had to pull out at the last minute and delivered a really
interesting talk on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Winnipeg-May2013/Kasper-RowlessSET.pdf" target="_blank">row-less SET statements</a>. Why would would want to call a
row-less table? I’ll let Craig’s talk explain. Suffice it to say, it’s worth a
look. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We also has a Saskatoon transplant in Xue Yao who I got to
know in Saskatchewan and reconnected with in San Francisco at SAS Global Forum.
She had a tremendous <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Winnipeg-May2013/Xue-LogisticRegression.pdf" target="_blank">introduction to logistic regression</a> which seemed to appeal
to many in the room. Given the academic slant of many attendees, it certainly
wasn’t out of line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not to be outdone, Tara and I offered our talks. As I
mentioned we had previously delivered these in Saskatchewan with varying
degrees of success…. Darn technology, it lets us down sometimes. Once again
Tara offered up her talk around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Winnipeg-May2013/Holland-WinWordClouds.pdf" target="_blank">building word clouds in SAS</a> and I did a <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Winnipeg-May2013/Malczewski-VA.pdf" target="_blank">VisualAnalytics demo</a>. Everything functioned appropriately and the talks were well-received.
I was even able to squeeze in a bit of a bonus talk, some information around
Enterprise Guide which I thought might be of use to the audience. You know
you’re in the zone when you share talks without prompting!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the little tips I was able to share
may have helped out a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the greatest elements of the user groups is the sense
of community and I’m very pleased that a transplant from Ottawa has made a
strong appearance – and an offer to help – in Winnipeg. Gabriel Toichoa has
accepted a role as the Dean of Assiniboine College, and I’m looking forward to
future collaboration with him to help improve the group even more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the fall we’ll be moving back to our University of
Manitoba location and I’m looking forward already to seeing some faces I didn’t
get to see this time. Of course, I do hope you’ll join us… and as always you
can <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/winnipeg.html" target="_blank">pick up the talks here</a> if you would like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It had been a long, long week away from home and really
there was only one thing for it: buying excessive amounts of fudge at the
airport! Yes, it’s true, they make fantastic fudge in Winnipeg… and although my
wallet, my wife and my waistline didn’t thank me, secretly I couldn’t have
asked for a better way to close out a great road trip with a great travelling
companion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had the luxury of a long weekend in Toronto to rest,
recuperate and try and catch up on some office work. It had been almost three
whole weeks since I had been there, and it wasn’t to be for too long! In fact,
in just another four days I’d be flying out to Vancouver and Victoria for their
user group meetings. I’m travelling with SAS legend Marje Fecht and I’m sure
there will be great stories: there always are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-32986134883367588512013-05-29T10:52:00.000-07:002013-05-29T10:52:00.272-07:00New Friends & Old: SAS in Saskatchewan is Super Solid
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Following a quick stop off in my hometown of Toronto, I was
off once again on a jaunt out to Saskatchewan… but this was no ordinary trip. I
was launching a brand-new user group in Regina and I’ll admit to being both
excited and a little nervous. Registration was tremendous for both the existing
group in Saskatoon and for the new initiative in Regina, true… but it’s always
a little nerve-wracking all the same. It feels a bit like throwing a party and
not really relaxing until people have started showing up. Thoughts race through
your mind apace: will people find it valuable? Will they enjoy the meeting?
Will they like me? I really hope they like me….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course, I had no such illusions around the quality of the
guest speaker for both meetings. Tara Holland is a SAS powerhouse and a good
friend. As a native daughter of Saskatchewan, it’s always fun to return with
Tara to her roots… it’s easy to see where her easy demeanor and wonderful
personality come from, it must be something they put in the water throughout
her home province.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First stop was a reliable, <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/saskatchewan.html" target="_blank">strong group in Saskatoon</a>. Now, I
must admit that my mood was somewhat… coloured for the first 48 hours of my
trip. Why? Well, I’m from Toronto and an ardent Maple Leafs supporter. Monday
evening was the last playoff game against the Boston Bruins, winner moves on to
the next round. I don’t want to describe what happened – it’s too painful,
still – but let’s just say that I was getting text updates on my BlackBerry
while at dinner with Tara and some executive members the evening before, and it
was a very glum end to the meal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fortunately, the meeting the next day went a long way
towards perking me up once again. In truth it’s hard not to be cheerful in
Saskatoon! The populace is so kind, so warm, and have become such good friends
over time that I found myself shaking off the disappointment of the previous
evening’s hockey game rather quickly. I really had to, truth be told: it was
going to be a long couple of days!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Heading back to the University of Saskatchewan is always a
treat for me. Our meetings have taken place here consistently over the past 5
years and it was the scene of my very first user group on the road. I’m always
reminded of where I came from and how things have changed since then… and for
the better, might I add.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The meeting itself was a good mix of programming techniques
and newer SAS technologies. Tara led off with a really cool talk around
<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/SUCCESS-May2013/Holland-WordClouds.pdf" target="_blank">building word clouds using SAS</a>. While great on its own, the talk was a nice
set-up for my own Visual Analytics talk which was to come later… or so I
thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Significant technical
challenges prevented me from connecting to the demo environment in North
Carolina. Now, I’m a pretty good song and dance artist: I can procrastinate and
delay with the best of them. But this was beyond even my considerable skill
set. Fortunately, Tara came to the rescue once again with a video walkthrough
of Visual Analytics which she had saved and was able to play and walk through.
Thank goodness for technology… and at the same time, woe be to we who rely on
it too often!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The visualization theme continued in the afternoon with a
pair of ODS-themed talks: one giving an <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/SUCCESS-May2013/Wu-ODS.pdf" target="_blank">introduction to the layout</a> options and a
second bringing it into practical focus by <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/SUCCESS-May2013/Quail-Automagical.pdf" target="_blank">demonstrating how it worked</a>. Liying
and Jacqueline were a great team here… and it was particularly great to see
Jacqueline give a talk once again; she’s a real expert in delivering value from
the ground-level up and she’s certainly become a good friend. I’ve missed her
as she hasn’t been able to attend the past few talks. Always a pleasure to see
you, Jacqueline!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We also had a very technical talk from Masud Rana on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/SUCCESS-May2013/Rana-ProcMCMC.pdf" target="_blank">ProcMCMC</a> which involved Monte Carlo simulations. I’m not a statistician, so that’s
about all I could get out of it. It was a great talk to see, however, as it
really demonstrated just how wide the SAS world can be. Thanks Masud for
opening some eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, I had a chance to redeem myself from the earlier
Visual Analytics disaster with a talk on some handy t<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/SUCCESS-May2013/Malczewski-EG4.3.pdf" target="_blank">ips and tricks forEnterprise Guide</a>. Thankfully I was only connecting locally, so this talk ran
smoothly! I hope the attendees who were EG users picked up at least a little
something here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It would be remiss of me not to point out that Gopinath
Narasimhan delivered a great talk around SAS Global Forum and <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/SUCCESS-May2013/Narasimhan-SGF.pdf" target="_blank">building apresentation based on the proceedings</a>. It can sometimes be a challenge to find
local speakers and I hope that this presentation went a long way towards
showing just how easy and fun it can be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Following the meeting, Tara and I jumped in a rental car for
the 2.5 hour drive down to Regina. I have to say, this was one of my favourite
parts of the trip. Tara grew up on a farm not too far from Regina and she
certainly knew the route very well. She was a great tourguide and I learned a
lot: from grain elevators to farming techniques… to an embarrassing admission
of my ‘Toronto-ness’ by realizing out loud that black patches I saw on the
ground were the shadows of clouds, the trip was full of laughs and fun. And
hey: in my defense, we don’t get to see cloud shadows in the city, there’s too
much other stuff in the way! On the flat and empty prairies, however, this
isn’t a concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For my first visit to Regina, I must say I was very impressed
with the city. It has a really neat feel to it: modern and bustling, yet most
people know each other enough to at least wave or nod hello. We were there for
two meetings over two days and I was really looking forward to seeing some
familiar faces who had offered to help spearhead the meeting from on the
ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First up, we had a ‘traditional’ SAS user group meeting.
This meant SAS usage tips and tricks from a variety of presenters. One of the
many things which impressed me about the group was how two local speakers
volunteered to give talks. In my experience, this has NEVER happened! Usually
we need to form an executive committee, get people used to the format and flow
of the meeting, and then we can start to see volunteers pop up. Not so in
Regina! Shaun Kaufmann and Andrew Dyck of Farm Credit Canada both stepped
forward with some well-structured, very engaging talks. Shaun talked about the
new SAS <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Regina-May2013/Kaufmann-DS2.pdf" target="_blank">DS2 programming language</a> which will be rolled out in SAS version 9.4
and Andrew discussed <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/Regina-May2013/Dyck-PortfolioGrowth.pdf" target="_blank">using SAS for simulating portfolio growth</a> at FCC. Both
talks were great, drawing rave reviews from no less a critic than Tara Holland
herself. Tara has certainly seen a presentation or two in her time and for her
to offer up such high praise is truly noteworthy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course, I myself had a pair of talks on the agenda; the
same two I delivered (or tried to deliver) the day before in Saskatoon.
Fortunately, the internet connection at the Delta Regina was much stronger and
I was able to successfully demonstrate and run a Visual Analytics talk. I’m
very glad I did as it clearly caught the room off guard: there was lots of
praise for the product and for the power it brought to bear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I closed out the meeting with an appeal for volunteers from
the forty-strong attendees. User groups are only as strong as the people who
help to plan them out and I do rely heavily on local support to find guest
speakers. I was thrilled that Matt Spence – who must be singled out for lifting
the heavy load of the sole user group executive committee member for the first
few months – was quickly joined by six other individuals from a variety of
organizations. I’m looking forward to working with this team! If our lunch
conversation was any indication, the Regina group could soon be a model for others
in terms of cohesion and effectiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our final day of meetings in Regina was more in Tara’s
wheelhouse than mine: a ‘World of SAS Analytics’ day. The idea here was to try
and dive deeper into what it meant to be analytical – both as an individual and
as an industry. Tara’s expertise and experience comes from building analytical
competency centres so she was certainly the right person to deliver these
business-level talks. A good number of attendees had returned from the previous
day to take in the meetings and I feel like none were left disappointed: in
fact, I was asked for copies of Tara’s talks immediately following the meeting,
always a very good sign! You can also find them posted on the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/regina.html" target="_blank">Regina website</a>.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I remain incredibly impressed with the good folks of
Saskatchewan. Saskatoon offered their usual high level of hospitality and set
the bar for collaboration as far as I’m concerned… and Regina has certainly
proven itself no slouch with a strong executive committee forming right away
with plans already in place for future talks. I can’t wait to get back out to
this great province in the fall. Of course, if you weren’t able to attend the
meetings you can still pick up the talks at either the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/saskatchewan.html" target="_blank">Saskatoon website</a> or the
<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/regina.html" target="_blank">Regina website</a>. I do encourage you to come on out in September and October to
connect with your fellow SAS users.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I do need to thank Tara in particular for her invaluable
help and kindness on this trip. Not only was a great sounding board on a
personal and business level, but she went one step further than she had to: we
went to her sister’s house as, in her own words, ‘you need a home-cooked meal’.
It was so nice to just sit and chat with family in a kitchen, not a restaurant
and not room service… and it really summed up the graciousness and general kind
nature of the good people of Saskatchewan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tara and I had one more trip to take: this time to Winnipeg
for their user group meeting. I’ll have more on that in an upcoming post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until then….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-9828307475981046972013-05-28T10:44:00.001-07:002013-05-28T10:44:53.962-07:00A New Venue, A New Attendance Record, A Brave New World for GHSUG<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">OK, I’m well overdue to write this blog. The <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/ghsug.html" target="_blank">GoldenHorseshoe SAS User Group (GHSUG)</a> meeting was a little over two weeks ago, but
in my defense, a lot has happened between then and now. I’ve criss-crossed the
country with trips to Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg and I'm currently in British Columbia. In
some ways I’ve felt like a hamster on a wheel: trying my best to keep the darn
thing spinning but all too aware that my energy has been fading. It can be a real
challenge to try and keep all of one’s balls in the air during these hectic
trips. Having said that, I really can’t offer any excuses: only apologies.<br />
<br />
On to the matter at hand, the user group in question. For the first time in
recent memory –at least in my capacity as the user group manager – the GHSUG
group was meeting in a new location. For over five years we’ve been gathering
at the ArcelorMittal-Dofasco offices in Hamilton… I think I could manage the
drive in my sleep (and given the early hour of my usual departure to the meeting from Toronto, I think I
may have actually done this a time or two). Under the leadership of Ron Kaine,
the group has taken some interesting new directions. Ron is a driven man who
truly has the best interests of the greater SAS community at heart. Not to say
the rest of the executive committee doesn’t, as they certainly do. However, it
does need to be pointed out that Ron has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to
refine email lists, brainstorm around reaching out to new members, investigate
new presenter options and really led by example. One of his suggestions was to
change the venue in order to try and attract a greater audience: and boy, did
this ever help! Moving our meeting a little closer to the GTA in Burlington in
a great space built for hosting meetings paid off in spades with registration
climbing over 100 and actual attendance approaching 60. I think the organizing
committee – and myself included – were all a little agog at this tremendous
increase!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course, the agenda itself certainly had a role to play
here. In my opinion, the meeting found a great balance between business-level
talks and technical tips. The meeting led off with Kirby Sinclair of the
Clearcell Group offering a <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-May13/Kirby-DataValueMgmt.pdf" target="_blank">data value management primer</a>. Kirby can drawn on
many years of experience and it was all on display during his
presentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter what industry or
role, data management is key to successful business best practice.
Understanding your data and merging your knowledge with business objectives is
a key driver to achieving great results, a maxim which Kirby knows all too
well. His thorough and thought-provoking talk certainly had the heads of the
attendees nodding in acknowledgement and understanding. It was interesting to
note that both SAS users and business professionals peppered Kirby with
questions after his talk was finished; it clearly resonated with the audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next up was Divya Joshi of McMaster University. Divya was
offering a <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-May13/Joshi-BookReview.pdf" target="_blank">book review on GLM and NGLM for correlated data</a>. I must admit, I’m
often a little skeptical of book reviews. I’ve seen some great ones and some
not-so-great ones over the years, and it can very challenging to translate your
own interpretation of a work into something which can be easily digested and
appreciated by the whole audience. I’m very pleased to share that Divya
absolutely knocked it out of the park. Her review was thorough and included
what I believe is the magic formula for success with this type of talk. She
consistently brought the topic around to her own work in medicine and how she
was applying the knowledge she gained through the book in the day-to-day life.
This level of detail really helped bring the subject into focus for the entire
audience. The only thing better than her book review was the fact that also
agreed to join the Executive Committee to help plan future meetings. We’re very
glad to have you, Divya!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a productive networking break we returned with a GHSUG
standard: the ‘Proc du Jour’ feature. This is a great element to the meeting
which has been mimicked at other user groups and is really a great way to get
under the hood of a particular SAS procedure. It’s typically delivered by one
of the Executive Committee which virtually guarantees a thorough exploration of
the topic. In this case, Barry Hong of US Steel jumped into <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-May13/Hong-ProcTranspose.pdf" target="_blank">Proc Transpose</a>. I
love when Barry presents as he really knows how to build up a deck from very
simple to much more complex knowledge. He’s a seasoned presenter as well, and
his relaxed, comfortable demeanor always puts the group at ease. The great
thing about<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this talk was not only that
he showed Proc Transpose from a traditional programming standpoint but also
demonstrated how to make use of the same procedure in Enterprise Guide.
Everyone in the room – from seasoned SAS coders to new Enterprise Guide users –
took something out of the talk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, it was up to me to bring up the rear with a talk
around SAS’ <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-May13/Malczewski-VA.pdf" target="_blank">Visual Analytics</a>. Having delivered four demonstrations of this in
Calgary and Edmonton earlier in the week, I was certainly comfortable with the
topic… if not with the time zone change! I was very pleased that the
demonstration went smoothly enough and I certainly did receive quite a few
questions following the talk – always a good sign! I will say this, VA is
certainly causing a buzz amongst the SAS user community.<br />
<br />
Of course, one of the greatest things about the user groups is the networking
component. With such a huge turnout for the meeting we definitely had the
occasion to meet some new people. I’m very pleased that I was able to connect with
four new individuals who are certainly keen on SAS and who have some great
questions; I’m hoping that others in the room were able to connect as well! I
certainly found Lesley Harschnitz’s networking exercise a great way to connect,
a little bit of mystery and guessing games always brings a group together.
Here’s hoping we’ve set a great trend for future GHSUG get-togethers. If you
weren’t able to attend, I do hope you’ll join us on October 25<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>,
2013 for our Fall edition of the meeting… and of course, you can always pick up
all the talks on the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/ghsug.html" target="_blank">GHSUG website</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I only had a few days of rest before heading back out on the
road again to Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I wasn’t kidding when I said that May
was a hectic, hectic month for me! However this particular trip was very
special as I was helping to launch a brand new user group in Regina…. but more
on that soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-35597674775317168972013-05-09T12:32:00.002-07:002013-05-09T12:32:31.504-07:00Of Tiny Dancers and Warm Weather: Alberta SAS User Groups Wrap-Up
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m sailing through clear skies at 33,000 feet with a clear
mind… and about time, too! I’ve been fighting a nasty bug for about a week and
a half now since I spent time in San Francisco for SAS Global Forum. I must
admit that winging my way to Alberta was a daunting prospect given the poor
state of my health. Fortunately, all worked out for the best.<br />
<br />
I’m in a bit of a reflective mood as I stare out of the window. Below me is a
massive, still-frozen lake. Behind me lies a province bathed in sunshine and
warmth. Ahead of me, my hometown of Toronto… where I understand it’s 17 degrees
Celsius and rainy. I find this all to be an elaborate metaphor for the user
group meetings I just attended. The warm, happiness and camaraderie I
experienced in Alberta were certainly magnified by my travelling companion and
guest speaker Peter Eberhardt. The lake below represents this brief pause to collect my thoughts in the midst of
what is an undeniably hectic section of my user group schedule. And ahead of
me… well, I don’t know what that represents to tell you the truth. Perhaps I’ve
stretched this (already thin) metaphor a little too far.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in crime on the road than
Peter. He and I have become good friends over the years and he’s always at the
top of my list for ‘sought after’ guest speakers. His versatility, affability
and willingness to go the extra mile for SAS users carries a lot of weight in
my book, to say nothing of his deep knowledge of SAS. We also had the opportunity to reminisce about my very first user
group road trip over 5 years ago now. Peter was the guest speaker on that
particular trip to Saskatoon and Winnipeg, and we had a good chuckle about how
much had changed since those early days. Back then, I had checked my luggage: overpacking
for a 4 day trip. Peter was kind enough to instruct me on the art of packing
light and I wouldn't be caught dead checking anything anymore! I also recall his eyes bugging out of his skull as I paid for everything
with the exception of our hotel rooms in cash. My bankroll made me seem like a Vegas
high-roller… or a gangster. Either way, not good. I learned a lot from Peter on
that trip and our friendship was born. But on to the meetings at hand: the
<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/calgary.html" target="_blank">Calgary SAS User Group</a> and the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/edmonton.html" target="_blank">Edmonton SAS User Group</a>. First stop, Calgary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s always such a great pleasure to travel to Calgary. As I
told TASS President Art Tabachneck, it’s the home of my favourite hamburger of all
time. There’s something about that Alberta beef, straight from the source. More
than that, it’s great to catch up with good friends and colleagues. I had a lot
of fun eating dinner on a patio bathed in 28 degree sunshine on the famed ‘red
mile’ watching the tiny dancers go by… and trying to figure out what they were
doing in Calgary! What are tiny dancers? Well, just what you’d imagine. Picture
little miniature dolled-up girls with hair in tight buns, lots of eye makeup
and lipstick and a variety of decorations for their hair. The game we played over dinner
was to figure out what they were doing in town. After a series of agonizing
clues – a snatched glimpse of a program here, a barely overheard conversation there –
Peter had enough info to determine (with the help of Google) that it was in fact a cheerleading/team
dancing convention in town. That blew my theory of why we had seen such increased attendance for
the CSUG meeting out of the water… but it was a lot of fun figuring it out.
It’s this type of conversation and good fun which really helps define why
the user groups are so special. Where else can you bring together customers,
vendors and thought leaders in such a fun way? <br />
<br />
The meeting itself was a success as well. The agenda had strong representation
from a variety of perspectives. Peter covered off on two very popular topics.
The first, hash tables, was the talk that most attendees had come to see and
Peter certainly didn’t disappoint. He was able to skillfully walk through a
mammoth amount of material in very little time, demonstrating the massive
performance difference between hash tables and other SAS techniques. He also
discussed how to use SAS to create pivot tables in Excel. It’s an undeniable
fact that Microsoft products are still prevalent throughout the business world,
so this talk really resonated with most. Peter’s casual style and assertion
that the techniques he taught would help any SAS user with their positive
perception at work won smiles and nods from the room.<br />
<br />
On the high performance analytics front, we had a pair of talks which ended up
complimenting each other nicely. Ed Swain of Teradata walked through a variety
of hardware options and specifications suitable for high performance
environments. This flowed perfectly into my own talk and demonstration around
SAS Visual Analytics. It’s always a challenge to demonstrate a product ‘live’
A few hiccups notwithstanding, my machine didn't explode and heckling was
kept to a minimum… so I would call it a success. <br />
<br />
A quick flight to Edmonton later and Peter and I were at it once again, this
time for an enormous group of SAS users. As eSUG President Doug Dover and I
both commented to the group, this was by far the largest registration and close
to the most sizeable attendance the group had ever seen. Kudos to the executive
committee for helping pull together an agenda which had everyone in the room
interested and willing to come on out!<br />
<br />
Edmonton has adopted a full day model for their meetings. The morning features
SAS programming talks while the afternoon focuses more closely on
interface-style applications such as Enterprise Guide, JMP and Visual
Analytics. The afternoon session was a lot of fun as Peter and I conducted
back-to-back interactive sessions around EG and VA respectively. Fun,
certainly: lively, definitely: vocally exhausting… well, let’s just say
that for someone who is certainly fond of his own voice, even I was getting
sick of hearing me talk by the end. Having said that I was glad for the chance to showcase VA
from both a retail and health perspective and the feedback and questions were
great.<br />
<br />
Of course, we can’t forget about the morning session. Chris Cullingham of ATCO
Power delivered a great talk around billing rates and received almost as much
attention for the manner he presented it as the content itself. He used a great
alternative to PowerPoint called <a href="http://prezi.com/" target="_blank">Prezi</a>; a dynamic, web-based service which
allows for really neat customization of talks. In fact, there were several
requests for more talks about Presi: that gives you an idea of the impact it
made.<br />
<br />
George Zhu offered a talk around hash tables and having just seen Peter’s
exhaustive dive the day before, it was great to see his thoughts validated
through George’s work. Of course, Peter presented once again but this time of
the topic of Perl regular expressions and dates. I’ve seen a few Perl talks
over the past user group meetings and I’m really intrigued by this programming
language. The room clearly was just as fascinated as I was. <br />
<br />
One of the challenges facing all user group meetings across the country is
finding local presenters willing to stand up and talk. Jared Prins addressed
some of the reasons why in his talk which dispelled some of the barriers and
laid out a framework for participation. It would seem his talk worked as we had
around 10 people offer to give a talk at an upcoming meeting. Thanks for
putting some fears to rest and offering some encouragement as well, Jared!
Clearly your time as a livestream-featured presenter at SAS Global Forum has
given you even more confidence… and the group will certainly benefit from your
experience.<br />
<br />
All in all, my trip to Alberta was a rousing success. We had great attendance
at both meetings and fantastic talks too. You'll be able to find all the talks shortly at the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/calgary.html" target="_blank">CSUG</a> and <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/edmonton.html" target="_blank">eSUG</a> websites. Most importantly, SAS users from a
wide range of backgrounds had the opportunity to meet, network and catch up
with old friends. As my manager Wally Thiessen recently suggested, the user
groups are about so much more than just the presentations: they’re about making
new connections, sharing insight with users from other industries, and having
some fun too. I would say that we succeeded in every respect over the past few
days.<br />
<br />
I’ll get home to Toronto today and I’m quickly off again to Burlington for the
GHSUG meeting. This, too, promises to be a notable meeting with record
registration and a new location to boot! I’ll have more on my experiences and
perceptions of that meeting within the next few days. For now, let me sign off
by saying thank-you to Alberta for the great meetings. Look forward to catching
up with you all in the fall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-83382065258162992482013-04-16T16:10:00.003-07:002013-04-16T16:10:28.084-07:00Club SAS de Québec: un triomphe<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m sitting in a fog and rain-shrouded airport in Qu<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>bec
City following the user group meeting…. and I can’t help but feel like the
weather is in some way reflective of the world of SAS at times. It can be
difficult to see the way through the mist: there can be surprises ahead which
are unseen and unanticipated, and a clear mind and sharp vision are needed to
help guide one through. However, through the fog of uncertainty burns the light
of knowledge and collaboration, in this over-wrought metaphor, the Club SAS.
Although a little contrived it’s certainly true that it does feel as if the
presentations and networking act much like a sunbeam burning away the fog and
lighting the way to understanding and the correct path. Today’s meeting
certainly achieved this in spades.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The talks today principally revolved around traditional SAS
programming concerns and tips/tricks. We had a great presentation on ODBC and
how SAS accesses it as well as a very in-depth dive around hash objects and an
open, frank discussion of the type of errors one might receive… and some
solutions around solving them. Each of these talks offered some value to the
attendees. Whether helping guide their way through a problematic SAS
programming endeavour or helping them to optimize their time spent, each was
well-received in its own right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I should mention of course that the group almost topped out
at 100 attendees today: no small feat to be sure! Qu<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>bec consistently flirts with
this milestone, one of only 4 groups across the country with attendance this
strong. I feel that this is really one of the most powerful drawing points of
the meeting; the ability to connect and collaborate with SAS professionals is a
strong enough pull to entice nearly 100 individuals away from their desks early
in the week… and in the pouring rain no less!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m keeping this entry short because I’m afraid I’m going to
spill poutine all over my keyboard… and it’s much better served in my stomach
than making a mess on my technology. Suffice it to say that once again Qu<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>bec
City has impressed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before signing off, I would like to thank a few of the
Executive Committee members who are going to be stepping down. Patrice
Bourdages has been a long-time, stalwart member of the group. His
responsibilities have taken him elsewhere and his energy and passion will be
sorely missed. The same can be said of Ismael Coulibaly, another phenomenal
member of the committee. Thank you both for all of your tremendous work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My next few weeks are going to be spent preparing and
attending SAS Global Forum. Every year I promise myself that I will find time
to blog about my experiences there… and every year, those same experiences keep
me away from doing just that. So this year I’m going to promise nothing and we’ll
see how it turns out!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The month of May will be an absolute cyclone of activity for
me so you’ll certainly hear a lot from me as time moves forward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-32595238958792560042013-04-15T14:19:00.001-07:002013-04-15T14:19:33.246-07:00A Holistic View of SAS: Health User Group
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last Friday, the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/health-user-group.html" target="_blank">SAS Health User Group (HUG)</a> took place in Toronto. I am consistently in awe of this amazing group of
professionals… perhaps even over-awed to the point of intimidation, if I’m to
be honest. It’s amazing for me to listen to talks which bely such a
fundamentally strong grasp of statistics, health indicators and SAS
programming… and a little daunting when I’m on the agenda as well. It feels a
little bit like a young Luke Skywalker charging into battle with the wily Darth
Vader before he was ready. I think we all know what the outcome of trying to
play with the big boys before ones’ time can be. I was just hoping I would exit
the meeting with both of my hands – and my pride – still attached.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fortunately, this group is as magnanimous and forgiving as
it is intelligent. I’ve always been received well despite my technical
shortcomings. Perhaps that’s because the agendas are consistently filled with
incredibly strong presenters who’s SAS skills easily compensate for mine. This
past Friday was to be no exception to this rule.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I led off the meeting with <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/HUG-April2013/Malczewski-VADragDrop.pdf" target="_blank">an overview of the new SAS VisualAnalytics product</a> and I did my best to contextualize it for the health practitioners in
the room. The talk centered around fictional data of approximately 3 million
individuals with multiple data points and around 150 variables. The purpose of
the talk was to visually explore the data without excluding or sampling right
away with the goal of finding some trends – so matter how obscure – which could
be impactful upon the onset of renal disease in an older population of Type II
diabetes sufferers. I mentioned to the executive committee over lunch that the topic
was actually quite personal for me, as I recently lost a family member quite
suddenly due to complications from renal failure. It’s fair to say I wanted to
do the topic justice. I began my talk working with billions of correlations in
a basic matrix and worked down to some geo-mapping functionality to show the
ease and power of the product. Now I’m no expert – not even close! – but I’d
like to think that given the amount of questions which followed the talk, there
was enough interest generated to have make the topic worthwhile to bring
forward. I’m certainly grateful for the patience of the group as I wrestled
through some of the terminology and methodology behind the talk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our next presenters took the group in a totally new – and
welcome – direction. Yuriy Chechulin and Amir Nazerian of the Ministry of
Health detailed how they<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/HUG-April2013/CherchulinNazerian-HighCost.pdf" target="_blank"> used advanced modeling techniques to identify highcost users of the healthcare system</a>.
The objective of this research was to identify ways to ease the burden on the
health community in terms of financial investment and time, as well as to help
identify triggers and potential solutions to preventing negative health
outcomes in the early stages. I really loved this talk. Even as a
non-statistician, I could understand the principles behind the modeling
techniques used… and I’m always fascinated by the data which helps inform these
decisions. Once again the audience proved to be more than engaged with the
topic as they peppered both of the presenters with questions about other
potential applications for the model and inquiries around some of the
exclusions they had made. It was a shame to have to cut off the questions for
our break!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Upon our return, we had three tremendous guest speakers. SAS
Canada’s own Judy Orr Lawrence walked us through
some <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/HUG-April2013/OrrLawrence-EG.pdf" target="_blank">data cleansing and validation techniques in SAS Enterprise Guide</a>. While
more of an ‘ad hoc’ approach to data cleansing, it remained a very intriguing
talk… especially for this long-time EG user. I’ll be giving a few EG talks
myself in the coming months and I certainly plan on stealing some of her
material (with permission, of course) for the talks. I love the way Judy
presents: accessible, thorough and with the ability to keep the topic very
high-level or dive very deep. As a frequent student in her classes I can tell
you with unbiased certainty that anyone would benefit from her tutelage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Next up, Ellen Maki gave us a deep dive into how she used <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/HUG-April2013/Maki-BlandAltman.pdf" target="_blank">Bland-Altman bounds to work towards a new understanding of sleep apnea treatment</a>.
Utterly fascinating. As I mentioned at the meeting itself, I’ve had sleep
consultations several times and I’ve received wildly different diagnoses on
each occasion. Ellen’s talk about the potential of taking future tests at one’s
home nearly made me weep with joy: those of you who may have had to experience
an over-night visit at a sleep clinic can attest that it is not necessarily the
most comfortable of experiences to say the least! Even more importantly, Ellen
implied that her data indicated quite strong and clear results in her study
which is certainly good news for the future diagnosis and treatment of this
very harmful sleep disorder. Her presenting style was extremely relaxed and
easy, and I do believe that everyone in the room benefitted from her
understanding of how she worked through her tests… and hopefully were inspired
for their own work as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, the incomparable Ruth Croxford concluded the
meeting – in a mournfully abbreviated fashion – with a talk on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/HUG-April2013/Croxford-PerlExpressions.pdf" target="_blank">using Perl expressions within her SAS co</a>de.
I don’t have enough positive things to say about Ruth. As the President of the
Executive Committee, she consistently finds great guest speakers (including
herself) and is just such a fantastic representative of the healthcare
community. I felt horrible that her talk was truncated due to earlier extended
question periods, in no small part because I’ve been fascinated by Perl
expressions for a long time and wanted to learn as much as I could about them.
In her brief time, Ruth did manage to convey a lot of information. She easily
moved through an introduction to Perl and also made it very simple to
understand just how they could be leveraged in SAS. She certainly had a few
people excited to try the procedure which allows you to do so!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All in all, the meeting was extremely successful. We had a
record number of registrations – nearly 120 people – and I’m willing to bet we
achieved a record for attendance as well. I give all credit to the fantastic
guest speakers and the compelling agenda. Thanks once again to all of our guest
speakers and to the Executive Committee who made it all happen! If you weren’t
able to attend, not to worry: you can always pick up the presentations on the
<a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/health-user-group.html" target="_blank">HUG website</a> <span style="color: #244061;">
</span>or connect with us in the <a href="http://sascanada.ning.com/" target="_blank">SAS Canada Community</a><span style="color: #244061;">
</span>I do
hope we’ll be able to deliver just as strong a meeting when the Health User
Group next meets in person on November 15<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>, 2013. In the meantime,
I’ll be headed to Quebec City for their user group meeting and I’ll be enjoying
a trip to San Francisco for SAS Global Forum at month’s end. I’m sure I’ll have
lots to say about both meetings, so stay tuned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-12275927713847716562013-03-04T09:32:00.002-08:002013-03-04T09:32:42.439-08:00A Great Start to the 2013 User Group SeasonThe last two weeks have ushered in the 2013 user group season through the two oldest groups in Canada. Last week, the <a href="http://www.shrugonline.ca/" target="_blank">SAS Halifax Region User Group (SHRUG)</a> held their kick-off meeting on the east coast. I myself wasn't there, so I can't write too much about it... other than to say how jealous I was of my colleague Mark Morreale who <em>did</em> get to attend. From him comments the meeting was as wonderfully typical as it gets for Halifax: a small but strong group which was punctuated by great conversation, strong local presentations and wonderful camaraderie. This past Friday, the <a href="http://www.torsas.ca/" target="_blank">Toronto Area SAS Society (TASS)</a> had it's first meeting of the year, and I was most definitely in attendance. It was a great way to kick off the season here in Toronto; TASS has certainly thrown down the gauntlet to the Toronto Data Mining Forum and the Health User Group! I'm quietly confident that they'll give a very good run at matching the energy, enthusiasm and content of TASS.<br />
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Of course, it helps that TASS had some serious star power to help solidify a strong start to the season. No less of a SAS luminary than Susan Slaughter made the trip to Canada to serve as our keynote speaker. I must admit, I gushed like an Apple fanboy at the release of a new Apple-branded... well, anything. When I was completing my post-graduate work at George Brown College it was the last version of <a href="https://support.sas.com/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?pc=61054" target="_blank">'The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.1'</a> which included a working demo disk that became my temporary SAS bible. In fact, I actually had to get a second copy because of the extreme wear and tear throughout the years. I can directly credit Susan and her co-author Lora Delwiche for helping me develop my early SAS skills... or perhaps blame is a better word? At any rate Susan was wonderful and approachable in real life; she clearly loves SAS and was an inspiration to the many new and seasoned users who attended the TASS meeting.<br /><br />Susan offered three separate talks. The first was one which had some appeal to everyone, an introduction to macro programming. Macros are phenomenal for efficiencies: as Susan said in her talk, 'think about it like writing a program that writes a program'. It really didn't matter if you were a new programmer or a savvy SAS veteran: the methodical nature of the talk ensured that everyone was introduced or reminded of the best practices to keep in mind when leveraging this powerful option. A side benefit: I learned that Susan is a passionate bicyclist! As a loud proponent of giving a personal as well as professional view of one's image, it was nice to be able to relate to Susan outside of the SAS framework.<br /><br />After offering up a break-out session around how to become a SAS author - a session that had the break-out room overflowing - Susan would energize the afternoon session with her talk around summary tables in Enterprise Guide. I've given a talk or two which featured this particular task previously, but Susan's step-by-step approach was much better suited for the newer Enterprise Guide users in the audience... and to be honest, I learned a few things myself. For example, if you impose a condition on a variable through the wizard, that condition will remain on the variable even if it's removed. That could explain a lot of the strange results I've received from some of my pet projects. I'll be re-running them while bearing this in mind, to be sure!<br /><br />Of course, Susan wasn't the only star of the agenda. In fact, the rest of the meeting was jam packed with SAS goodness. In the morning session, Wayne Levin of JMP software fame navigated a few pitfalls (or pickle-falls, more appropriately) to successfully demonstrate some of the capabilities of JMP. The demo gods were not smiling on Wayne initially but his quick thinking and knowledge of his data allowed his to swiftly switch his presentation nearly seamlessly. TASS President Arthur Tabachneck also delivered his usual high-quality work, showcasing a talk which he will be delivering at the <a href="http://www.mwsug.org/" target="_blank">Midwest SAS User Group</a> and potentially at <a href="http://support.sas.com/events/sasglobalforum/2013/index.html" target="_blank">SAS Global Forum</a> as well. Art always blows me away with his talks: he seems to effortlessly find ways to make SAS work better, faster and more innovatively... and almost always through his collaborative work with his fellow SAS gurus from all over the world. His talk on <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/TASS-January2013/Tabachneck-FlipTranspose.pdf" target="_blank">transposing SAS data sets</a> certainly continued this trend. In the afternoon, Chris Battiston really <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/TASS-January2013/Battiston-ODS.pdf" target="_blank">got under the hood of ODS</a> and also bravely popped open a spontaneous live demo while really showcasing how a little curiosity and knowledge can go a very long way. Finally, the solution to the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/TASS-January2013/TASS-I-Posed-Question-March2013.pdf" target="_blank">posed problem</a> was a real hit. Not only did it fortuitously build on Susan's summary table talk, but we also had four separate contributors. Jim Burkhardt did a great job of MCing the solutions and each presenter gave a simple - but elegant - walkthrough of each. You can see all the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/TASS-January2013/Various-PosedQuestionSolutions.pdf" target="_blank">solutions here</a>: great job, guys!<br /><br />Finally, I myself got into the spirit of the live demo by <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/TASS-January2013/Malczewski-VisualAnalytics.pdf" target="_blank">showcasing the new SAS Visual Analytics</a> suite. It was a lot of fun to see a favourable reaction from the audience. I can understand why, as it's tremendously powerful and versatile, and the data I was working with was relative to all. Using over 169 million records with 60 variables, I was able to quickly run forecasting routines and drill into global variables to demonstrate how powerful visual analytics can be. I hope it was well-received, because it sure was fun to deliver. At the very least, I hope that the opportunity to demo the solution yourself - a SAS first! - was enough of a takeaway to make the session valuable. I encourage all readers to do so as well, whether by industry or job role. You can find out more on the official <a href="http://www.sas.com/software/visual-analytics/overview.html" target="_blank">Visual Analytics site</a>.<br /><br />We're already building towards the June meeting, believe it or not... and we've also secured a very special guest speaker for September... but much more on that later down the road. In the interim you can check out the presentations from the last meeting <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/toronto-tass.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and stay tuned for information about upcoming TASS sessions as well. You may also want to join us in the<a href="http://sascanada.ning.com/" target="_blank"> SAS Canada Community</a> where discussion is ongoing, all the time. We hope to see you there!<br />
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Next for me: the eye of the hurricane, the calm before the storm... or perhaps the darkest night before the morning? I'm in a quiet state until mid-April with next to no travel or activites until then. But rest assured, when things get going they just won't stop! May and June will be hotbeds of activity. So stay tuned for more thoughts from the road.<br />
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Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-4440494044815297812012-10-29T08:12:00.002-07:002012-10-29T08:12:44.897-07:00Breaking Through the Fog in HamiltonLast week the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/ghsug.html" target="_blank">Golden Horseshoe SAS User Group</a> met in what can only be described as challenging weather conditions. The fog rolled in thick and deep last Thursday morning which didn't bode well for having all of our attendees make it out to the meeting. Fortunately, the agenda was well-rounded enough that many of the registrants screwed up their courage and made the trek to the ArcelorMittal offices as planned.<br />
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I was in a bit of a fog of my own having arrived late at night the previous evening from the tail-end of a 3 week long road swing. Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Montréal and Québec City were firmly in my rearview but the legacy of the successive trips certainly weighted upon me. Fortunately, I had one of SAS Canada's best and brightest to keep me company - and help keep me awake - on the drive down the Queen Elizabeth Way highway and around the lake. Tim Trussell would be delivering a talk on text analytics a little later in the morning but for the moment, he had the task of keeping me talking... and subsequently, keeping us both alive as I drove through the thick fog. Above and beyond, Tim!<br /><br />The topics were certainly compelling for those who attended. Harry Droogendyk discussed <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-Fall2012/Droogendyk-Sharepoint.pdf" target="_blank">using SAS to read Sharepoint list data</a>. The laughs which punctuated the presentation were representative of Harry's easy-going style rather than disregard for the topic. I'll admit: I couldn't help but think of how my team leverages Sharepoint in our environment and I was putting our own data and documents in the context of Harry's talk. I certainly learned a trick or two which I would like to consider implementing here at SAS Canada.<br /><br />One of the most endearing features of the Hamilton user group meetings is the 'Proc du Jour' - every meeting, one particular procedure is explored and discussed in deep detail to get better understanding of its capabilities and strong points. The <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-Fall2012/Harschnitz-Pareto.pdf" target="_blank">pareto procedure</a> was up this time as presented by Lesley Harschnitz. I had no idea such a procedure even existed - I always think about the pareto principle in terms of the 80/20 rule... which still applied to this talk. I really enjoyed Lesley's openess around her presentation as she managed to duplicate her graphing controls (well, almost) in both SAS code and Enterprise Guide.<br /><br />I always like seeing new faces up in front of the audience offering their perspective and sharing their knowledge. Amidu Raifu of Brock University shared a great talk from a health perspective around <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-Fall2012/Raifu-CancerScreening.pdf" target="_blank">cervical cancer screening practices</a> in the DR Congo. I always learn a lot from health talks. In my opinion, health SAS practitioners are some of the best out there. Not only are their findings potentially life-changing, but the pressure and necessity for accuracy always impress me. Amidu clearly knew his subject well as demonstrated by his ability to follow-up on the multitude of questions which followed. I hope we'll see another presentation from him soon.<br /><br />Finally, Tim Trussell took the stage. Tim is no stranger to the GHSUG group having presented many times and famously challenged ex-GHSUG executive committtee member to a programming vs. Enterprise Guide speed challenge (I'm not saying who won, so don't ask!) A lot has changed since those days. Tim has only grown in knowledge and experience and is now the Analytics Lead for all of SAS Canada. One of his area's of expertise (and there are many) is text analytics. He offered us <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-Fall2012/Trussell-TextAnalytics.pdf" target="_blank">a compelling talk</a> around some of the reasons to leverage text analytics and the insights some organizations have derived. It's nice to know that despite his brilliance, Tim is still human. For a brief moment I found some common ground as we both managed to spill coffee on ourselves. Sigh. <br /><br />All in all, it was a really good meeting. I echo the words of GHSUG President Ron Kaine who said that he learned something from each talk which he could use, and that's always the goal at day's end. I hope that the attendees feel the same way. Congratulations to the whole team for putting together a great meeting and a special nod to new executive committee members Kirby Sinclair who presented on the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/UserGroups/GHSUG-Fall2012/Sinclair-NESUG.pdf" target="_blank">upcoming NESUG conference</a> and Sueheir Saddik who MC'd the whole meeting. Fantastic job by all!<br /><br />I have a bit of a respite here and then I'm off to Ottawa in mid-November... you'll certainly be hearing more from me soon.<br /><br />Until then...Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3929496447613730829.post-68614806056248789872012-10-25T17:58:00.000-07:002012-10-25T17:58:12.931-07:00La Belle Province: Québec User Groups Provide Laughs and Learning
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m trying to pull my thoughts together after a lightning
quick tour through the province of Qu</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ébec.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It truly was an epic voyage… but I’m fortunate I had a fantastic
travelling companion with me for the duration: a man who needs no introduction
(except occasionally to himself), Mr. Andrew T. Kuligowski of Florida.<br />
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Andy has been a stalwart supporter of the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/canadian-user-groups.html" target="_blank">Canadian SAS user groups</a> for many
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, we realized that there
are only a few groups which Andy has <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
attended! Ottawa, you folks are next… and the last on Andy’s list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From Vancouver to Halifax, from Edmonton to
Hamilton and everywhere in between, last year’s <a href="http://support.sas.com/events/sasglobalforum/2013/index.html" target="_blank">SAS Global Forum</a> Chair has
brought his easy, comedy-filled, jaw-droppingly knowledgeable presentations to
user groups across the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve
been fortunate enough to be his faithful travelling companion – and straight
man, at times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have many fond memories
of sharing beers and groans over live hockey (when there was such a thing),
discussing the intricacies of SAS Global Forum and mapping out the best
aquariums to visit at our various stops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In short, it’s always a blast to travel with him… and I know our
Canadian SAS users appreciate it as well.<br />
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First up for both of us: a stop in Montréal, the first time Andy had returned
since SAS Global Forum was held there in 2004 and my first stop-in this
fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I absolutely LOVE Montréal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my closest friends at SAS Canada lives
there and it’s always a hoot when I’m able to get together with Sylvain
Tremblay – another user group road warrior like Andy and myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Executive Committee is best defined as
small but mighty. In fact, they don’t really get smaller!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mathieu Gaouette and Eric Lacombe have held
down co-leadership positions for many years now and have more than competently
facilitated a steady stream of gifted local speakers and special guests from
many a distant town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, Andy’s
presence in Québec was entirely due to Eric’s dogged pursuit of lining him up for
the agenda! In pursuit of this goal we changed dates, we moved venues, we did everything we could to
get Andy in front of the Montréal audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mission accomplished, Eric.<br />
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In Montréal, Andy truly was <a href="http://www.sas.com/images/email/temp/canada/MONSUGOct2012.html" target="_blank">‘the show’</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was remarkable for several reasons. Firstly, Andy is a pure
Anglophone… and the good folks in Montréal and Québec tend to prefer French speakers
for obvious reasons. Andy’s content was deemed more than solid enough for the
audience: in this case, Andy’s technical prowess more than made up for any
perceived linguistic shortcomings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus,
as he would later demonstrate in Québec, Andy was MORE than willing to attempt
a few French phrases to good effect!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Secondly, Eric and Mathieu were prepared to devote a significant amount
of time on the agenda to Andy for the purpose of describing his involvement in
SAS user groups, SAS Global Forum and the importance and benefit of
volunteering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was new territory for
any group to cover!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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I think it’s fair to say that Andy more than handily acquitted himself in both
respects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His humour, grace and
willingness to engage the audience around their experiences – SAS and otherwise
– instantly endeared himself to all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
presentation schedule was ambitious to say the least. Andy attacked a few of
his ‘greatest hits’:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/presentations/Sask_2009/SMU.pdf" target="_blank">Set, Merge & Update</a>
as well as <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/downloads/presentations/Sask_2009/SASLOG.pdf" target="_blank">Looking Beneath the Surface of the SASLOG</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
hoped to fit in his Beneath the Surface of Sorting talk as well but we simply
lacked the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have no fear, MONSUG
attendees: all of these presentations will be posted shortly in the MONSUG
group in the <a href="http://sascanada.ning.com/" target="_blank">SAS Canada Community</a> as well as the <a href="http://www.sas.com/offices/NA/canada/en/Montreal.html" target="_blank">MONSUG SAS Canadawebsite</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We left Montréal having
received a very warm reception from the SAS community, which is ultimately the
goal of the user groups regardless of language, culture, or any other point of
difference. In fact, the user groups thrive the most in areas where differences
in community can united through the binding thread of SAS usage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this respect, MONSUG was an overwhelming
success.<br />
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After the extremely warm reception in Montréal – which I think may have calmed
Andy’s nerves just a bit – we were off to historic Québec City. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know if I could have sold the virtues
of this amazing city any more to Andy… as regular readers of this blog will
know, I’ve previously sung the praises of Québec loudly and consistently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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Of course no trip to la belle province is complete without food. In Montréal we
introduced Andy to the MONSUG-burger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
could tell you what it is, but I’d prefer you just found out for yourself. Give
a brief SAS talk in Montréal and I’ll show you! ;) In Québec City I took Andy
to one of my favourite restaurants, ‘Le Café du Monde’. Here we had a great
time discussing all things SAS and dining on some of Québec’s finest potages,
saumon, macarons et surtout du vin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These are some of my favourite moments on the road with guest speakers;
finding some quiet time to really sit, talk and pick each other’s brains.<br />
<br />
After retiring at the Auberge Saint-Antoine – truly one of God’s gifts for
travelers such as ourselves – we met up the following day for lunch with the
Executive Committee and the user group meeting itself. Here, again, the<a href="http://www.clubsasquebec.ca/" target="_blank"> SASuser community</a> is blessed with a strong, vibrant and dedicated executive
committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Louis-René Rheault and his
team consistently pull together an outstanding agenda which represents both
local SAS experts and guest speakers such as Andy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The meeting itself was a very good one as
well. Over 70 people attended to hear Patrice Bourdages give the most unique
‘SAS Global Forum Wrap-Up’ talk I’ve ever seen and our own Sylvain Tremblay
delivering a talk around SAS programming techniques.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, Andy was there to reprise his Set,
Merge, Update talk once again.<br />
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Too soon, I found it was time to leave la ville de Québec.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A quick dinner at possibly the best
steakhouse I’ve ever had the pleasure of patronizing and one very full,
satisfied and happy Matt was en route to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the smiles, laughter and positive
feedback on the evaluation forms, I can confidently say that I believe the SAS
community in Québec City felt the same way.<br />
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I’m not being facetious when I say that this particular road trip brought
together some of my favourite elements of the user group program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the opportunity to work, converse,
laugh and relax with two amazing executive committees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was also able to observe just how strong
the SAS communities are in both of these cities and to take some notes for how
to strengthen other groups across the country. Finally, it’s always a pleasure
to see Sylvain Tremblay and of course Andy Kuligowski.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As ‘travel buddies’, you tend to become quite
close with your fellow SAS presenters… to have 2 of them in one spot at once
was truly a great experience. I was in guest speaker overload!<br />
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At the end of the day, Montréal and Québec are blessed to have such strong,
committed and attentive executive committees working on their behalf and their
efforts are truly appreciated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not just
by me, of course: but by the community at large. There aren’t enough words in
either English or French to thank them for their hard work!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look forward to seeing them all again soon.<br />
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À la prochaine, Québec… et merci.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
Matt M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06396087351747198016noreply@blogger.com0