As 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.
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.
Of course, while the food was amazing, Charu and I were there with a job to do. The Regina SAS User Group 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.
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 DS2 (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.
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 statistical practice in Enterprise Guide, from a non-statisticians view. 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.
Not to be outdone, Joan Kwan of FCC offered a talk around correlation and multicollinearity. 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.
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 new and noteworthy in SAS 9.4 was great as it featured DS2 and allowed for some dialogue with Shaun Kauffman and her secondary talk on her top 10 coding efficiencies 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 :)
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.
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.
Until then...
Showing posts with label Enterprise_Guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enterprise_Guide. Show all posts
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Blue Skies and Long Drives in Saskatoon
As 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.
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 Saskatoon SAS user group meeting. 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.
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!
Former SUCCESS President Gopinath Narasimhan led off the meeting with his introductory talk to arrays and do loops. 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.
Charu reprised her two talks from Winnipeg the day before - new features of SAS 9.4 and her top 10 coding efficiencies. 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.
I myself had two talks to offer: statistics in Enterprise Guide and a talk which is rapidly becoming my favourite to build and deliver, the '10 for 10'. 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 ;)
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!
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).
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...
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 Saskatoon SAS user group meeting. 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.
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!
Former SUCCESS President Gopinath Narasimhan led off the meeting with his introductory talk to arrays and do loops. 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.
Charu reprised her two talks from Winnipeg the day before - new features of SAS 9.4 and her top 10 coding efficiencies. 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.
I myself had two talks to offer: statistics in Enterprise Guide and a talk which is rapidly becoming my favourite to build and deliver, the '10 for 10'. 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 ;)
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!
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).
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...
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
An Early Spring in Winnipeg
Today’s meeting of the Winnipeg SAS User Group 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.
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.
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 SAS/IML to talk with the Rprogramming language. 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?
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 moving to a server environment, 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.
The other 3 presentations were delivered by SAS Canada. First up, SAS Education’s Charu Shankar. Charu is a prolific author (see her blog ‘The SASTraining Post’ 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!
Charu also delivered a great talk around new features of SAS 9.4. 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 10 coding efficiencies which certainly resonated with everyone in the room.
Finally, I brought up the rear with a talk around statistics in EnterpriseGuide (for the Non-Statistician). 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!
I mentioned at the beginning of the blog that I became a little wistful when building my ’10 for 10’ 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.
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.
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.
You’ll be able to find all the Winnipeg talks – both today’s and from the past – on their website. Next stop, Saskatchewan, where I’ll be renting a car and driving around. Let’s hope the snow isn’t too bad… ;)
Until then…
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.
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 SAS/IML to talk with the Rprogramming language. 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?
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 moving to a server environment, 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.
The other 3 presentations were delivered by SAS Canada. First up, SAS Education’s Charu Shankar. Charu is a prolific author (see her blog ‘The SASTraining Post’ 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!
Charu also delivered a great talk around new features of SAS 9.4. 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 10 coding efficiencies which certainly resonated with everyone in the room.
Finally, I brought up the rear with a talk around statistics in EnterpriseGuide (for the Non-Statistician). 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!
I mentioned at the beginning of the blog that I became a little wistful when building my ’10 for 10’ 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.
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.
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.
You’ll be able to find all the Winnipeg talks – both today’s and from the past – on their website. Next stop, Saskatchewan, where I’ll be renting a car and driving around. Let’s hope the snow isn’t too bad… ;)
Until then…
Monday, March 10, 2014
TASS Starts the 2014 User Group Season in Style
Last Friday I had the pleasure of kicking off this year's user group season with the TASS 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 TASS website.
Until then...
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 TASS website.
Until then...
Monday, October 28, 2013
The First Snow of the Season in Saskatoon
Last week I had the distinct pleasure of hosting the Saskatoon SAS user group (SUCCESS) 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...
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 building tables with SAS: it was perfect as it nicely dovetailed and set-up my own Enterprise Guide talk later in the day. Lily was joined by her colleague Nianping Hu who offered a talk around propensity scoring models using SAS. The HQC was certainly well-represented at the meeting!
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 Proc Transpose - 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 SAS macro he had built for univariate logistic regression. 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!
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 hash objects first, a topic which can be complex... but which she made remarkably clear. She also gave a great talk on tips for programmers using Enterprise Guide which clearly charged up the room.
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.
Until then...
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 building tables with SAS: it was perfect as it nicely dovetailed and set-up my own Enterprise Guide talk later in the day. Lily was joined by her colleague Nianping Hu who offered a talk around propensity scoring models using SAS. The HQC was certainly well-represented at the meeting!
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 Proc Transpose - 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 SAS macro he had built for univariate logistic regression. 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!
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 hash objects first, a topic which can be complex... but which she made remarkably clear. She also gave a great talk on tips for programmers using Enterprise Guide which clearly charged up the room.
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.
Until then...
Monday, June 10, 2013
Orcas, Visual Analytics & SAS Dates: An Eye-Opening Trip to British Columbia
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 SAS Global Forum in Washington, DC. 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!
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 SUAVe user group. 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!
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 favourite SAS tricks talk, an energized group was never in doubt. Marje also delivered a second talk all around SAS DATES: 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.
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 SUAVe user group. 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!
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 favourite SAS tricks talk, an energized group was never in doubt. Marje also delivered a second talk all around SAS DATES: 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.
I myself offered a talk around SAS’ Visual Analytics
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.
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 SAS Global Forum experience (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 onlinecourse around PROC GLIMMIX.
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.
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 VanSUG is certainly innovative and dedicated; they produce their own newsletter, run a full-day session without a hitch, and really call upon the community of SAS users to support each other.
Once again, Marje was the star of the show in the morning session, delivering her DATES talk and her favourite SAS tricks 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 macro solution to dates: 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 Facebook data, which as a social media junkie, was interesting to see.
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 SAS Global Forum experience (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 onlinecourse around PROC GLIMMIX.
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.
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 VanSUG is certainly innovative and dedicated; they produce their own newsletter, run a full-day session without a hitch, and really call upon the community of SAS users to support each other.
Once again, Marje was the star of the show in the morning session, delivering her DATES talk and her favourite SAS tricks 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 macro solution to dates: 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 Facebook data, which as a social media junkie, was interesting to see.
The afternoon session really featured three talks: VisualAnalytics 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
using Enterprise Guide as an SQL Querying interface. There was also another
EG-themed talk which really seemed to resonate with the audience.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Until then….
Monday, April 15, 2013
A Holistic View of SAS: Health User Group
Last Friday, the SAS Health User Group (HUG) 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.
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.
I led off the meeting with an overview of the new SAS VisualAnalytics product 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.
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 used advanced modeling techniques to identify highcost users of the healthcare system.
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!
Upon our return, we had three tremendous guest speakers. SAS
Canada’s own Judy Orr Lawrence walked us through
some data cleansing and validation techniques in SAS Enterprise Guide. 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.
Next up, Ellen Maki gave us a deep dive into how she used Bland-Altman bounds to work towards a new understanding of sleep apnea treatment.
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.
Finally, the incomparable Ruth Croxford concluded the
meeting – in a mournfully abbreviated fashion – with a talk on using Perl expressions within her SAS code.
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!
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
HUG website
or connect with us in the SAS Canada Community
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 15th, 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.
Until then…
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Quarterly TASS Meeting Hits All the Right Notes
Last Friday saw the return of TASS... and my premonition that it would be a well-attended, well-received meeting proved to be accurate. Almost 250 people attended the full-day session and it was great to see so many familiar faces after a few months absence. I even had the opportunity to wish many a long-overdue happy New Year!
The reason the meeting was so well-attended isn't a mystery, of course: it has everything to do with the strength of the agendas of both Classic TASS and TASS Interfaces. The groups are very fortunate as there is a very strong contingent of willing and able presenters that enjoy presenting at TASS who are globally recognized for their SAS knowledge. In fact, many of the talks we enjoyed in the morning session were 'dry-runs' for the upcoming SAS Global Forum taking place April 22-25 in Orlando, Florida.
Leading off was Barry Hong, Past-President of TASS' sister group, the Golden Horseshoe SAS User Group (GHSUG). The talk centered around the ODS Graphics Designer, and it really did peel back the layers of mystery which seem to often surround graphs and graphing procedures. As Barry explained, 'it's pretty intuitive once you open up the code'. Perhaps not to this humble author and admittedly amateur-ish SAS programmer, but the majority of the audience certainly appreciated the step-by-step approach towards creating and sharing graph templates. It was quite compelling stuff: Barry took a significant amount of quite complex code and broke it down in layman's terms bit by bit. Such was the interest that one of the open breakout session spots was co-opted by Barry and a hardy group of graphing enthusiasts a little later in the morning. This talk definitely had SAS Global Forum all over it... perhaps you'll update and submit it next year, Barry?
Not to be outdone, the always entertaining Peter Eberhardt delivered a talk which he'll be giving in Orlando in about seven weeks' time. Known for his humour, his energy and his deep knowledge of all things SAS, Peter's presentation certainly didn't disappoint in any respect. His 'One Guy On Hash' talk was a scaled-down version of his SAS Global Forum talk which he'll be delivering with a collaborator. Although I did learn more about hash objects and why they're so useful than I thought I ever could in 45 minutes, I can't help but to be reminded of the image of Peter which led off the slide deck. Featuring Peter in the 1970s on a Disneyland visit, it even more shockingly featured Peter with shoulder-length hair. I was stunned... and impressed! Those of you going down to Orlando would be well-served by attending the extended version of this talk... or catching Peter at some point as he expertly chairs the Enterprise Guide section of SAS Global Forum. In fact, if you're interested in volunteering your time to help him out, send him an email and tell him I sent you; he'll be very grateful for your interest!
As I alluded to earlier, the break-out sessions at this past TASS meeting were something special. Michael Lerner has traditionally offered compelling, consistently interesting discussion in the 'Statistics' group. This meeting was the first time during my tenure at SAS that he wasn't leading this session. We were privileged to have Bob Saarimaki of DatamaApp who walked through some 'whens & how's' of statistical processes for the purposes of modeling. His room was literally bursting at the seams: standing room only was definitely the order of the session... I'm sure new friendships were forged due to forced proximity more than any other reason! Of course, TASS President Art Tabachneck wasn't about to surrender his title of 'most attended breakout session' without a fight. Explaining that he had recently had a third presentation accepted for SAS Global Forum as a 'back-up', he was more than happy to try it out on a willing audience in his Coder's Corner break-out session. His presentation around unusual date formats and how to handle them was incredibly full as well. I'm very pleased that there were only a few individuals who weren't in one of these two talks: clearly, they were just what the Doctor ordered (and the Health User Group isn't taking place until April 13th).
The afternoon session was extremely well attended and featured at least one nervous presenter. Yes, it's true: for the second TASS meeting in a row, I delivered a technical talk... with the added pressure of a live demo this time. Given the amazing level of expertise of the SAS users in the room, I wasn't sure if my talk on how I used Enterprise Guide to help set my darts team's line-up to best advantage was going to go over well. At the very least, I hope the attendees were amused as I walked the room through the high and lows of how I strategized for a darts match on a semi-professional level. It was a lot of fun to deliver, and to be honest, I hope I encouraged others to consider giving a talk as well. It's amazing to see how one can extrapolate and correlate examples which may seem simple to more complex, real-world business issues... in this case, using darts to illustrate an operational research problem.
New TASS Interfaces President Laurent Josso also delivered a great talk around SAS Graph NV. There's something about the ability to visualize and manipulate relationships which the vast majority find fascinating... including myself. Laurent demonstrated how this type of manipulation of data can be both informative and intuitive from a micro and macro perspective. The meeting's presentations concluded on a high-note: SAS Canada Training Specialist Barb Crowther walked us through a DataFlux presentation and demonstration which really showcased the importance and power of data cleanliness.
The last item of note for the afternoon session was the SAS User Exchange. Led by Jim Burkhardt, this new element is actually an old feature from the TASS meetings of yore. Users are free to bring their general SAS issues, questions and comments and direct them to the group. The executive committee and fellow attendees then try and help walk through these problems in a collaborative fashion. Nothing says community more than group collaboration!
As we say goodbye to TASS until the early days of June, it would be remiss of me if I didn't thank and acknowledge the work of Past President of TASS Interfaces, Craig McCulloch. His efforts helped grow this group through the first two years of its existence from a concept to a vibrant community of Enterprise Guide, Enterprise Miner, JMP and DataFlux users. Craig will be taking a well-deserved break from the leadership function, but it's important to note that his contribution to the group's forward momentum will be a lasting one. Many thanks, Craig.
As always, there seems to be another meeting just around the corner... and in fact, one managed to slip by me (due to a bout of illness) that I haven't yet blogged about; the Halifax SAS User Group took place just a few weeks ago! I'm going to try and catch you up on the wonderful dialogue and presentations which took place then and look ahead to the Health User Group taking place in about a month's time. Stay tuned!
Until then...
The reason the meeting was so well-attended isn't a mystery, of course: it has everything to do with the strength of the agendas of both Classic TASS and TASS Interfaces. The groups are very fortunate as there is a very strong contingent of willing and able presenters that enjoy presenting at TASS who are globally recognized for their SAS knowledge. In fact, many of the talks we enjoyed in the morning session were 'dry-runs' for the upcoming SAS Global Forum taking place April 22-25 in Orlando, Florida.
Leading off was Barry Hong, Past-President of TASS' sister group, the Golden Horseshoe SAS User Group (GHSUG). The talk centered around the ODS Graphics Designer, and it really did peel back the layers of mystery which seem to often surround graphs and graphing procedures. As Barry explained, 'it's pretty intuitive once you open up the code'. Perhaps not to this humble author and admittedly amateur-ish SAS programmer, but the majority of the audience certainly appreciated the step-by-step approach towards creating and sharing graph templates. It was quite compelling stuff: Barry took a significant amount of quite complex code and broke it down in layman's terms bit by bit. Such was the interest that one of the open breakout session spots was co-opted by Barry and a hardy group of graphing enthusiasts a little later in the morning. This talk definitely had SAS Global Forum all over it... perhaps you'll update and submit it next year, Barry?
Not to be outdone, the always entertaining Peter Eberhardt delivered a talk which he'll be giving in Orlando in about seven weeks' time. Known for his humour, his energy and his deep knowledge of all things SAS, Peter's presentation certainly didn't disappoint in any respect. His 'One Guy On Hash' talk was a scaled-down version of his SAS Global Forum talk which he'll be delivering with a collaborator. Although I did learn more about hash objects and why they're so useful than I thought I ever could in 45 minutes, I can't help but to be reminded of the image of Peter which led off the slide deck. Featuring Peter in the 1970s on a Disneyland visit, it even more shockingly featured Peter with shoulder-length hair. I was stunned... and impressed! Those of you going down to Orlando would be well-served by attending the extended version of this talk... or catching Peter at some point as he expertly chairs the Enterprise Guide section of SAS Global Forum. In fact, if you're interested in volunteering your time to help him out, send him an email and tell him I sent you; he'll be very grateful for your interest!
As I alluded to earlier, the break-out sessions at this past TASS meeting were something special. Michael Lerner has traditionally offered compelling, consistently interesting discussion in the 'Statistics' group. This meeting was the first time during my tenure at SAS that he wasn't leading this session. We were privileged to have Bob Saarimaki of DatamaApp who walked through some 'whens & how's' of statistical processes for the purposes of modeling. His room was literally bursting at the seams: standing room only was definitely the order of the session... I'm sure new friendships were forged due to forced proximity more than any other reason! Of course, TASS President Art Tabachneck wasn't about to surrender his title of 'most attended breakout session' without a fight. Explaining that he had recently had a third presentation accepted for SAS Global Forum as a 'back-up', he was more than happy to try it out on a willing audience in his Coder's Corner break-out session. His presentation around unusual date formats and how to handle them was incredibly full as well. I'm very pleased that there were only a few individuals who weren't in one of these two talks: clearly, they were just what the Doctor ordered (and the Health User Group isn't taking place until April 13th).
The afternoon session was extremely well attended and featured at least one nervous presenter. Yes, it's true: for the second TASS meeting in a row, I delivered a technical talk... with the added pressure of a live demo this time. Given the amazing level of expertise of the SAS users in the room, I wasn't sure if my talk on how I used Enterprise Guide to help set my darts team's line-up to best advantage was going to go over well. At the very least, I hope the attendees were amused as I walked the room through the high and lows of how I strategized for a darts match on a semi-professional level. It was a lot of fun to deliver, and to be honest, I hope I encouraged others to consider giving a talk as well. It's amazing to see how one can extrapolate and correlate examples which may seem simple to more complex, real-world business issues... in this case, using darts to illustrate an operational research problem.
New TASS Interfaces President Laurent Josso also delivered a great talk around SAS Graph NV. There's something about the ability to visualize and manipulate relationships which the vast majority find fascinating... including myself. Laurent demonstrated how this type of manipulation of data can be both informative and intuitive from a micro and macro perspective. The meeting's presentations concluded on a high-note: SAS Canada Training Specialist Barb Crowther walked us through a DataFlux presentation and demonstration which really showcased the importance and power of data cleanliness.
The last item of note for the afternoon session was the SAS User Exchange. Led by Jim Burkhardt, this new element is actually an old feature from the TASS meetings of yore. Users are free to bring their general SAS issues, questions and comments and direct them to the group. The executive committee and fellow attendees then try and help walk through these problems in a collaborative fashion. Nothing says community more than group collaboration!
As we say goodbye to TASS until the early days of June, it would be remiss of me if I didn't thank and acknowledge the work of Past President of TASS Interfaces, Craig McCulloch. His efforts helped grow this group through the first two years of its existence from a concept to a vibrant community of Enterprise Guide, Enterprise Miner, JMP and DataFlux users. Craig will be taking a well-deserved break from the leadership function, but it's important to note that his contribution to the group's forward momentum will be a lasting one. Many thanks, Craig.
As always, there seems to be another meeting just around the corner... and in fact, one managed to slip by me (due to a bout of illness) that I haven't yet blogged about; the Halifax SAS User Group took place just a few weeks ago! I'm going to try and catch you up on the wonderful dialogue and presentations which took place then and look ahead to the Health User Group taking place in about a month's time. Stay tuned!
Until then...
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