Last week I attended the Wisconsin-Illinois User Conference in Milwaukee, WI. It was great! If you are new to SAS user conferences are a great way to get more training and if you are a seasoned SAS user then you can pick up some new tricks. Also – its great way to meet other SAS users so you at least know all the SAS employers. 

150 SAS Users in One Room!

You can see all the pictures I took at the BI Notes Facebook Photo Album.  There were over 150 people in attendance representing a wide variety of industries including Insurance, Retail, Healthcare, and Manufacturing. This was a great conference because of the wide variety of information that was available.  Check out some of the topics!

• Using SAS/STAT to Evaluate the  Impact of Business Interventions
• Logistic Regression – What is it and What can I learn from It
• Variables Transformation Macro Using SAS
• Best Practices Using SAS Software
• Create Communication Effective Graphs in SAS V9.3 without SAS/GRAPH
• Graph Macro Tools You can Use in SAS V9.3 With or Without SAS/GRAPH
• Tips and Techniques for SAS Enterprise Guide – 25 Tips Everyone Can Use
• Create Your First SAS Stored Process
• Data Manipulation with JMP

Some Pointers

I always pick up a few pointers from listening to the other presenters.  Here’s a few:

• When it comes to efficiency in programming, the effectiveness of any technique depends on the data.  So you should benchmark (measure and compare) the resource usage of each technique with the actual data to determine what is the most effective overall.
• Sparse graphs are better because the information is more easily and more quickly interpreted.  Even though I know this fact – my charts often do not reflect it. 
• JMP is cool!  You can easily change information around on your graphs – it’s very interactive.  Within moments you can have new insights. You can get a free 30-day JMP demo at the JMP homepage.

Thanks to Volunteers

Wisconsin Illinois SAS Users Conferences are organized and hosted by Software User Services, an  unpaid volunteer staff and not-for-profit administrator for SAS user conferences in the North Central USA. This event would not have been possible without the tireless work of these dedicated people. If you are interested in volunteering, visit the Wisconsin Illinois SAS User Group site.  And thank you for inviting me to share my knowledge and putting on a great conference!

Tags: user conferences