SAS Global Forum Wrapup
From sasCommunity
SAS Global Forum 2008, the largest annual SAS event, was held in San Antonio, Texas, March 16-19, bringing together users from all over the world to network and share their SAS expertise. Close to 3,800 SAS professionals attended this year’s conference, representing 48 countries. More than 22 percent of the participants were from outside the U.S. Canada came in at the No. 1 position, with 5 percent of all non-U.S. participants. The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark were close behind.
At the four-day conference, SAS users discussed their SAS software applications, learned new techniques from other users, and heard about the latest in research and development at SAS. Almost 400 presentations were offered this year.
Warren E. Stinson, the SAS Global Forum 2008 Conference Chair, kicked off this year’s event during the Opening Session. Eli Lilly and Company, HSBC and the Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue were honored with the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Award. The User Feedback Award was presented to Greg Cohen of the US Coast Guard. The awards were presented following the announcement from Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS, that SAS 9.2 is due this summer. SAS 9.2 is designed to help the business user become more self-sufficient and help IT deliver to the business more effectively.
Selected highlights from the conference:
- The Teragram acquisition and the Teradata partnership focused on In Database Processing created strong interest among attendees.
- 33 percent of the attendees were first-timers at the conference.
- 18 percent have been using SAS for less than five years
- 15 percent have been using SAS for 20 years or more.
- 1,500 books were collected for the Children’s Book Drive, including over $2,000 donated, used to purchase some of the books. This year the books were donated to:
- More than 400 presentations, including:
- 12 pre-conference seminars and statistical tutorials
- 43 Coder Corner's sessions
- 13 Hands-on Workshops
- 37 Tutorials
- 44 presentations in six industry segments
- 67 papers and presentations from international presenters.
- There were 111 stations, 34 SuperDemos and 25 posters available in the Demo Room.
- Customers purchased 1,027 books from SAS Publishing, with The Little SAS Book: A Primer, Third Edition leading the pack with 115 copies sold.
- SAS Education offered 15 pre-conference training courses, with 195 students participating. In addition, 25 individuals took one of the SAS Certification exams.
- Lots of business meetings and activities supported during the conference:
- 13 Birds of a Feather Sessions (BOF)
- 18 on-site customer meetings
- 5 Focus Groups conducted.
What’s next?
SAS Global Forum 2009 will be held March 22-25, 2009, at the Gaylord Hotel, National Harbor, MD.
