Spring 2008 Meeting -- RIT Inn and Conference Ctr

It's official that we are having our Spring 2008 meeting at the RIT Inn and conference center. The meeting will take place on TUESDAY, May 13, 2008 from 3 - 6 pm. We have some exciting presenters for you.

1) Keynote Speaker - Jason Secosky -
"A Sampler of What's New in Base SAS®9.2"
This presentation shows how coding with SAS is easier than ever with SAS 9.2. We highlight the top new features and performance improvements in DATA step, PROC SQL, and PROC SORT. Included are several "Top 10" SASware Ballot items, writing functions with DATA step syntax, and more intuitive and culturally acceptable sorting with PROC SORT. Come see what's new in the next version of Base SAS.


2) Tips and Tricks - Bill Murphy - TWO award winning presentations "Changing Data Set Variables into Macro Variables" and that old classic "Colonoscopy for the SAS Programmer".

3) Tips and Tricks - Michael Tomb - "A Macro to Re-Order Dataset Variables Alphabetically: By Name or Label"

4) Prize giveaways, finger food, beverage and a wonderful opportunity to network with friends both new and old.

If you plan to attend, please email the following:

gvsugreply@gmail.com

OR

Joseph_Guido@urmc.rochester.edu

Hope to see you there!

Joseph Guido, Chair
GVSUG


This meeting is made possible by the membership and our sponsors:

GVSUG Social on Feb 27, 2008 - 5:30pm

Note from the Chair:

Dear GVSUG Members (and our distinguished sponsors),

I am inviting you to a social get together at a City of Rochester establishment called the “Tap and Mallet”, recently reviewed in City Magazine. I must say that your Executive Committee had our monthly meeting there the other night and thought it would be an excellent place for our group to have a social.

We are planning the get together for Wednesday, February 27, 2008 beginning at 5:30pm. The Tap and Mallet is located at 381 Gregory Street, Rochester, NY (It is about half way between South Avenue and Clinton Avenue on Gregory Street). There is plenty of parking in the back of the place and/or on the side street.

GVSUG will cover the cost of the finger foods for the gathering and we ask that you purchase the beverage of your choice (wine, beer, soda, coffee, tea, etc.). Please email if you are planning to attend so that we may get an accurate count.

Thank you and I hope to see you there.
Joseph J. Guido, Chair GVSUG

A New Year Starts with Details from the Last

Happy New Year to All GVSUG Members and Blog Lurkers!




On Wednesday October 17th, GVSUG had our fall meeting at the RIT Inn and Conference Center at 3:00pm. Over 30 people came to see our key note presentation: Introduction to SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1 for Statistical Analysis given by Charles Hallahan from the USDA Economic Research Service department. After his talk and some audience participation, we had some giveaways as well as an informal networking session in the hospitality room, along with food and drink.
When we resumed, Joseph Guido from the University of Rochester Medical Center gave a talk on Guido's Guide to PROC FREQ: Enterprise Guide Edition. We had a small break to give away some more prizes, then we held out GVSUG Annual Executive Committee Elections. All executive committee officer positions were filled with the same people, and our executive committee at large positions welcomed one new member--Adam Rains--and said goodbye to one of our longtime members--Steve LaLonde. Thank you, Steve, for all of your help. We finished up with 2 Tips and Tricks Sessions. Both were on Enterprise Guide & SAS Learning Edition. Steve LaLonde started it off talking about the SAS Learning Edition, what is included, and what can and can't be done with it. Michael Tomb wrapped it up talking about shell extensions.
After the meeting ended, a few members had a SAS and SUDS get-together at the in-house restaurant with our key note speaker, Charlie.

Please keep coming back to the GVSUG website to get updated information on what we are doing and when our next meeting will be. Feel free to drop us a line and tell us what you would be interested in seeing for this years meetings.

Thanks to Everyone

I just wanted to say "Thank You" to everyone at the GVSUG meeting today. A special thanks goes out to our Keynote Speaker, Charles Hallahan who gave a great talk titled "Introduction to SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1 for Statistical Analysis".

Now for each of our Executive Committee members I say "Thank You". Thanks to our Emcee, Scott McNitt who did a great job. Thanks to Adam LaManna (registration, accomodations, etc.) and Sue Greenberg (registration). Also, Kudos to our Vice-Chair, Mike Tomb for all the assistance with sponsor advertising, TipsNTricks presentation, etc. Thanks to Janet Albright for her assistance with the break. Thanks to Steve Lalonde for his TipsNTricks presentation and for serving GVSUG for many years on the EC Board. As he steps off of the board we say Thanks to Adam Rains who has just joined our EC Board.

A Special Thanks goes out to All of You, our members, especially those who attended the meeting today. I apologize for the technical difficulties that happened during my presentation and promise that your EC Board will take steps to minimize these types of problems in the future. We will keep you informed of updates through email and our GVSUG website http://www.gvsug.org/

Of course we cannot forget to say "THANK YOU" to our sponsors for this meeting who are
Howard M Proskin and Associates who are at the GOLD LEVEL, Bausch and Lomb who are at the SILVER LEVEL and for Croop-La France and Informaticaecs who co-sponsored our breaks today.

Joseph J Guido, Chair
GVSUG

Meeting Tomorrow- It's the Place to Be

Are you ready for the Next GVSUG Meeting ?
If so, register here at this link.

If you never have used SAS® Enterprise Guide, this is your chance to see what you are missing

Here's the Full Agenda:

• Introduction and announcements


• Key Note Presentation:
  Introduction to SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1 for Statistical Analysis
  Charles Hallahan
  USDA Economic Research Service
  
• Break (and Giveaway!)


• Guido's Guide to PROC FREQ: Enterprise Guide Edition
  Joseph J. Guido
  University of Rochester Medical Center
  
• GVSUG Annual Executive Committee Elections
  (Nominate Yourself Here!!!) ***
  
• Networking Session and Break
  
• Tips and Tricks Sessions: Enterprise Guide & SAS Learning Edition Tips and Tricks from:
  Patricia Boss
  Michael Tomb
  Steve LaLonde
  and Audience Participation
  
• Final Prize Giveaway
  
• SAS ‘n SUDS (following the session)
  Informal Get Together After the Talks

*** Please note, if you nominated yourself for a GVSUG Executive Committee position prior to October 3, 2007, we may have lost your entry, please re-submit it using this link

Welcome to Fall - Let's Get Together!

GVSUG's Fall Meeting is coming up on October 17th starting at 3:00 (sign-in begins at 2:30 pm). We have become quite comfortable at the RIT Inn & Conference Center where, once again, the meeting take place. More details will be forthcoming in the next edition of our newsletter. Register for the meeting here.

In the meantime, here are three details on the agenda that should peek your interest.:

Our keynote speaker will be Charles Hallahan at the USDA Economic Research Service. Charlie will be flying in to present :

Introduction to SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1 for Statistical Analysis.
This tutorial will center on using the most current SAS interactive interface, during which, by example, you will learn how code that’s generated by SAS Enterprise Guide can be customized, stored, and re-run. All in the context of the most familar Statistical Procedures. Charlie has sucessfully presented papers on this topic at both SUGI and NESUG.

Continuing in the theme of putting Enterprise Guide to work, will be our second talk: Guido’s Guide to PROC FREQ: Enterprise Guide Edition, given by GVSUG's own Executive Commitee chair: Joseph Guido. Joe's talk is an adaption and extension of content in his upcoming paper at NESUG 2007.

At the GVSUG executive commitee meetngs, we work to bring the best of past, present (and future!) regional and national SAS conference right here to Rochester. You can join our team in time to help plan the next meeting. This is because we are having our annual elections at the next meeting and the nomination form is right here. So nominate yourself and come join us. But hurry as your self-nomination must be received by October 14th in time to be voted on at the meeting.

*** Please note, if you nominated yourself for a GVSUG Executive Commitee position prior to October 3, 2007, we may have lost your entry, please re-submit it using this link

NESUG 20th Anniversary Edition

Time is running out to pre-register at discount rates for the 20th Anniversary NESUG Conference:


Go here to do it now

If you have never attended a NESUG before, this conference is great place to start. Here's a partial list of some of the special events taking place at the 20th edition of NESUG:

• A special commemorative opening session


• Keynote address by Kathy Council of SAS about the long and successful relationship between SAS and NESUG


• A gala reception at the National Aquarium sponsored by SAS


• A nostalgic display of NESUG memorabilia


• A 20th anniversary problem solving contest

And then there are over 150 presentations, workshops and posters that make it all worthwhile, including a reprisal of some of the best and most informative talks of the last few years. Click here to get the registration booklet with much more detail or go to http://www.nesug.org/

The NESUG conference is entirely a volunteer effort, so for a little more fun, why not join the team?