We all have that one friend or co-worker we turn to for help and advice, right? Our communities are no different. They are filled with helpful people, most of whom you’ve never met; yet, they feel like friends because you know they will help you out of a SAS bind. They offer advice, they encourage and welcome new members, they write informative articles, they tease out the errors in your code…they seem to do it all.
The communities team sees them, we thank them, and we want to find a way to acknowledge them. Thus, the Super User and Proc Star programs.
Way back in August 2016, we introduced the Super User program. And in August 2017, because we saw a new crop of folks on the horizon, we introduced the Proc Star program. These programs have recognized dozens of community members over the years. And I bet most of you have been helped by one or more of these folks.
Since it’s the start of a new year, it’s time to announce the new crop of outstanding SAS Support Communities members:
Super Users
This year’s batch of Super Users will run from January 2 - December 31, 2020. I am pleased to introduce your 2020 Super Users:
You’ll recognize five of these folks from 2019. One member moved up in rank from Proc Star to Super User. Congratulations, @PeterClemmensen!
In 2019, these folks visited the community nearly every day (one Super User did visit every single day!) and viewed hundreds of thousands of pieces of content (342,170 to be exact). If you weren’t personally helped by one or more of these Super Users, rest assured they probably at least read your question. Consider them the “mom” of the communities…they seem to see and know everything!
PROC Stars
This year’s Proc Stars, whose terms runs the same as the Super Users, are:
Of the five Proc Stars, two are new and three continue to impress us from 2019. Combined, these Proc Stars posted 2,230 messages and 182 accepted solutions in 2019…thank you all for your valued guidance!
The selection criteria
I know many of you are wondering how we select Super Users and Proc Stars. Because we’re SAS, we have data on what community members are doing…things like time spent on community, pages viewed, messages posted, likes received, accepted solutions provided…all the good stuff.
It’s not all about the data though! As a team we review the numbers, and then we discuss what we see happening on the various boards. Who is most helpful, who sets a nice welcoming tone, who encourages their fellow SAS users, who has ramped up their accepted solutions, and so on. Then we decide, as a team, who we want to invite into the programs.
The discussions don’t end there. We meet regularly to discuss the programs, plan events and meetings, and see if any tweaks need to be made to the roster.
Please join us in welcoming and thanking these community members who do so much for the program!
