SAS Bowl I, Enterprise Guide Tips and Tricks

[#1]

SAS Bowl I, Enterprise Guide Tips and TricksPost-game notes

If you missed it, you missed out. The SAS Community trivia event, SAS Bowl I, Enterprise Guide Tips and Tricks transpired on Tuesday, rallying dozens of SAS users (48 players to be exact), congregating to display their SAS acumen and have a little fun.

Let’s recap some highlights.

Participants were greeted by emcee, @ChrisHemedinger, who was also the featured subject matter expert on the Enterprise Guide (EG) game theme. Focus questions on EG were looped in with queries on SAS programming, math, science, entertainment, current events, and history. The game even included a question on Roman Numerals, which as Chris pointed out, SAS can process.

Up at midnight, SAS SuperFan Michelle H wants more Roman Numeral questionsCongratulations to the winners for the event:  @supp, @mbuchecker, and @mtgkooks with 16, 15, and 15 correct answers, respectively. Quite impressive! Your Community swag is being processed and will be shipped out soon. Note that all participants receive a SAS Bowl Community badge.

If you did miss the event, don’t fret. We’re already cooking up the next installment. SAS Bowl II, Free Data Friday features the Community article series by the same name. We’re working with @ChrisBrooks , a regular contributor to the series for round two preparation. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 10 AM EDT. Further details and resource links will be made available on the Community shortly.

Note: A minor technical issue prevented the recording of the event. Rest assured we’ll iron that out and all future events will be recorded in case you can’t make the live version.

Pre-game formation

Are you ready for some SAS trivia?Ready for some fun and a chance to test your SAS knowledge? On Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at 10:00 AM EDT, we'll host the inaugural SAS Community Trivia event: SAS Bowl I, Enterprise Guide Tips and Tricks . Game overview, rules, and details are in this introductory Community Memo. 

The topic selected for SAS Bowl I is Enterprise Guide. We've selected several resources from subject matter experts as recommended reading and viewing for game preparation. We suggest reading the SAS Enterprise Guide: 20 Tips in 20 Minutes community article, summarizing SAS' Kelly Gray's EG Tips Webinar (@KDG). In addition, be sure to check out @ChrisHemedinger's SAS Tip | SAS Enterprise Guide: Tips for Exporting to Excel video. Multiple questions in the game will come directly from these resources.

Game queries are not limited to Enterprise Guide. You'll also see questions on SAS programming, analytics, technology trends, math, and general trivia. 

No registration is required to participate in the event. Follow this link to participate at 10 AM EDT on the 25th . Add the trivia game to your calendar or download the article attachment for an event reminder.

Make sure to enter the game using your community profile username. This way we can identify winners and send you some cool Community swag. Additionally, all identifiable Community members who participate receive a special community badge.

Can't wait to see you there!

Want to know more about SAS Enterprise Guide? Here are some addition resources for your reference:

• This paper from SAS Global Forum 2020
• SAS Enterprise Guide Support
• SAS Enterprise Guide Tutorial
• SAS Enterprise Guide Overview (YouTube) 
• SAS Tutorial | Getting Started with SAS Enterprise Guide (Extended Version)
• See these additional Ask the Expert sessions on Enterprise Guide for more information.

* The Engage platform utilizes YouTube studio. If you have restricted YouTube access, you can still participate in the event, but you will not have audio or video capabilities.

[JackHamilton]

This is not the first "SAS Bowl".   There have been at least two at PharmaSUG, at least two at SUGI, and at least one at NESUG and MWSUG.  It might be the first one run by SAS Institute instead of SAS users.

[MichelleHomes]

That's great to hear @JackHamilton!!!

Your post reminded me of "SUGA Bowl" trivia that was at the SAS User Group for Australia conference in 1999! Yep 21 years ago... managed to retrieve that memory from off-site backup and find the photo 😉 Paul and I had participated with 2 others wearing bright yellow SUGA Bowl competitor t-shirts!

 

[joeFurbee]

Hi @JackHamilton,

Thanks for the clarification and background. Great minds think alike. Were you able to take part in the previous events? We’d love to hear some of the history of the games held in the past. We also hope you are able to attend the SAS Community rendition of the SAS Bowl trivia game.

And @MichelleHomes. That is an awesome pic! Let's party like it's 1999.

[MichelleHomes]

Count me in! 🥳

I'd love to hear about people's experiences of previous SAS Bowl events too.

[JackHamilton]

The SAS Bowls at SUGI were organized by the SAS-L BOF committee.  SAS-L was at the time the world's largest SAS user group outside of SUGI itself.

I was on the committee and helped review the questions, so I never participated.  Also like so many things at user group meetings, it always managed to be held at the same time as something else that was higher on my priority list. 

From what I hear, the Bowl started getting risque after a few years.  A SAS employee came by and noticed the off-color nature of the proceedings, and that was that - no more SAS Bowls.  It might have been revived later in a different format. 

Here's a trivia question for you: What base SAS statement is not ended by a semicolon?  (Hint: It's a legacy statement, not in the current documentation.)  Bonus question:  What current SAS product uses this statement?

[ChrisHemedinger]

@JackHamilton I promise: no inappropriate behavior during our SAS Bowl, just good clean fun. (Hope that is assuring and not a disappointment to attendees.)

A Base SAS statement that doesn't need a semicolon? I'm stumped. I'm going to guess it's something to do with behavior in Display Manager environment like %WINDOW or similar (but that one is doc'd).

[KimLeBouton]

Sounds fun!  WUSS had its own version for a few years.  Can’t remember the name of the event, but the first UgLiWUSS (a defunct position, Ug=User Group Li=Liaison), Michael Sterling, was the master of ceremony. 

[joeFurbee]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their SAS Bowl (or equivalent) memories. Who knew there was such a rich and storied tradition in place already? Can you list UgLiWUSS on your LinkedIn profile 🙂 ?

I'm very excited for the event tomorrow at 10AM EDT. Just a few things to remember for the game:

• follow this link for direct access to the game; no prior registration required
• use your Community profile username for easy identification
• make sure to read/view the EG materials linked in the article:  SAS EG Tips Webinar and SAS Tip | SAS Enterprise Guide: Tips for Exporting to Excel
• Have fun!

[JackHamilton]

It would be interesting to see the geographical distribution of the participants.  Judging by the hour, your target audience in not in the Pacific Rim, but in Europe (4pm Paris, 7am California, 4am Honolulu, 10pm Singapore and Beijing).

[mbuchecker]

@ChrisHemedinger just now saw that we were supposed to use our community name as our trivia name. Sorry, I thought it would link by login profile. I was Michelle B. 
thanks again for running this! Lots of fun!

[ChrisHemedinger]

We knew who you were @mbuchecker -- you knew too much SAS trivia to be anyone else.

[mbuchecker]

🤣

[MichelleHomes]

Thanks @ChrisHemedinger, @joeFurbee and team for a fabulous SAS Bowl I event. I had SOOOOOOO much fun! Being in the Pacific rim (yep I still attended @JackHamilton), I woke up at 11:30pm ready for the midnight start. It was a great selection of questions and was surprised how quickly the time passed. Really enjoyed seeing the statistics and your commentary Chris - it kept it energising!

So afterwards I was buzzing and then took some time to unwind to get back to sleep. Certainly enjoyed attending! Thanks again - I look forward to joining future events.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6704034497987522560/

[MichelleHomes]

And @mbuchecker I knew who you were too! 😉

[supp]

This was a lot of fun. I can't believe I didn't realize "proc androll" is not real!

[mbuchecker]

And here I thought I was flying under the radar @MichelleHomes ! 🙂 

[MichelleHomes]

Congrats @supp  @mbuchecker and @mtgkooks on your SAS Bowl result. An amazing achievement!

Ooohhhh a SAS Bowl Community badge! Looking forward to seeing that too.

It's a shame the session wasn't recorded as I was hoping to listen to the commentary again... loved the way Chris said "PROC androll"! Very game show like!