56 Days until SASGF 2016! What are you looking forward to?

[jwaller]

56 days until SAS Global Forum 2016!  Just 56 days!  For me, all the planning started about a year and a half ago.  But as I was perusing the SAS Communities site this afternoon, I started thinking about what I am most looking forward to at the conference.  And I really can't choose one single thing.  

• I always enjoy First Timer's and seeing the new faces to the conference.  
• The Academic Summit, which showcases our SAS Ambassadors, Student Scholarship winners, Faculty Scholarship winners, and the Student Symposium semi-finalists, is a must for this academician.  It is a great time to see the award winners and network with fellow educators and students.
• The Charity Event is SOOOOO much fun!  It is a great way to get to know fellow attendees and give back to the Las Vegas community at the same time.  I am hoping to attend and see everyone in action!
• I can't miss the Monday Evening Mingle and the #TweetUp because I get to see friends and make new ones.
• Sessions begin bright and early Tuesday morning and I definitely want to attend the first SAS Student Symposium and listen to the semi-finalists present their solution to an analytics problem of their choice.
• Getting to attend sessions in general is always a great experience because I get to learn something that I can take back to my workplace and immediately implement!
• Technology Connection Wednesday morning gives me the opportunity to learn about the new things being implemented in SAS, announce the winners of the Student Symposium, and hear from Ben Casnocha, one of our super keynote presenters.
• I am looking forward to David McCandless, another keynote presenter, on Wednesday afternoon who gets really creative with data presentation.
• All work and no play makes for a very boring Jennifer and I plan on being front and center at the Kickback Party to dance and sing along with Capital Cities!
• And finally, I am looking forward to hearing Susan Cain, our final keynote presenter, and getting in some final learning from other presenters.

What about you?  What are you looking forward to at SAS Global Forum 2016?  There is tons to listen to, some great networking opportunities, and time to relax and chat with other users.  I would love to hear what your "must see and do" conference activities are.

Jennifer

[MichelleHomes]

My favorites are similar to yours Jennifer as well as spending time in The Quad at the sponsor and SAS booths, Connect Area and all the activities that happen there.

I'm looking forward to seeing you and SAS users soon!

Cheers,

Michelle

[ChrisHemedinger]

I've been just filling out my schedule for the week -- so many great things going on!  I'm working on lining up SAS R&D experts to talk with me during SAS Tech Talks -- our video series for SAS practitioners.

Also looking forward to co-presenting at an Ask the Experts session about SAS clients with @Vince_SAS and @AmyP_sas.  Bring your tough questions!  We'll handle them with aplomb or else avoid them artfully -- either way, it will be fun and informative.

And of course all of the social fun: the TweetUp, Kickback party, meetups, and more!

[MaryR]

I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones.  I'll for sure be checking out what's new in 9.4, and trying to connect with anyone from SAS that can show me a demo of the latest version of SDD.  I always love the HOWs and Quick Tips, and am looking forward to getting an agenda built for myself on the Agenda Builder.  We're going to have a lot of great content again this year, and I'll have to make tough choices between overlapping presentations! 

[mbuchecker]

This will be my 11th SGF/SUGI, but the 1st one since 1991 that I will be attending as a user and not a SAS employee. I'm looking forward to not working the demo booths, but instead being able to go attend papers and spend time LEARNING!