Planning the SESUG 2022: October Updates
With SESUG only a week away, I thought it might be a good time to take a trip down memory lane and look how things have changed over the years. As you may know, SESUG is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. While, just like in the past, we have a full schedule of papers, SAS has an exhibit area, and we still are an all-volunteer organization, there have been a number of changes over the years.
- When SESUG was chartered, people still brought presentations on real slides or transparencies for overhead projectors. I remember worrying about slides being upside down in the slide tray, dropping my stack of transparencies and all those worries that have now been replaced by things like PowerPoint not activating the mac
ros properly.
- Even in 2011, when I last chaired SESUG, Permission to Publish forms were sent by Fax. As academic chair, I had to have access to a fax machine and then pick these up promptly so that we didn't disclose personal information.
- In the beginning, we printed a big book of proceedings. That was replace by a proceedings CD, a CD formatted download, and now just a zipped file of all the papers.
- Remember those paper mail-in registration forms? We filled these out by hand and mailed them with our checks for payment. While it became rarer over the years, we accepted mail-in registration as recently as 2019.
One of the things I really miss from the earlier SESUGs are the paper posters. I used to love walking among the rows of posters and browsing the offerings. Early posters were not a single sheet on the poster frame, rather several pieces that made a complete picture.
- Audio visual rules have changed over the years at the hotels as has music licensing. In one of the early SESUGs, we actually held a talent show, something we can no longer do without incurring huge costs.
- SAS has always provided great support to SESUG, but through 2013, they came with a big truck. This included everything from poster stands to laptops to a portable library of SAS books, and in some years a SAS gift shop. I miss the gift shop. Fortunately, I have a SAS candy jar, football, and teddy bear among other things.
I still want a SAS beach chair.
- Presentation topics have also changed over the years. In 1993, paper titles included: "Some Thoughts on Making DSGI User-Friendly" (I'm not sure that ever happened), "Dealing with Memory Constraints under SAS 6.04", and "Introduction to SAS/GIS Software".
- SESUG is in Mobile this year. The last time we were in Mobile was in 1999. Many of the papers had to do with Y2K. Remember all the panicking about how that would impact programs and processes? This year 'GIT' seems to be a popular topic.
So Happy 30th Birthday, SESUG!! Come help us celebrate! It is not too late to register: https://www.sesug.org/SESUG2022/registration.php.
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