San Diego SAS User Group 2024 Meeting

The San Diego SAS Users Group (SANDS) is excited to announce an upcoming 2024 event for our SAS user community at Pfizer on January 31, 2024. Our sponsor, SAS Institute, will conduct a 2-hour workshop, a 50-minute presentation and we’ll have two other presentations. Please visit our website at http://sandsug.weebly.com/ for details about the upcoming meeting and be sure to register for the event on Eventbrite.

Our SANDS Executive Committee (EC) hopes you will attend our upcoming SAS workshop and presentations, and meet our presenters. This event will help to boost your skills and knowledge about popular SAS data, statistical and programming techniques.

Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Registration: $20 registration fee (Students, Speakers and EC are "free").

Location: Pfizer La Jolla Campus | 10770 Science Center Drive | Room CB2 | San Diego, CA 92121.

Agenda:

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm (Workshop)

Tools and Processes to Prepare you for SAS 9.4 (M8) and Beyond and What’s New in SAS Viya

By Shannon Moore, Senior Systems Engineer; SAS Institute Inc.

This workshop session will be divided into two parts. The first will discuss the new security and system features of SAS 9.4 M8 and the tools SAS provides to assist with planning an upgrade. These include SAS 9 Content Assessment and System Evaluation. The second session will be a broad overview of the latest features in SAS Viya including SAS Studio and Visual Analytics.

Bio: Shannon Moore has been with SAS since 1997 and is a charter member of the Customer Success organization. His areas of emphasis include Business Analytics and programming. Lately he has been assisting clients with SAS 9 Content Assessment and SAS Viya migration preparation and demonstrations. He is the recipient of a SAS Americas Sales Innovation Award and holds SAS Certifications in SAS 9 and Viya Programming and Interactive Reporting using Visual Analytics. He has experience in many industries including Health and Life Sciences, Financial Services and Government. Shannon graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm (Dinner and Networking)

Following our workshop, attendees will enjoy an “informal” dinner – offering an opportunity to eat, meet and network with attendees.

6:00 pm – 6:10 pm (Welcome and Introduction)

Following dinner, our SANDS President, Wei Cheng, will welcome and introduce the SANDS Executive Committee (EC) members to our user community.

6:15 pm – 7:05 pm (Featured Presentation – 50-minutes)

Our “featured” presenter, Rebecca Callaway, SAS Institute Instructor will present, “Why Choose between SAS DATA Step or PROC SQL when you have both.”

This presentation shows that PROC SQL and the DATA step both work in similar scenarios and when to use one versus the other.

Bio: Rebecca Callaway has worked as an instructor at SAS since May 2000. Rebecca earned her bachelor’s degree in Math/Statistics from Saint Olaf College in Northfield, MN. Prior to joining SAS, she worked as an analyst for several companies where she honed her SAS skills analyzing data for credit card companies and developing regression models to predict customer responses to direct mail. She enjoys helping other SAS users improve their SAS skills to make their jobs easier and more efficient. Rebecca lives in San Diego, CA with her husband Ken and their cat Zigmo.

7:10 pm – 7:40 pm (Presentation #2 – 30-minutes)

Our second presenter, Ryan Lafler, Chief Data Scientist and Lead Consultant of Premier Analytics Consulting, will deliver a 30-minute presentation, “Charting Your Machine Learning Roadmap.”

This presentation is an audience-driven discussion about leveraging Machine Learning algorithms, Neural Network architectures, and Artificial Intelligence systems to derive data-driven insights and automate critical tasks for supervised, semi-supervised, and unsupervised learning. Several cutting-edge Machine Learning algorithms and Neural Network architectures are presented to attendees allowing them to chart their own development roadmap for implementing different Machine Learning models. Several topics are discussed including the differences underlying Statistical Analysis, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning; common Machine Learning tasks and purposes; supervised vs. unsupervised Machine Learning; the advantages and disadvantages of any Machine Learning algorithm; the parameters and hyperparameters of Machine Learning models; model overfitting and underfitting; and strategies for mitigating model biasedness.

Bio: Ryan Lafler is the Founder, C.E.O., Chief Data Scientist, and Lead Consultant at Premier Analytics Consulting, LCC, a consulting firm that specializes in developing data-driven solutions and providing specialized services and training in Big Data Science for our clients. Ryan also serves as an Adjunct Professor at San Diego State University for the Master of Science Big Data Analytics (BDA) Program and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Ryan’s interests and passions include programming in Python, R, SAS, JavaScript (using React and Node), and SQL for all things concerning data science and artificial intelligence. He specializes in machine learning, deep learning, computer vision modeling, statistical analysis, data visualization, full-stack application development, distributed processing of big unstructured data, and integrating data together to conduct multivariate analysis.

He received his Master of Science in Big Data Analytics following the successful defense and publication of his Thesis in May 2023 from San Diego State University. He graduated Magna cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Statistics and a Minor in Quantitative Economics from San Diego State University.

7:45 pm – 8:00 pm (Presentation #3 – 15-minutes)

Our third and final presenter, Kirk Paul “sasNerd” Lafler, Data Scientist and Consultant, will deliver a 15-minute presentation, “Soft Skills to Gain a Competitive Edge in the 21st Century Job Market.”

Today's workforce requires two types of skills: hard skills or job-related knowledge and abilities to help us perform specific job responsibilities effectively, and soft skills or personal qualities that help us thrive in the workplace. Examples of hard skills include SAS, SQL and Python programming, data analysis, project management, and market research. Soft skills on the other hand are not always measurable and consist of non-technical skills that describe the characteristics, attributes, and traits that are associated with one's personality. Soft skills enable effective and harmonious interaction with others in the workplace and are acquired from the roles and/or experiences we have had. The good news is that soft skills can be learned and, more importantly, provide you with a competitive edge in today's demanding and evolving workplace.

Bio: Kirk Paul “sasNerd” Lafler is an educator, developer, programmer, consultant, and data scientist; currently teaching as a lecturer and adjunct professor at San Diego State University; and teaching SAS, SQL, Python, Excel, and cloud-based technology courses to users around the world. Kirk has decades of programming experience and specializes in SAS software, SQL, RDBMS technologies (Oracle, SQL-Server, Teradata, DB2), Python, and other languages and productivity tools. Kirk is the author of the popular PROC SQL: Beyond the Basics Using SAS, Third Edition (SAS Press. 2019) and is actively involved with SAS, SQL, Python, R, ML, and cloud-computing user groups, conferences, and blogs as an Invited speaker, educator, keynote, and leader; and is the recipient of 28 “Best” contributed paper, hands-on workshop (HOW), and poster awards.

8:00 pm – 8:15 pm (Closing Session)

Thank you and closing comments to all attendees.