PharmaSUG 2012 (and Other User's Groups)

SAS has many user's groups intended for SAS users to get together and share their thoughts and ideas on how to better use SAS.  I hope this information will be of benefit to those that were not aware of such user's groups.

PharmaSUG 2012

This week is the PharmaSUG (Pharmaceutical SAS User's Group) meeting in San Francisco, CA.  I was not able to attend this conference (but I am most definitely looking forward to attending in 2013 in Chicago, IL).

The conference started with a welcome meeting last Sunday (May 13th) and will be continuing until through (May 16th).

I look forward to reading over several of the upcoming papers that have been, are being, and will be presented over the course of this week.  I have already seen several that I am interested in reviewing such as "7 Steps to Insignts Using SAS: Progression Free Survival," "A Multifaceted Approach to Generating Kaplan-Meier and Waterfall Plots in Oncology Studies," "Clinical Graphics Using SAS ODS Graphics," and "Communicating Clinical Trial Safety Results the Statistical Graphic Way."

These proceedings are posted on the PharmaSUG website.

Regional SAS User's Groups

There are several other regional SAS user's conferences throughout the United States.  They are intended to serve those that are living within the regional boundaries (mostly for networking purposes), but the conference is by no means limited to residents of the specified region.  If you live in Florida, feel free to attend the Western Users of SAS Software conference.

Here is a list of the regional user's groups with their 2012 event dates and locations (they tend to be around the same time every year):

Regional Group	Location	Registration Opens	Event Dates	Next Year’s Location
Western Users of SAS Software	Long Beach, CA	June 11	September 5-7	Las Vegas, NV
MidWest SAS Users Group	Minneapolis, MN	June 11	September 16-18	Columbus, OH
Southeast SAS Users Group	Raleigh, NC	May 30	October 14-16	St. Pete Beach, FL
South Central SAS Users Group	Houston, TX	Not yet posted	November 5-6	Not yet posted
Norhteast SAS Users Group	Baltimore, MD	June 28	November 11-14	Burlington, VT

I am going to be attending the Midwest SAS Users Group in Minneapolis this September, so look for me if you will be in attendance!

If you are interested in a more tight-knit group in which to discuss SAS and network in your area, search around the websites for the regions that you are interested in.  Most of them will give links to local users groups.  Some have a group for a certain state, others are as local as a group for just a city.

General SAS Users Group Information

General information about all user's groups offered by SAS can be found on the SAS User's Groups website.

Many of these conferences allow attendees to participate in pre-/post-conference trainings.  These are identical to the SAS training courses offered through the SAS Institute, but they are condensed to a half day (rather than a 2-3 day training).  If offered, these are available at a lower rate than the usual SAS trainings.

Another benefit to attending these conferences is the option to take the SAS certification exams at the end of the conference.  Usually, there is limited seating available, so decide if you are interested in taking the certification exam before registration opens and register as soon as registration opens.  These exams are also offered at a discounted rate.  Plus, you don't have to travel to a training center; the exams are administered on site.  Taking the certification exams at these conferences can save you time and money as well as help show your credentials when looking for a future job as a SAS programmer.